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.
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.
The Book of Mormon not only attests to the reality of Jesus but also, more than any other book available to us, explains graphically why Jesus and his atonement are important. It is one thing to know that there is a Savior; it is another to realize why a Savior is so important, what the consequences would have been worldwide if there had been no Savior, and what the consequences will be individually-since there is a Savior-if any of us rejects him.
Since knowledge about Christ is the greatest knowledge mankind can possess, the book that most perfectly defines, supplies, and promotes that knowledge is the greatest of books. Our assertion is that the Book of Mormon gives a clearer exposition of the need for a divine Savior, the reality that Jesus of Nazareth is that Savior, and the process by which every individual man or woman can obtain the blessings of the atonement of Christ in his or her individual life than any other book known to and in circulation among the human family today.
The Book of Mormon teaches man’s absolute dependence on the Savior. It leaves no doubt that Jesus Christ, born of Mary, is the one and only Redeemer of mankind, that he always was and always will be the only Savior of the world. We note this statement from Nephi, recorded around 559 B.C.: “Behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved” (2 Nephi 25:20). And about 500 years later Helaman testified to his sons: “Remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world” (Helaman 5:9; see also 2 Nephi 31:20-21; Mosiah 3:17; 4:8; 5:8; Alma 38:9).
There is no book as effective as the Book of Mormon to teach plainly and directly the nature of the fall of Adam and the necessity of the atonement of Jesus Christ. It explains how the Atonement works, how a person must go about gaining a remission of sins, and then how he can “retain a remission” of his sins “from day to day” (see Mosiah 4:12, 26). That is the major message of the Book of Mormon. It offers comprehensive statements on the purposes of God in the fall of Adam and the atonement of Jesus Christ that are not found anywhere in the Bible. (See such major doctrinal chapters as 2 Nephi 2, 9; Mosiah 3; Alma 34, 42.)
In 2 Nephi we read a statement from Jacob which describes in greater clarity than perhaps any other reference what would be the consequence for all mankind if there had been no atonement of Jesus Christ:
For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.
Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement-save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more.
And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself. (2 1 Nephi 9:6-9, italics added.)
Robert J. Matthews
A Bible! a Bible!
Bookcraft, (1990)
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.
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.
[W]hy not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?
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)
And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen
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2 Nephi 31:21