- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
Easter. Sacrament Meeting was very nice today until the last speaker. He went on an on about the suffering of Jesus in the Atonement. How awful it was, how betrayed and abandoned the Lord was, how alone He was… how terrible… how painful… how He suffered. At the end, the speaker wrapped up with the “perfect ending” of the resurrection, but spent about 90% of his talk on the suffering, and 10% on the Resurrection, and I’m being generous. I kept thinking, If Jesus showed up and the Bishop asked Jesus if he could speak, would Jesus talk about the awfulness of the Atonement? I think, rather, that we would all go home realizing that the Atonement is about US, not about JESUS.
That’s too bad – but, perhaps this person suffered a lot in his life. Maybe the suffering means a lot to him. I don’t know; I just prefer to think of that sort of reason for a talk like that.
We had three good talks, focused on Jesus as our Redeemer. They basically gave my Sunday School lesson in Sacrament Meeting, so my class attended Gospel Doctrine – where our very good teacher tied in Moses to the Atonement. Overall, it was a good day.
From my experience the 90% suffering, 10% resurrection is more typical than atypical. I think the intentions are in the right place; most of the time it’s done in the context of conveying the depth of the love that Jesus has for you/me. He was willing to suffer thismuch for people. I think it’s also people’s way of relating that Jesus suffered beyond measure, he understands our pain, and can help.
I don’t disagree with either of you – but the miracle of Easter was the resurrection. Amen, DJ – and we forget sometimes that it is THE central miracle of the Gospels. As a non believer, I celebrate both Sader and Easter. Both can have meaning if you allow it. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
On Own Now wrote:Easter. Sacrament Meeting was very nice today until the last speaker. He went on an on about the suffering of Jesus in the Atonement. How awful it was, how betrayed and abandoned the Lord was, how alone He was… how terrible… how painful… how He suffered. At the end, the speaker wrapped up with the “perfect ending” of the resurrection, but spent about 90% of his talk on the suffering, and 10% on the Resurrection, and I’m being generous.
I kept thinking, If Jesus showed up and the Bishop asked Jesus if he could speak, would Jesus talk about the awfulness of the Atonement? I think, rather, that we would all go home realizing that the Atonement is about US, not about JESUS.
Judging by the accounts of his post-resurrection appearances, it would be 10% allusions to his suffering and 90% “feed my sheep,” “peace be unto you,” and “follow thou me.”
I went AWOL from the church for 17 years because I attended the full 3 hour block that had absolutely no mention of Christ, Atonement or Easter outside of the usual prayers and sacrament. It really chapped me that the Church of Jesus Christ could ignore that day. Even now, I make it a point to attend Easter services at other Churches. Episcopalian is the favorite of my wife and I. This year we listened to the Tabernacle Choir’s 2 hour 45 minute rendition of Handel’s Messiah streaming over the internet. It was masterful, monumental,not only Handel’s symphony, but the full choir and orchestra. We’re getting the CD of it when it comes out. It may become our new Easter and Christmas tradition in addition to the Episcopalians. BTW, my wife explained to a investigator friend of ours that we probably attend the Episcopal church about as often as many Episcopalians. I thought that was kinda funny. But we mostly attend Mormon sacrament mtg at least.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.