“Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.” (2 Nephi 2:27)
This verse, part of an address in which Lehi describes the atonement shortly before his death, has long coloured my view on Christ as mediator. It’s that phrase “all men” (I’m including women) that speaks to me. We often see the atonement discussed in terms of payment of debt, a debt we incur as a result of our sin, as a result of our harming others. This model is most explicitly laid out in Boyd K. Packer’s April 1977 conference address titled “The Mediator”, and which for me appears to lean heavily on the application of justice. This is the model I grew up hearing at church. The use of the term Mediator in the context of the conference address strikes me as somewhat strange when model described is much more one of redemption of a debt.
I see the role of mediator as being far more expansive, as doing much more than settling a debt. Mediation, if done well, brings all parties involved to a reconciliation. In His role as Mediator, I see Christ not only as standing between me and God the Father, but, more importantly to me, between me and everyone else. We are all of us bumbling mortals causing harm to each other, most often inadvertently. Christ stands between us all, knowing our pain, sharing our anguish (Alma 7:11-13). From where does the demand for justice originate if not from those who are hurt? Here Christ stands before us, with perfect empathy for our suffering, having paid any debt we are owed, having paid any debt we owe, seeking to reconcile us with the one who has caused us harm, with the one we have harmed. It’s a model of mediation I’ve seen approached more recently in the words of President Uchtdorf:
“The pure love of Christ can remove the scales of resentment and wrath from our eyes, allowing us to see others the way our Heavenly Father sees us: as flawed and imperfect mortals who have potential and worth far beyond our capacity to imagine. Because God loves us so much, we too must love and forgive each other.” (The Merciful Obtain Mercy, General Conference, April 2012)
In his post “An argument for “Mormon Universalism””, Benjamin Knoll suggests we select our own place in the heavens according to where we feel most comfortable. I enjoyed his thoughts. It struck me that one factor affecting how comfortable we will feel is going to depend very much on how happy we will be to share space with those who have hurt us; the extent to which we are able to forgive, to truly see others and ourselves as Christ sees each of us.
Discuss.
Wheat & Tares 
Thanks Hedgehog for that post.
I have come to not like or believe that the Atonement is like Elder Packer describes. The situation we find ourselves in spiritually is not like the repayment of a debt. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation for ourselves – the debt is not repayable by us. It assumes that righteousness on our part can operate in a similar way to the way that Christ suffered for sin – to me that is simply not the case. Righteousness does many things but one of them is not to “pay off” sin.
The oft quoted scripture about being saved after all we can do highlights this misunderstanding. The line of thinking is that we participate in righteous behaviour, which earns certain “points” and the lord makes up the rest – like repaying a debt. That style of thinking elevates us to partial Saviours in our own right and, to me, approaches blasphemy.
I believe the Lord expects us to do what we can – more important to BECOME what we can. But in the end he makes up 100% of what we need. There is no amount of righteousness that can self-atone our mistakes and sins.
I think the view of mediator as someone who makes up the remaining unpaid portion of the debt has a good basic use (as does the parable of the bicycle). It was helpful to me in getting a good introductory understanding of he atonement. Being able to internalize the idea that all our works are reflective of our promise to follow Christ, and those works don’t inherently contribute to our reconciliation with the Father takes a bit more (for me, anyway, maybe it clicks more easily to others).
LDS_Aussie, part of the confusion is that Joseph Smith actually referred to members as saviors on Mt. Zion by performing work for the dead. That and us referring to “saving ordinances” makes it very easy for people to see our understanding of salvation as works-based. There has been an uptick in talking about grace lately, but it is unlikely to really put a dent in how we talk about and phrase things.
As far as forgiveness goes, I heard a testimony in the last couple years from a man who’d been bullied mercilessly as a kid and teen. He talked about randomly running into one of the worst bullies as an adult recently. He’d been traumatized for years by what that guy had done. If I remember right, the one-time bully approached this guy and said he was very sorry for what he’d done, and he hoped the guy could forgive him. The guy giving the testimony explained that he had NEVER expected to run into this guy, and had NEVER believed he’d be able to forgive this bully for what he’d done. Yet suddenly he felt this incredibly wave of peace and love come over him, and he realized that it made it possible for him to completely forgive this man. He said it was truly a miracle, and he couldn’t believe the feeling of a weight being lifted, a weight he didn’t even realize he’d been carrying. So yes, the atonement is very capable of bringing us at peace with those who have really hurt us. It won’t be immediate, but if it’s anything like this man experienced, it truly can be life-changing.
Mary Ann – thanks for that story about the bully. It is a representation to me of what I was (trying!!) to say. That is, that the Atonement is ultimately about us BEING something different – something like the Saviour. His decision to forgive was the catalyst for a miracle of change. Does this action undo his sins…? No. I don’t think it does for any of us, but the change in his heart brought him (and the one time bully) closer to the Saviour.
I have spoken before (http://www.wheatandtares.org/15864/why-am-i-obedient-to-insert-commandment-here/) about the relationship between obedience and blessings. Whilst Mary Ann I think you are right in referencing our role as Saviours in the Temple, I think a large proportion of the reason why we place so much emphasis on obedience is because of scriptures such as D&C 130.
