Gospel Doctrine, Lesson 8: O How Great the Goodness of Our God, 2 Nephi 9-10

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#1 President J. Reuben Clark said: Brethren, it is all right to speak of the Savior and the beauty of his doctrines, and the beauty of the truth. But remember, and this is the thing I wish you [to] always carry with you, the Savior is to be looked at as the Messiah, the Redeemer of the world. His teachings were ancillary and auxiliary to that great fact. (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 5) #2 It was July 4, 1952. [Florence] Chadwick, who had previously swum the English Channel, now attempted the twenty-one mile swim from the southern California mainland to Catalina Island. The water was a freezing 48 degrees. The fog was thick and visibility almost nil. Finally, only a half mile from her destination, she became discouraged and quit. The next day reporters clamored around her asking why she had quithad it been the cold water or the distance. It proved to be neither. She responded: I was licked by the fog. She then recalled a similar experience while swimming the English Channel. Evidently the fog was likewise engulfing. She was exhausted. As she was about to reach out for her fathers hand in the nearby boat, he pointed to the shore. She raised her head out of the water just long enough to see the land ahead. With that new vision, she pressed on and became the first woman to conquer the English Channel. (Ibid., 16) #3 Stephen Robinson wrote: Atonement means taking two things that have become separated, estranged, or incompatible, like a perfect God and an imperfect me or you, and bringing them together again, thus making the two be at one. And Hugh Nibley put it this way: There is not a word among those translated as atonement that does not plainly indicate the return to a former state or condition; one rejoins the family, returns to the Father, becomes united, reconciled, embracing and sitting down happily with others after a sad separation. (Ibid., 24-25) #4 This is the exalting qualityto become so perfected in our lives that not only do we live with God, but we become like him. This is the ultimate oneness. Oneness is not only a matter of geography, but of identity Near the conclusion of the Saviors mission he prayed for all those who believed on him. He prayed that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us (John 17:21). He affirmed that the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one (John 17:22). Finally he pled, that they may be made perfect in one (John 17:23). This is the ultimate in oneness, to be as God is. (Ibid., 26) #5 Richard Draper wrote: Joy is the best word to describe a continual state of exaltation...The other kingdoms of glory will experience happinessthat is a state of well-being and even of accomplishmentbut they are barred forever from joy, for there is no exaltation where they dwell [Gods] plan for us goes well beyond achieving a state of well-being, which is sometimes mistakenly made synonymous with eternal life. Achieving a state of well-being is not our full purpose. Achieving eternal life is not an end in itself. The purpose of lifeeternal lifeis maintaining a state of joy (Richard D. Draper, A Fulness of Joy, 17-18) #6 Elder George F. Richards saw the Savior in a vision. He spoke no word to me, but my love for him was such that I have not words to explain. I know that no mortal man can love the Lord as I experienced that love for the Savior unless God reveals it to him...If only I can be with my Savior and have that same sense of love that I had in that dream, it will be the goal of my existence, the desire of my life. (quoted by President Spencer W. Kimball, CR, April 1974)

#7 Elder Orson F. Whitney testified: I ran [to meet Him], fell at his feet, clasped Him around the knees and begged Him to take me with him. I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped, raised me up, and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real. I felt the very warmth of His body, as He held me in his arms. (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 27) #8 Elder Melvin J. Ballard recounts: If I shall live to be a million years old, I shall never forget that smile. He [the Savior] took me into his arms and kissed me, pressed me to his bosom, and blessed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt!... The feeling that I had in the presence of him who hath all things in his hands, to have his love, his affection, and his blessing was such that if I ever can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I would give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I then felt! (Ibid., 40) #9 Obviously, to have a perfect recollection of every sin, every thoughtless remark, every hurtful action we have ever done would be excruciating. The problem with sin is its infinite effects. Some scientists theorize that the flapping of a butterflys wing in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas; they call the phenomenon sensitivity to initial conditions. Our sins have the same effect. A harsh word to a child can echo in that childs heart for a lifetime. A hometeaching visit omitted can lead a lonely soul to believe no one cares. A simple lie can lead to unending deception and pain. Forty years ago when I was a Boy Scout, I watched a Church leader scold quite harshly one of the other Scouts for some thoughtless but minor thing he had done. His feelings hurt, that young boy ran from the meeting and swore he would never come back. Today that boy is a man who has been out of the Church for decades. The mission he never served, the family he never had, the good he never did who is responsible for the virtually infinite consequences of those few cruel words so long ago? I dont absolve the boy of his responsibility for his situation; still, this action of a thoughtless Church leader has haunted me for a long time and helped me understand that a single sinful act can echo through eternity.
(Breck England, http://www.ldsmag.com/church/gospel-doctrine/article/9347?ac=1

