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ap just said what I was trying to say – only better. 89 posts in three weeks means 30 posts per week – which is 4-5 per day . . .
You can do it!
😆 
Fwiw, the 5th and 6th posts at the link in my last comment are summaries of talks my wife and I gave on the Atonement. If you read them, it will give you a good idea of how we each approached the topic.
Ray, You just made my day.
— AP
Old Timer wrote:89 posts in three weeks means 30 posts per week – which is 4-5 per day . . .
It sounds like he is just saying, “swap out your daily scripture reading with Curt’s blog and you will have it done in no time!🙂 I have a personal take on the atonement. When our third child was stillborn it hit me like a load of bricks. I had thought that I was man enough and strong enough to do what a man does – which is first and foremost to protect his family. We had a home with doors, locks, and a security system. We had insurance policies on health, cars, the house, and life itself. I honored my priesthood, served in the church, and paid a full tithe. I thought at the time that this too would be a sort of insurance plan – that God would step in and bless and protect my family when I could not.
What had gone wrong that I was now burying one of my children? Who was to blame? Had I failed? That of course was my biggest fear. “Lord, is it I?”
It turns out that it wasn’t anybody’s fault. There were no warning signs that went unheeded. The doctors describe it as sudden and unexpected heart failure but they do not really know why she was alive and growing one day and gone the next. This was perhaps more terrifying. The realization that I am not big enough, or smart enough, or ever-present enough, or strong enough to never let down those innocent ones (my children) that count on me with such trusting and childlike faith – this realization shook me to the core. I am not sufficient. Welcome to a world or risk and uncertainty.
In my anguish, one night I felt enveloped by the tender mercies of the divine. I felt impressed that God knew me, loved me, and accepted me. He knew that I was insufficient and He was telling me that it was ok. I could turn it all over to him and not try to be something more capable and perfect than I am.
Sometime later I was reading in the BoM and I cam across Alma 7:12.
Quote:“he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”
I used to think that the infirmities were talking about people that were sick with a disease. Now I look at it somewhat differently. To be firm is to be solid and immovable. To be infirm is literally to be soft. The dictionary lists “feeble” as a synonym for infirmity. A weakness inherent in one’s physical condition (such as advanced age). The Spanish version of this same verse simply uses the word “debilidad” or “weakness”. The great and almighty Jehovah condescended to be born as a helpless and mewling baby that could not even support the weight of His own head. Alma seems to be saying that part of the reason that this happened was so that God would know in a more intimate and personal way, what it means to be weak. For some reason this was important so that God would know how to reach us in our entirely human condition of frailty and weakness.
Quote:“And if MEN come unto me I will show unto them THEIR WEAKNESS. I give unto MEN WEAKNESS that they may be humble; and my grace is SUFFICIENT for ALL MEN that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. Behold, I will show unto the gentiles their WEAKNESS, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me–the fountain of all righteousness” (Ether 12:27-28).
Another way to say this is the following: “Behold, Men are weak. I know because I made them that way for a reason. I made them weak to make them humble. If men come unto me I will show them how weak they are. I will do this so that they may know how much they need me, how hopeless and futile it is for them to continue alone – to reject my covering grace. My grace is sufficient for all men that reach for me in humility. My grace is a bottomless resource of sufficiency. It swallows up and envelops the deficiency of men. Men, through my grace, are made to share in my strength and my merits. The pathway unto me is one of faith, hope, and charity.”
Alma 7:12 and Ether 12:27-28 taken together seem to be saying that part of the reason why Jehovah God had to go through His mortal experience was to better know how to reach us as weak and imperfect mortals. The reason why God made us as weak and imperfect mortals is so that we might know to reach for Him. In my minds eye, I see this reaching for each other – God reaching for us and us reaching for him as a beautiful metaphor for Atonement.
I continue to struggle, day by day, but I still reach for Him.
You guys. This is really good stuff. LookingHard wrote:Maybe Adam Miller’s “Grace is not God’s backup plan” or even something out of his “letters to a young Mormon” (I will try and look and see if I can look that up tonight and see if there is a chapter in there).
I looked last night and I didn’t see a section specifically on “letters to a young Mormon”. Sorry.But good luck. I am sure you will do great. And please let us know how it goes and the reaction.
So I gave my talk yesterday. I posted it in the “Talks and Lessons” thread as per instructions. A shout out to AmateurParent. I quoted directly form your post on this thread, and many of the comments led me in the direction I went in giving this talk. It seemed well-received. People said they liked it. If they are still talking about it next week, then we’ll know it was impactful.
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