Sabbathought: The Day of Atonement --- today 8 October

Today is Elder M. Russell Ballard's birthday. He is 83. Also today, my grandson, Tanner, is being baptized. And in the Jewish calendar, today is the Day of Atonement.

Which brings us back to repentance, as discussed last week.

What a privilege and a blessing it is to have the glorious gift of repentance! Without Jesus Christ and His Atonement all would be lost. And we would be devils----angels to the devil---through all eternity, simply by virtue of the Fall of Adam, our first father.

Today is the Day of Atonement, but if we understand the gospel we know that every day is a day of atonement. How so? Because of the gift of repentance, whereby we can access the powers of the Atonement.

Notice: we have not mentioned sin or sins yet. No need to so far. Simply by virtue of our fallen nature, we need to repent: to turn, to change, to turn back to God and His ways, which ways we knew so well a hundred years ago, before we came here to learn and to prove ourselves.

Cloaked in a fallen nature to make the test real and relentless, subject through the flesh to the enemy of our souls, hostage most of the time to the subtle influence of that enemy, we are in desperate need of a savior, a rescue, a ransom.

Today is the Day of Atonement for each of us. . . . If we will.

Tomorrow is the Sabbath. Also a day of atonement, for it is the day of the sacrament.

For four thousand years the human family offered sacrifice as a reminder, as a type, of the sacrifice of the Son of God. Today we offer our sacraments on the holy day as a type and a reminder of His blood sacrifice for us.

Follow with me this doctrinal explanation: After the Fall, shut out from the presence of the Lord, Adam and Eve were "obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.

"And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me."

The angel then explained why, "saying: This thing is a similitude [a type, a reminder, an echo] of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth."

Now notice the doctrinal basis for repentance coming up here: "Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore." This is all found in Moses chapter 5.

No mention of sin yet. The Fall was not a sin. It was a necessary transgression, downward but forward. A deliberate and knowing act by Adam so that men might be and the human race begun.

Later on, Adam asked the Lord, "Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water?" The Lord's answer is of particular value for us and especially today for Tanner: "And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden."

That answer from the Lord is a confirmation of the doctrine we are teaching here and last week. This is found in Moses chapter 6. The next verse is of great value in confirming our doctrine:

"Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world."

So, . . . why does Tanner need to be baptized today? I'm not telling you. The doctrine is clear in the scriptures, starting with these we've quoted here. But this much I will say: because he is alive, and accountable.

But here is the point. The very point of His doctrine:

Repentance is not an event. And it goes beyond even being a process for some specific sin or sins. It is a way of life. That is what the angel was saying to Adam . . . : "thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son" --- not just the sacrifice, and later the sacrament, but all that thou doest. You need a daily reminder of your total dependence on Him. Indeed "I Need Thee Every Hour."

"And thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore." It is ongoing. It is constant. It is a way of life. As long as you have blood in your veins --- the badge, or mark, of the Fall --- you need to repent. Repent of your fallen nature. Turn back to God. And then later, when you have sins, you need to take care of them by repentance also.

We are oversimplifying a bit here in order to show that even before sin or sins become an issue each daughter of Eve and son of Adam has to be set right with God. Because of the state or condition that you have been placed in, out of the presence of God, separated from Him and His righteousness, strangers in a strange land, possessing a nature that is at enmity with your origins and true nature: here in this condition you are an enemy to God and His plan of happiness. There is only one solution.

As promised, let's turn to C.S.Lewis for further help.

Remember last week he spoke of "the hole" man had got himself into. How that, through the Fall, man "had tried to set up on his own, to behave as if he belonged to himself . . . a rebel." That the only way out of this predicament is to start life over again. (Are you listening, Tanner?)

Before we quote Brother Lewis again, notice: so severe and dominating is the fallen nature that it will not yield to helpful hints, to wise sayings and platitudes, to therapy, hypnosis, counseling, medication, or any other construct of man, including the philosophies of men, mingled with scripture. The only solution is to start again. To be born again. To die (by drowning . . . and by fire, Tanner) and come forth to a new life. A new life in Christ.

Now. It takes a good person to repent. It takes someone who knows and believes this doctrine we are teaching here, and which is the main message of the Book of Mormon. Or, as Jack Lewis said it: "Only a bad person [lost, fallen, stained and drenched in a bad environment] needs to repent: only a good person can repent perfectly."

So, in a sense, that excludes us, each of us. None of us is good enough to repent! Yet all of us need to! And we all sense keenly this lack within us. This is where the Savior comes in. Our job is to surrender to Him.

"Very well, then, we must go through with it," wrote C.S.Lewis. "But the same badness ['because of the fall our natures have become evil continually,' said the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon] which makes us need it, makes us unable to do it. Can we do it if God helps us? Yes, but what do we mean when we talk of God helping us? We mean God putting into us a bit of Himself, so to speak."

How marvelous! Immediately now the sacrament should spring to mind! And the words of Christ might flood into our minds, especially from the Gospel of John, which, unlike the other three Gospels, is written to and for the Saints, for those submissive to this process:

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (6:63).

"If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (8:31--2) --- free from the effects of the Fall.

"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me" (15:3--4).

These last words are most meaningful. John the Baptist, in his message of repentance and baptism, Tanner, taught, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8).

The Savior explained: "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).

Without Him ye cannot even repent. He is the one who changes you, who effectively repents with you, within you. He alone is the one who is good enough to repent perfectly. Alma confirms this: "Behold, he changed their hearts . . . ." (Alma 5:7, emphasis added).

In a very real sense, Christ within us is the only way our repentance will work, will be effective.

Our job is to show up --- like Tanner today. Humble . . . as a child. Submissive. Joseph taught us that the word baptizo in the Greek means to overwhelm, to immerse, or bury (TPJS, 262, 314).

Well, there is so much more to say on this. One thing in the gospel leads to another, until all truth is circumscribed into one great whole. It is marvelous in our eyes and hearts.

Hope this helps, Jake. Let's let this open a dialogue of doctrine on the basic things. Let's exchange insights and understanding on it all.

Let's help ourselves and each other to see that repentance is a boon, a good thing, a wonderful blessing, and the essence of the Atonement. Let's make it fashionable within our circles of influence to repent, to come unto Christ and partake of his goodness. Joseph taught:

"It is our duty to concentrate all of our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and unpopular that which is unsound."

Repentance is a way of life, central to a life lived in Christ. It is sound and good.

These things are true and faithful.

More later.

Enjoy the Sabbath in the sure knowledge of these marvelous truths.

Steve