Atonement Position Statement

When our Heavenly Father designed the plan of salvation for us it had three main pillars.  First there had to be a creation, a place created for us to live and be tested as well as the creation of man's mortal body.  Then there had to be a fall for men to come into existence and begin the testing process. Finally, God knew that we would all make mistakes and we would need a Savior to redeem us from our sins.  Jesus Christ volunteered to fill that role.  He came to earth and gave us the perfect example to live by.  He taught us the gospel and what was required for us to return back to God's care.  Then He paid the ultimate sacrifice by suffering for our sins and laying down His life so we could repent and be resurrected. His gift is offered freely to all of us, simply because God loves us.  The way we accept the gift is through repentance.  When we make a mistake, and we all do on a daily basis it is our responsibility to recognize those mistakes and repent.  When we repent it activates the power of the atonement and allows our sins to be wiped away giving us a clean slate to start again.  Through the atonement the Lord perfectly understands all our pains, sicknesses, weaknesses, and sorrows, and can offer us comfort for them.  The atonement also has an enabling power that helps us to be able to forgive others and to master hardships in our lives.  Without the atonement we could not return to our Heavenly Father.  No matter how small the sin, we would be barred from reentry and would be damned to a life of misery.  I am so grateful for the power of the atonement in my life.

Be Happy

Finally, and most importantly, choose‍ to believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Accept the Savior’s forgiveness, and then forgive yourself. Because of His sacrifice for you, He has the power to “remember [your sins] no more.”²⁴‍ You must do likewise.  After you are on the path and are “free to choose” again, choose to reject feelings of shame for sins you have already repented of, refuse to be discouraged about the past, and rejoice in hope for the future. Remember, it is Satan who desires that we be  miserable like unto himself.  Let your desires be stronger than his.  Be happy and confident about your life and about the opportunities and blessings that await you here and throughout eternity.  

Elder Robert D. Hales - April 2006 General Conference "To Act for Ourselves; the Gift and Blessings of Agency"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/to-act-for-ourselves-the-gift-and-blessings-of-agency?lang=eng

Feeling the Influence of the Spirit

 Choose‍ to put yourself in a position to have experiences with the Spirit of God through prayer, in scripture study, at Church meetings, in your home, and through wholesome interactions with others. When you feel the influence of the Spirit, you are beginning to be cleansed and strengthened. The light is being turned on, and where that light shines, the darkness of evil cannot remain.

Elder Robert D. Hales - April 2006 General Conference "To Act for Ourselves; the Gift and Blessings of Agency"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/to-act-for-ourselves-the-gift-and-blessings-of-agency?lang=eng

Resolves the Most Terrible Burdens

If the grim realities you are facing at this time seem dark and heavy and almost unbearable, remember that in the soul-wrenching darkness of Gethsemane and the incomprehensible torture and pain of Calvary, the Savior accomplished the Atonement, which resolves the most terrible burdens that can occur in this life. He did it for you, and He did it for me. He did it because He loves us and because He obeys and loves His Father.

Elder Quentin L. Cook - April 2015 General Conference "The Lord Is My Light"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-lord-is-my-light?lang=eng 

Finding Our Way again

Here the Savior tells of the effort of a shepherd searching for his lost sheep, of a woman searching for a lost coin, and of the welcome received by the prodigal son returning home. Why did Jesus teach these parables? He wanted us to know that none of us will ever be so lost that we cannot find our way again through His Atonement and His teachings.

Elder M. Russell Ballard - April 2012 General Conference "That the Lost May Be Found"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/that-the-lost-may-be-found?lang=eng

Return Us Home

Everyone loses his or her way at some point, to some degree. It is through the promptings of the Holy Ghost‍ that we can be brought safely back onto the right path, and it is the atoning sacrifice of the Savior that can return us home.

Elder M. Russell Ballard - April 2012 General Conference "That the Lost May Be Found"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/that-the-lost-may-be-found?lang=eng

Living with Integrity

I'm simply suggesting that we take the next logical step in our complete conversion to the gospel of Christ by assimilating its doctrines deep within our hearts and our souls so we will act and live consistently—and with integrity—what we profess to believe.

