Gethsemane 2

Before we get into the actual scriptural account of what happened in Gethsemane, I’d like to go through a few more over-arching principles that touch on all aspects of the atonement. The first goes along with what we talked about yesterday about the transformative power of repentance. Like we said yesterday, if we were forced to suffer for our own sins, then we might have eventually become sinless, but we wouldn’t have become God-like in our attributes which is what is exactly necessary for us to be with Him again. We can be sinless, through our own purging, but if I lived a miserable existence, then had to suffer for a significant amount of time, after that, I wouldn’t want to be with the God who created me just so that I could experience all that suffering. There would very much be an “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die,” attitude because it doesn’t matter what you do, there will anguish whether or not you try to be good or do whatever you want, the amount of time might differ, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because 1 million years vs 4 million years of punishment, it’s all the same at the time.

There would be no hope for anything but misery no matter what you did, and that messes with people’s minds. Imagine being told, “ok you did you best, but it wasn’t good enough so here’s fire and brimstone for the next 25,000 years, and then you can be clean. But is that true? If there had been no atonement, the amount of sin we would have to suffer for would be infinite because we would never stop sinning because there would be no power to change who we are. If everyone is going to go to hell no matter what, then why try to be good, there would be no reason and no way to learn to be anything but the natural man.
As we live our lives, we are able to change our “fallen and carnal” state and become progressively more Christ-like because Jesus knows exactly what happened to us in our lives and knows exactly how to support us in our changes. Because he knows us so intimately, he knows exactly what we need and when we need it to become perfect. If he hadn’t performed the atonement and the only way to salvation was to suffer for our own sins, somehow pull ourselves out of the vicious cycle of sin and suffering, then become perfect on our own, the pain level would be extreme, and there might be a few people who are able to perform that feat, but my guess is that 99.9% of all of God’s creations would not be able to do it on their own, I know that I wouldn’t even try if I was given the option of eventually, maybe becoming perfect after eons of suffering.  
The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching, “the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts- what we have done. It is an acknowledgement of the final effect of our acts and thoughts- what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.” The IM continues, “With the exception of those who inherit outer darkness, every person who suffers God’s punishment will eventually be redeemed to a kingdom of glory.” But God’s plan for us wasn’t that we can all just eventually live in one of His kingdoms, he wanted us to have everything that He has, not just a little piece of something.
Let’s imagine the gospel without the atonement as a factor, what would it say? “You must be perfect to be with God again.” Well, how do we become perfect? “Do your best to keep these commandments and if you do anything wrong, you will suffer for it.” So as I get better at being perfect then I can live with God again? “No, you have to be absolutely perfect before you can live with God again.” But I’m always going to have my free agency, which means that as I learn, I will still be making mistakes. “That’s right, so you will suffer for those mistakes too.” So the only way to live with God again is to try to figure out on my own how to be perfect and suffer the whole time for things that I do wrong? “Yes.” Ok, I’m out, just don’t let me be born then.
The second over-arching point comes to us from 2 Nephi 9:22 which says, “And he suffereth this that… all might stand before him at the great and judgment day.” We talk about the demands of justice and the gift of mercy and all that, but I don’t believe that there is an actual person who is the epitome of “justice” and another who is “mercy.” Meaning that if I’m wronged by someone, who is there to be able to say “justice requires this much suffering?” There wouldn’t be because Heavenly Father wouldn’t have lived our lives, he wouldn’t know exactly what kind of punishment to inflict or when that person had suffered enough for the sins.
Only an objective third party who had both felt our pain at the offence and also felt the pain of the person who needed to suffer for those sins would be able to decide when justice had been served and the suffering had been enough. So there would have needed to be someone who either loved all equally or was equally indifferent to everyone, who was completely clean, half God and able to vicariously live the lives of all of God’s creations, to rule the court of both justice and mercy. Without this person, the perfect, all knowing judge, there wouldn’t even have been a court in which we could present our selves.
One of the points of the atonement was to create that judge, the only one who could accurately gauge justice. So in a sense, the atonement was Jesus’ crash course in law school, this is how he became the only one qualified to be our judge. With no judge, there is no judgment, which makes it sound like everything would be great, except when we remember that we’re already guilty, and that spiritually, we’ve already been put into jail. It’s like being in jail and then finding out that there will be no trial because there is no one able to hear your case appropriately, we would be stuck in jail forever, and that would be the worst.
