What I Believe About the Atonement

While chatting with a friend about his dating history, he mentioned that as he has gotten older, the length of his relationships has decreased.  Also, the length between his relationships has increased. This made me curious because mine have been the opposite: they have gotten longer and more often as I have gotten older.  We continued to talk and he said that there was a difficult time in his life when he made some mistakes and ever since his self-confidence has kind of gone down because he figures that good girls would want to date guys who haven't made such mistakes. Sometimes mistakes make us feel like we are not "good enough."

The truth is, which ever mistakes my friend was referring to is irrelevant. As we live our lives and get older we will make more mistakes, some big, some small. Either way, I am no stranger to the idea he was referring to.

I would like to share what has been my opinion regarding this, for as long as I can remember. There was a time when I did really have to ask myself if I truly believed it and I found out that I did: as far as people who have made any mistake, and when I say ANY I mean ANY, including things that would have made someone not worthy to enter the temple in the past, I have always figured that if someone is temple-worthy now, that means that that person is good enough for the Lord so that means that person is good enough for me. Even when people are still working on becoming closer to the Lord, at least they are on the right path, right?

I remember a visual one of my instructors used one time. He had 3 people standing in a line (now, please remember that this is only a way to exemplify a principle, not the principle itself). The front person and the last person were facing right. The middle person was facing left. The order they were in was the level of progression they were in, i.e. the Prophet is a lot more spiritual than I. The way they faced represented either facing the Lord or facing, well, you know who... (OK, Satan, I'll say it.) He said that some times we get discouraged because we think, gosh I am only at level three and wish I was on the number one spot because I want to be like the Prophet because he is so awesome and is such a good person. But how could I ever be as good of a person as the Prophet?

What my instructor explained is that in the end, what is going to matter is not which order we are in (or "level" of our progression) but the way we are facing. Even the Prophet, if he chooses to face the other way for the rest of his life will not receive all the blessings of exaltation, it does not matter which "level" he is in.  If we believe that the "level" matters, then why share the gospel with anyone? If it did matter then all the people who are just learning about the gospel would be way "behind" someone who has had the gospel in their lives their whole life. Aren't they promised the same blessings as anyone? Also, from the example, any of the three people, including the person in the middle who may have faced the left side for a long time, can turn to the right side through repentance and in the end will be OK.

Alpha and Omega by Greg Olsen

We all have been given different trials that sometimes knock us down lower and further back than we thought we could go. But as long as we have the desire to choose the right and look towards Him, we will be OK. Luckily, we are not the ones who have to make the judgment call because the Lord who is just and sees in our hearts will be able to judge us fairly. Sometimes I think there is so much unseen mercy in our lives ... one day, we will be able to recognize it.

And when it comes to being "good enough" even after making mistakes, we are good enough and others should be good enough for us because that is what the Atonement is for. We always say that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and we are grateful for his Atonement. But to truly believe in the Atonement, we have to also believe that it is not just for "me" and that it applies to every single person. Including the girl I work with, my neighbor who is struggling right now, and the guy I date. So the question is, do I truly believe in the Atonement or not?

I do believe.