The Book of Mormon is the Atonement Testament and few testify as well as King Benjamin.
6 I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body—
7 I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.
8 And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.
9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb. Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.
And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.
Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb. Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.
And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.
The nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker and is caught up to dwell with Him. But we consider that this is a station to which no man ever arrived in a moment. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 51)
Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
I will, for a day, pause in posting about the Atonement of Christ to address an important issue for all Christians today.
The following excerpt is from a much longer article entitled, “Confessions of a Mormon Law Clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court,” for which a link is provided at the bottom of this post.
Most of the article is devoted to the ascendancy of anti-Christian secular thought and philosophy in the halls of power in the United States and virtually all other Western democracies.
As an explanatory note for my much-respected and appreciated non-LDS readers, Korihor is a man described in the Book of Mormon who lived about 74 BC. Korihor was preaching a philosophy that is startlingly similar to that proposed by current secular thought, which included attacking religion and those who practiced it.
Korihor was confronted by the prophet Alma and the two debated Korihor’s philosophy. That debate is found in Alma 30.
Now to an excerpt from the article I mentioned:
One of the dogmas in present day secularism is that death is the end, a view attributed to Korihor at Alma 30:18. On this point of secularist theory Professor Taylor points out that “[i]n terms of a central image of Christian history, a judgment intervenes before our full entry into the Kingdom. In some way or other, our life will be weighed, and can be found wanting.”
Secularity, by proclaiming [that] death is the end, thereby subtracts from secular thinking any final accounting of our acts and choices.
It is a subtraction that injures my circumstances and my society as well as myself as a moral agent. This final accounting is an important part of our identity.
Even when my attention is focused elsewhere, my identity continues to shape and pre-shape my actions towards myself and others.
My inevitable thoughts of my death and future judgment provide the backdrop or framework within which I have reason to choose the right, thereby connecting my present situation to my future in a fundamental way. Taylor’s point about secularism is an instructive one and is relevant to why The Book of Mormon is so quick to condemn the error in Korihor’s belief [that] there is neither after-life nor final judgment. As more and more individuals in a society either accept or, alternatively, reject Korihor’s teaching, the moral quality of that society is directly affected.
The secularist denial of the Judgment is part of a constellation of secular reasons not “to fear death as the end of life”. When I contemplate my inevitable demise, and then move in my thinking from my death back to today, if knowledge of the final judgment has been subtracted it becomes more difficult to consistently answer the question, Why should I be moral? An important point to consider in making today’s decisions is missing. “[T]herefore,” says Taylor, absent “the completion, as it were of the dossier with which we all [confront] judgment,” society has lost the backdrop or framework for individuals to choose to act unselfishly as a rational decision.
Men and women, says The Book of Mormon, will be judged by God according to their works. “Ye must stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged according to your works.” (Mormon 6:21.) In secular theory, however, with no final judgment, the moral significance of death disappears, and the doctrine that life is a “test [that] we can fail” seems to inevitably become misplaced.
Ashby D. Boyle II
Confessions of a Mormon Law Clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court
Meridian Magazine, October 25 2010
(minor typos in the original are corrected)
Alma speaking to his son, Corianton:
6 But behold, it was appointed unto man to die—therefore, as they were cut off from the tree of life they should be cut off from the face of the earth—and man became lost forever, yea, they became fallen man.
7 And now, ye see by this that our first parents were cut off both temporally and spiritually from the presence of the Lord; and thus we see they became subjects to follow after their own will.
8 Now behold, it was not expedient that man should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would destroy the great plan of happiness.
9 Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal, that is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord, it was expedient that mankind should be reclaimed from this spiritual death.
10 Therefore, as they had become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature, this probationary state became a state for them to prepare; it became a preparatory state.
11 And now remember, my son, if it were not for the plan of redemption, (laying it aside) as soon as they were dead their souls were miserable, being cut off from the presence of the Lord.
12 And now, there was no means to reclaim men from this fallen state, which man had brought upon himself because of his own disobedience;
13 Therefore, according to justice, the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state, yea, this preparatory state; for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice. Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God.
14 And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence.
15 And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.