#10 President Spencer W. Kimball had this to say: Now this, again l say, is not a matter of opinion. This isn't something you can go out and argue about The book of life will show the earthly activities of the earthly servants, and the book of the angels will give the entire story of every man--of that which he did in the light and in the shadows, in the open and in the corners; all that was said in the secret places and from the housetops; all that was thought and expressed, whether good or bad. There will be no escape. The honest judge will give full value to all for their good work and will not overlook the other... Now, my young brothers and sisters, if I meet any of you beyond the veilIll reach there before you do dont any one of you ever come to Brother Kimball and say, You didnt tell me. I didnt understand. Nobody warned me of this. (BYU Devotional, 30 September 1973, http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6056) #11 The Prophet Joseph Smith described the Savior as that being who is enthroned, with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and then, perhaps sensing the futility of listing Gods virtues as infinitum, concluded by describing him as possessing an infinity of fullness, from everlasting to everlasting ...it is proper to refer to the Atonement as infinite because it expresses the nature and character of him who made that wondrous sacrifice. (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 62-63) #12 The Atonement was both an exercise of power and an acquisition of power. One of the ironies of life is that we acquire love as we give it away; we increase in knowledge as we dispense what we have. And so it is with certain powers. As we exercise power in righteousness, we acquire more power The exercise of those powers necessary to endure the sufferings of all mankind may in turn have opened the door to the additional powers needed to resurrect, to redeem, and to exalt. The celestial chorus will one day sing, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power (Revelation 5:12) (Ibid., 70)

#13 Elder Marion G. Romney wrote: Jesus Christ, in the sense of being its Creator and Redeemer, is the Lord of the whole universe. Except for his mortal ministry accomplished on this earth, his service and relationship to other worlds and their inhabitants are the same as his service and relationship to this earth and its inhabitants. (Ibid., 87) #14 The Saviors plunge into humanity was not a toe-dipping experience. It was a total immersion...For his descent he would fully bare his human breast. There would be no godly powers exercised that would shield him from one scintilla of human pain. Paul knew this: For verily he [the Savior] took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. (Heb. 2:16-17) In the course of his divine descent he was assaulted with every temptation inflicted on the human race. (Ibid., 9697)

#15 Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated, ...our Lord voluntarily abased himself, or, rather, ...enfeebled himself by relying upon his humanity and not his Godhood, so as to be as other men and thus be tested to the full by all the trials and torments of the flesh That he also had godly powers did not make his suffering any less excruciating, any less poignant, or any less real. To the contrary, it is for this very reason that his suffering was more, not less, than his mortal counterparts could experience. He took upon him infinite suffering, but chose to defend with only mortal faculties, with but one exceptionhis godhood was summoned to hold off unconsciousness and death...that would otherwise overpower a mere mortal when he reached his threshold of pain. For the Savior, however, there would be no such relief. His divinity would be called upon, not to immunize him from pain, but to enlarge the receptacle that would hold it. He simply brought a larger cup to hold the bitter drink. (Ibid., 119) #16 President Ezra Taft Benson said, We may never understand nor comprehend in mortality how He accomplished what He did, but we must not fail to understand why He did what He did. All that He did was prompted by His unselfish infinite love for us. (Ibid., 160) #17 Elder Joseph Fielding Smith said, On the third day after the crucifixion he took up his body and gained the keys of the resurrection, and thus has power to open the grave for all men, but this he could not do until he had first passed through death himself and conquered. (Ibid., 178) #18 Elder Matthew Cowley said, I believe when we repent there is some erasing going on up there so that when we get there we will be judged as we are for what we are and maybe not for what we have been Thats what I like about it the erasing. (Ibid., 194) #19 Elder Neal A. Maxwell quotes G.K. Chesterton: No mysterious monarch hidden in his starry pavilion at the base of the cosmic campaign, is in the least like that celestial chivalry of the Captain who carries his five wounds in the front of the battle. It is such a wounded leader we are fortunate to have. It is such a wounded leader who succors us in our wounds. (Ibid., 210) #20 In the words of the missionary evangelist, E. Stanley Jones, suffering has an intense moral appeal! Jones once asked Mahatma Gandhi as he sat on a cot in an open courtyard of Yeravda jail, Isnt your fasting a species of coercion? Yes, he said very slowly, the same kind of coercion which Jesus exercises upon you from the cross. #21 Repentance is the divinely chosen process that leads to godhood while satisfying justice each step of the way.
(Ibid., 225)

