My
name is Daniel Williamson, I am a native to Colorado, I work in
Emergency Medicine, I am married to a beautiful and amazing woman
named Jamie and I am the father of two wonderful little girls, Kylie
and Victoria. Together with all of these titles I hold, I have
another which is most precious to me, that of a member of the Church
of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, I am an Elder in the Church, a
Returned Missionary, I am a Mormon.
I say
that my membership in the Church is most precious to me, some may
criticize me for saying this, stating that nothing should come before
my wife and kids, to them I say that without the Gospel I would not
have any of these wonderful blessings (least of all because it was at
a Church Young Single Adult ward that I met my eternal companion).
There are many people who would say “I don’t know where I would
be if I didn’t have the Gospel”; I am not among them. I know my
weaknesses, I know of what evil I am quite capable and I know the
consequences thereof and it is for this reason that I am so grateful
for this atoning gospel.
I
invite all of those who may be reading this to ponder with me both
the Atonement and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what they can do in
our lives.
First,
the most basic question is also the one with the most profound
answer:
What
is the Atonement of Jesus Christ?- To answer this question we can
first break the word down to its syllables: AT/ONE/MENT. It is the
Plan set forth By God to make us “At One” with Him again. In the
Church we hear the word Zion many times, this means “Of one heart
and one mind”, if we are to truly obtain this Zion, we must be of
one heart and one mind with our Heavenly Father. To become one with
Him again indicates that at some point there was a separation from
Him. Let’s recount briefly, the story of Adam and Eve.
We
know that they lived in paradisiacal glory with our Heavenly Father
in a state of blissful happiness and immortality. We know that they
were given two contradictory commandments (meaning that to keep one
requires breaking the other) to multiply and replenish the Earth and
to not partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. How long they remained in this state I do not know, but I do
know that it was not designed to last, they did not have the
knowledge required to multiply and replenish the Earth, this
knowledge was to be obtained as mortals, where they may learn from
their own experience the good from the evil.
Satan,
in an ignorant attempt to sabotage God’s plan, tempted the couple
and they did partake after being beguiled (deceived), for which they
were cast out of God’s presence. Now you tell me what their sin
was… Was it adultery? Murder? Fornication? Stealing? Nope, none of
the above, they took a bite of a fruit that they didn’t even get to
finish, and yet it was still enough to make Heavenly Father say
“OUT!”. Now think back on your life, have you done anything worse
than taste a piece of fruit (take this one literally) that you were
told to leave well enough alone? I know I have.
Now
some will say that God loves us and will remove all impurity from our
lives just because. Others will say that he will allow sin no matter
what and perhaps most commonly some will say “well its small” or
“I do the big things, surely God will just ignore the small stuff”.
These are deceptions from the devil himself, “for God cannot look
upon sin with ANY degree of allowance”. To illustrate this, I want
you to imagine your favorite food. Got it? Okay now imagine if I were
to offer you a lifetime supply of that food, you could have as much
or little as you wanted for free whenever you want. Sounds good
right? Now I serve you a huge portion of it one day when you are
starving and slather it in poop, do you still want it? Probably not
so I will only add a little poop, sound better? Probably not. It
doesn’t matter, poop is poop big or small and you don’t want to
eat any of it. The same principle applies with God, sin is sin no
matter how big or small He cannot allow any of it, that is why we
must ensure that we are spotless at the end of the day.
Now is
it possible to remove all sin from our lives? Absolutely! But is it
possible to stop sinning during this life and become incorruptible?
You bet it is! This is the wonderful power of the Atonement! This is
the best of the Good News of the Gospel! This is what should bring us
hope! To remove sin, we need to understand WHY we sin. The bottom
line when you get right down to it and really and honestly look at
it, we sin simply because we enjoy it. It’s the cheese on the mouse
trap, Satan has glamourized the evil and made that which is wrong
appear right and that which is right appear wrong or not appear at
all. Imagine your favorite activity, something you LOVE doing, now
imagine God coming out and saying that it is a sin to not only do
this activity but to talk or think about it. Pretty hard huh? Now
imagine something you HATE doing, and imagine God saying that this
also a sin and to never do it again. Much easier this time right? Do
you see why Satan has such a strong grip on the world right now? He
appeals to our weaknesses that he knows so well and exploits them to
our own self destruction.
The
solution? Its simple, stop liking sin, if we are not supposed to do
it and do not want to do it then it is easier to stop doing it. Now
the snag here is addiction which is a whole discussion in and of
itself so we will set it aside for now. The scriptures call this
happening a “Mighty Change of Heart…. Having no more disposition
to do evil but to good continually”, the scriptures have also
talked about receiving a new heart and a new life. The gospel is not
complicated, it is plain and simple but this is NOT easy, this word
does not exist in God’s vocabulary. The methods behind the access,
application and teaching of the atonement lie in the gospel and
teachings of Jesus Christ, ask and ye shall receive, I urge anyone
who reads this to ponder my words and to seek out the Gospel and
Atonement of the Lord.
I have
studied, sought after and applied every one of these teachings I have
discussed and though I am the farthest thing from perfect on this
planet, I can tell you it is true. This is the message of the
Gospel, this is the good news that we can change and it can happen
right here right now. Our weaknesses can become recognized and great
strengths. We can return to live with our Heavenly Father and be like
Him and receive all that he has, we can grow far passed our
understanding of what our potential is. We need to believe in Christ
but that will not save us in the end and it is not enough (Satan
believes in Christ and clearly its not doing him any good) but we
need to BELIEVE HIM. Have faith in Him and apply that which he DIED
to teach us. He loves us more than we can understand and he is
looking for every loophole, every excuse, every opportunity to
strengthen us, teach us, forgive us, help us and bring us home. That
is the unfathomable love of our Savior, the Great and Selfless
Redeemer, our Lord and our brother. Through Him all things are
possible.
These things I know to be true with a PERFECT knowledge
and of Him and in His Holy name, even the name of Jesus Christ, I
testify, Amen.
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