This integrity simplifies our lives and amplifies our sensitivities to the Spirit and to the needs of others. It brings joy into our lives and peace to our souls—the kind of joy and peace that comes to us as we repent of our sins and follow the Savior by keeping His commandments.

Elder M. Russell Ballard - October 2012 General Conference "Be Anxiously Engaged"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/be-anxiously-engaged?lang=eng

Real Happiness

His commandments are the voice of reality and our protection against self-inflicted pain. The scriptures are the touchstone for measuring correctness and truth, and they are clear that real happiness lies not in denying the justice of God or trying to circumvent the consequences of sin but in repentance and forgiveness‍ through the atoning grace of the Son of God

Elder D. Todd Christofferson - April 2010 General Conference "The Blessing of Scripture
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/the-blessing-of-scripture?lang=eng

Effort on Our Part

We do not need to achieve some minimum level of capacity or goodness before God will help - divine aid can be ours every hour of every day, no matter where we are in the path of obedience.  But I know that beyond desiring His help, we must exert ourselves, repent, and choose God for Him to be able to act in our lives consistent with justice and moral agency.  My plea is simply to take responsibility and go to work so that there is something for God to help us with.

      Elder D. Todd Christofferson - October 2014 General Conference "Free Forever to Act for themselves"

      https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/free-forever-to-act-for-themselves?lang=eng

Path to What We May Become

The gospel of Jesus Christ opens the path to what we may become. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His grace, our failures to live the celestial law perfectly and consistently in mortality can be erased and we are enabled to develop a Christlike character. Justice demands, however, that none of this happen without our willing agreement and participation. It has ever been so. Our very presence on earth as physical beings is the consequence of a choice each of us made to participate in our Father's plan.  Thus, salvation is certainly not the result of divine whim, but neither does it happen by divine will alone.  

      Elder D. Todd Christofferson - October 2014 General Conference "Free Forever to Act for themselves"

      https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/free-forever-to-act-for-themselves?lang=eng

Brotherly Hands

This is the most sacred day of the year for special remembrance of brotherly hands and determined arms that reached into the abyss of death to save us from our fallings and our failings, from our sorrows and our sins.

     Elder Jeffrey R. Holland - April 2015 General Conference "Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet"

      https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/where-justice-love-and-mercy-meet?lang=eng

Safely Back Onto the Right Path

Everyone loses his or her way at some point, to some degree. It is through the promptings of the Holy Ghost that we can be brought safely back onto the right path, and it is the atoning sacrifice of the Savior that can return us home.

Elder M. Russell Ballard - April 2012 General Conference "That the Lost May Be Found"
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/that-the-lost-may-be-found?lang=eng

Victory Over Every Fall

·        We celebrate the gift of victory over every fall we have ever experienced, every sorrow we have ever known, every discouragement we have ever had, every fear we have ever faced—to say nothing of our resurrection from death and forgiveness‍ for our sins. That victory is available to us because of events that transpired on a weekend precisely like this nearly two millennia ago in Jerusalem.

     

      Elder Jeffrey R. Holland - April 2015 General Conference "Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet"

      https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/where-justice-love-and-mercy-meet?lang=eng

He is the Way

·         I testify that the Savior’s Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, our heartaches and our despair... There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life.  Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength, as the hymn says, “beyond [his] own.”  The Savior reminds us that He has “graven [us] upon the palms of [His] hands.”  Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now... He knows the way out and He knows the way up.  He knows it because He has walked it.  He knows the way because He is the way. 

      Elder Jeffrey R. Holland - October 2006 General Conference, "Broken Things to Mend"

      https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/broken-things-to-mend?lang=eng

Remember Them No More

The Atonement is not a general thing that is for the whole Church. The Atonement is individual, and if you have something that is bothering you—sometimes so long ago you can hardly remember it—put the Atonement to work. It will clean it up, and you, as does He, will remember your sins no more. 

President Boyd K. Packer- April 2015 General Conference “The Plan of Happiness” 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-plan-of-happiness?lang=eng