#22 President David O. McKay noted that God could not make men like himself without making them free. He then quoted Dr. Iverach, a Scottish philosopher, who shared this additional insight: It is a greater manifestation of divine power to make beings that can make themselves than to make beings that cannot, for the former are men and the latter are puppets, and puppets after all are only things. (Ibid., 250)

#23 The LDS Bible Dictionary defines grace as a divine means of help or strength made possible through the Atonement. It then adds that grace is a means of strength and assistance to do good works that [men] otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. And finally it asserts that grace is an enabling power necessary to lift men above their weaknesses and shortcomings, so that they might lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts. In essence, grace is a gift of divine power, made possible by the Atonement, that can transform a mere mortal with all his failings into a god with all his strengthsprovided we have done all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23). (Ibid., 264) Other thoughts too great not to include: C.S. Lewis: No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means the only complete realist. (Ibid., 108) The lives of gods are driven internally, rather than externally. Their freedom springs from their power to act according to their will without restraint from an outside source. There is no external force that controls their destiny, no spiritual or physical limitation that restricts their desired expression. If they desire to travel at the speed of thought, it seems they can. If they want to comprehend every thought of every living creature, they may (perhaps they automatically do). Gods act, rather than being acted upon. (see 2 Nephi 2:26) They control every element in every sphere. They are not subject to disease or inclement weather. To the contrary, all forms of life, even the elements themselves, yield in homage to the gods. The scriptures reveal that all things are subject unto them and, therefore, they are above all (D&C 132:20). Gods do not live oblivious of laws, but through obedience have mastered the laws so that they might use them to accomplish their purposes. Freedom is achieved through a step-by-step process of obedient compliance to Gods will. Consequently the more we become like God, the freer we become. Freedom and godhood are parallel paths; in fact they are the same road. (Ibid., 251) Elder Neal A. Maxwell suggests that the prime reason the Savior personally acts as the gatekeeper of the celestial kingdom is not to exclude people, but to personally welcome and embrace those who have made it back home. It is a touching, intimate thought, expressed as follows: If there is any imagery upon which I would focus as I close, it is two scriptures from the Book of Mormon. The one in which we are reminded that Jesus himself is the gatekeeper and that he employeth no servant there. (2 Nephi 9:41) I will tell you out of the conviction of my soul what I think the major reason is [why he employeth no servant there], as contained in another Book of Mormon scripture which says he waits for you with open arms (Mormon 6:17). Thats why hes there! He waits for you with open arms because his love of us is perfect. (Ibid., 28-29) Truman Madsen: ...if there are some of you who have been tricked into the conviction that you have gone too far, that you have been weighed down with doubts on which you alone have a monopoly, that you have had the poison of sin which makes it impossible ever again to be what you could have been then hear me. I bear testimony that you cannot sink further than the light and sweeping intelligence of Jesus Christ can reach. I bear testimony that as long as there is one spark of the will to repent and to reach, he is there. He did not just descend to your condition; he descended below it, that he might be in all and though all things, the light of truth (D&C 88:6). (Ibid., 100-101)