The third point is that the atonement enabled us to be resurrected. 2 Nephi 9:22 says, “And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men.” Is it possible that we could be resurrected without the atonement? When Adam fell, he became mortal because he had broken the law of God, and we’ve been taught that the wage of sin is death, spiritual death as unfit to be in God’s presence and physical death, as we are required to live in a mortal world with mortal bodies, and therefore become subject to the decay of this life. Jesus was not required to die because he was sinless. He was God’s Son of course, but if he had been God’s Son and sinful, then he would have become required to die in a mortal world, in a flawed body just like the rest of us. It was Jesus’ sinless state that allowed him to be able to withstand pain and suffering until he chose to give up his ghost.
Without the ability for justice to be satisfied, our bodies would die and that would be the end of it. But how can justice be satisfied? Through Jesus vicariously experiencing all things, thus being punished for all sins, which justice requires to be paid. I really like the story of the boys in the school house. It goes something like a new teacher came to a school house and asked the boys to make their own rules and one of the rules was if someone was caught stealing someone else’s lunch then they had to be hit on the back ten times with a stick without their coat on. One day a small boy was caught stealing a big kid’s lunch and was forced to take off his coat so that he could be hit on the back with a stick. The small kid had stolen the lunch because he was starving and his bones were all deformed and he didn’t have a shirt on.
The boy’s pathetic circumstances didn’t excuse him from the punishment, he had broken the rules and if he weren’t punished according to rules, then that wouldn’t be fair. Justice required that the 10 hits on the back be delivered. But then the big boy who’s lunch was stolen volunteered to be hit on the back in place of the little boy. Is that fair? Technically, yes, because justice could only be served if the consequences were dispensed, but it doesn’t matter who received them, as long as they were willing to receive them. If someone were forced to take those hits to the back, then that wouldn’t be just because that would be taking away that person’s agency to not be hit, but if they were willing, then they would be able to take the punishment and serve justice.
Because Jesus was the only person able to be punished for our sins, and because he was willing, we are no longer prisoners of justice, which means that there are no outside requirements keeping us from getting our bodies back. When Jesus satisfied justice, technically, we were able to be sinless, meaning that we were no longer deserving of the wages of sin, meaning we didn’t deserve death anymore, if Jesus so chose. This meant that we would be able to get our bodies back, in an immortal, glorified state, whenever Jesus saw fit. He became the keeper of all consequences, to dispense them whenever and however he chooses.
We know that all will be resurrected as a gift, kind of a “thanks for playing” prize, and also because it was through Adam’s decision to eat the fruit that led to all of us being initially separated from God. If we aren’t able to sin until we are age 8, then it wouldn’t be just for all of us to be born outside of God’s presence and stay there until we begin understanding our mistakes after 8 years old. But we all know that we are born into this mortal world, and that’s because of the decision that Adam and Eve made to transgress, and so we are all given the free gift of resurrection as compensation for being born into a fallen world because of choices that were not our own.
The last point that I want to cover is definitely “gospel by Amy” but it makes sense to me and I want to discuss it. It comes from 2 Nephi 9:21 which says, “for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” So, for me, this  begs the question, does the atonement apply to animals as well? As far as we know, animals aren’t capable of sinning, but it’s like that saying goes, “the question isn’t can they think or can they reason, but can they suffer.” Animals are sentient beings which means that they are in fact capable of suffering, sometimes to a greater extent than humans because they don’t understand what’s going on and they sometimes trust and love unconditionally. It’s like when they realize that they are being betrayed by the person they love the most, and they don’t understand why they are in pain.
Anyway, just like the suffering that we cause to other humans must be felt in order for there to be justice, the suffering that is caused to animals must be felt too. A deer being killed feels the pain and terror, even if we need to kill it so that we can eat and live. I believe that the amount of human suffering is immeasurable and horrific, but then just factor in all the death and terror and pain felt by all the animals that have been slaughtered throughout the centuries and just heap that on top of the human part Jesus is suffering for.
I feel like even though this post is kind of scattered, I learned a lot about the atonement. I’ve always wondered why we couldn’t just do it for ourselves and I feel like I’ve realized part of the answer today.