LESSON OUTLINE
~Last time you saw this arch we were discussing the keystone of our religion, which is? (B. of Mormon) ~Today it will symbolize, as Elder Bruce R. McConkie put it: ...the crowning work of [Christs] infinite goodness, which is? (Atonement) ~Without the Atonement, would anything else matter? (no) President Hinckley called it ...the key stone in the arch of the great plan (Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 8) ~What might these other stones represent? (Creation of worlds without number, Organizing the preaching of the gospel to the dead, defeating Satan in premortality Note: miracles, and great teaching have all been done by others, and are not unique to the Savior) Quote #1 ~Over here we have another symbol of the Atonement. What is it? (a fountain) ~What might the water represent? (hope) ~Hope for what? What is it we all strive for? (happiness, joyall else we seek fills us with joy) It is our singular hope for a meaningful life, as Tad Callister wrote. (Ibid., 9) ~We know He came, that He kept his promise made in the council in heaven where there was great rejoicing. What was and is the worlds response to his Atonement? 1 Nephi 19:9 (1st sentence) ~Why study the Atonement? Quote #2 So first we should probably define it. Write WHAT: on board We can summarize what Christ did in 3 phrases: 1st, what did He feel? - Suffering Endured How did He defeat Satan? -Power Displayed Why did He do it? -Love Manifested Lets move on to: Write WHERE: on board There are three places where it took place. -Garden of Gethsemane -Cross of Calvary -Tomb of Arimathea ~This is traditionally what we think of when we refer to the Atonement. But when and where did the Atonement really begin? Write WHEN: on board -Council in Heaven ~And did it really end at the Tomb? (it continues without end, as does He. What is His work?) -No End: Moses 1:39 And now for the WHY: Write WHY: on board ~What event produced the need for a Savior? ~What did the fall cause? Physical Death-Resurrection ~How did the Atonement resolve physical death? FALL ALL ~Spiritual? ~Who will receive these blessings? Spiritual Death Judgment

~As soon as we sin we go through whats called: 2nd Spiritual Death Provides Possibility of Repentance ~How does the Atonement resolve this? ~What does the word Atonement mean? (Its an English derivative, and it leterally means At-onement Quote #3 ~So what does the Atonement enable us to do? (love eternally in the presence of God) ~Why do we want to do that? What is found there and nowhere else? (fullness of joy) ~How many levels, according to D&C 76, are there in the Celestial Kingdom? (3) ~Do we receive a fullness of joy in all of them? (only the highestexaltation) Quote #4 Quote #5 There are some who have, at least temporarily, tasted of that joy. Quote #6 Quote #7 Quote #8 ~Who is the gatekeeper of the Celestial Kingdom? (Christ) ~Will all of us be thrilled to meet Him? Why not? Quote #9 ~Does the Atonement cover all the consequences of our thoughtless sins? (yes) 2 Nephi 9:14 2 Nephi 9:38 ~How did Alma feel at the thought of standing before God in his sins? Alma 36:15 Quote #10 ~Back to verse 14: If we repent, what will we feel on judgment day? (joyful) ~What does it mean to be clothed...with the robe of righteousness? (see footnote:) D&C 109:76 ~Will it be worth any price and suffering we go through? ~In 2 Nephi 9:7, what kind of Atonement does it say is required? (Infinite) Lets conclude with a discussion on the ways the Atonement is infinite. Neal A. Maxwell outlined 8 ways: ~ divineness of the one sacrificed (Quote #11) ~ power (Quote #12) ~ time (Can God lie? So when He makes a covenant, can you take it to the bank?) ~coverage (Is the Atonement limited to men? Our world? Quote #13) ~depth (Quote #14) ~degree of suffering endured (Quote #15Did mental suffering end in Gethsemane?) ~love (Quote #16) ~blessings it bestows:

-Resurrection (Quote 17) -Repentance (Quote #18) -Peace of Mind (Christ is the Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9:6) -Succor (Quote #19) -Motivation (Quote #20) -Exaltation (Quote #21) -Freedom (Quote #22) -Grace (Quote #23)

THE WHITEBOARD
WHAT: ~Suffering Endured ~Power Displayed ~Love Manifested WHEN: WHERE: ~Garden of Gethsemane ~Cross of Calvary ~Tomb of Arimathea ~Council in Heaven ~No End: Moses 1:39

WHY: Physical Death Resurrection FALL Spiritual Death Judgment (1st) 2nd DEATH Provide Possibility of Repentance