The linking of obedience to blessings (the way it is traditionally believed) is another fallacy. And I think this false causal relationship is extended to “if I perform righteous acts, I can (and should) get myself to Heaven”.
Additionally, the very nature of our doctrine seemingly supports this notion of righteous action = going to heaven… in that we have three degrees of glory (and several more in the Celestial Kingdom).
I think for some, it is impossible to separate who you are from what you do. I have a feeling that many people who were “written off” by otherwise righteous church members might find that the Saviour has a different view of them both in the final analysis….
LDS Aussie, yeah. That particular view seems very one-dimensional to me now.
Mary Ann, I’m certainly enjoying the bigger emphasis on grace that we’ve been hearing in recent years. And thank you as well, for that lovely story about forgiveness.
Hedgehog, I love tying this concept into that universal Mormonism post of how we self select where we want to end up. It certainly goes with last month’s visiting teaching message of meekness. You don’t have to be a doormat, but once those South African saints were finally allowed into the LDS building – they had to become fellow saints with those who imposed the injustice on them in the first place.
I love the visualization of Christ as my mediator at a table bringing both sides to agreement on a fair settlement. One interesting thing about mediators is they don’t employ a set of rules that all agreements must meet – so each new mediation is a clean slate, and truly unique experience where the answer to one mediation wouldn’t be appropriate for another set of circumstances.
LDS-Aussie:
I love what you have said. It was very good. Be brave, though. It’s not going to be easy.
Mary Ann:
I say the same thing to you as I did to Aussie.
I will mention one of the sentences you made:
“ There has been an uptick in talking about grace lately, but it is unlikely to really put a dent in how we talk about and phrase things.”
I’ve seen this as true. Even though the church membership has been wrong on this subject for about 175 years, from the top to the bottom, when coming to the truth, it seems to have paralyzed them. I think it is shameful.
Hedgehog:
Let me repeat the conference address you quoted:
“The pure love of Christ can remove the scales of resentment and wrath from our eyes, allowing us to see others the way our Heavenly Father sees us: as flawed and imperfect mortals who have potential and worth far beyond our capacity to imagine. Because God loves us so much, we too must love and forgive each other.”
The first sentence is fine. Christ will do all that, but the mortal existence is where He wants us to learn that and, indeed, love each other and forgive each other. What if, in this mortal existence, we don’t do that and so we leave this existence not loving and forgiving each other?
ANSWER: We will be saved anyway.
Mormons just have a hard time with that. But it’s true. Such a person will very definitely be saved, but after the judgement, they might not make it to the Celestial Kingdom.
All members should read D&C 76:40-44 and understand it for the first time in their lives.
When I wrote the sentence –
“ANSWER: We will be saved anyway.”
It should have been
ANSWER: THEY will be saved anyway.
Even though WE will be saved too
Rich “Christ will do all that, but the mortal existence is where He wants us to learn that and, indeed, love each other and forgive each other. What if, in this mortal existence, we don’t do that and so we leave this existence not loving and forgiving each other?
“ANSWER: We will be saved anyway.”
I don’t disagree. I tend to think it will be easier to see each-other more clearly after this life when we are not burdened down by the accumulation of mortal cares, concerns etc., though of course learning to do so here and now would benefit us here and now, and make for a pleasanter life all round.
Perhaps I disagree with Alma 34:34 in that.
“but after the judgement, they might not make it to the Celestial Kingdom.”
Perhaps not initially. But I found Benjamin Knoll’s post interesting in terms of the possibility of progression. But sure, any of the kingdoms constitutes being saved. I think the early saints saw that more clearly, and the tendency today is to discount anything below the top level of the celestial kingdom.
Hedgehog:
“Perhaps I disagree with Alma 34:34 in that.”
34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.
Don’t worry about that. Remember, that on that subject, you know much more about it than Alma, the younger, does. He had no knowledge of the degrees of glory. He knew nothing about the Telestial Kingdom, the Terrestrial Kingdom or the Celestial Kingdom. He knew about heaven as opposite of hell.
You have the D&C 19.
“10 For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it! For, behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore—
11 Eternal punishment is God’s punishment.
12 Endless punishment is God’s punishment.”
Eternal punishment is not just going to hell forever, which, I would think is much, much worst, but it is also going to the Telestial Kingdom forever or the Terrestrial Kingdom, or the lower degrees of the Celestial Kingdom even though these far, far, far less worse than hell as was mentioned in the D&C.
109 But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore;
110 And heard the voice of the Lord saying: These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits upon the throne forever and ever;
111 For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared;
112 And they shall be servants of the Most High; but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end.
The Judgement of God is Eternal because it is perfect. There will be no advancing from one kingdom to another.
Forget about Benjamin Knoll’s post. It simply won’t be like that.
Hedgehog:
“I tend to think it will be easier to see each-other more clearly after this life when we are not burdened down by the accumulation of mortal cares, concerns etc., though of course learning to do so here and now would benefit us here and now, and make for a pleasanter life all round.”
Very true. But remember, the judgement is based on our mortal existence – not our post-mortal existence. If we could have received and joined it here, that will have an effect on the judgement.
Rich, sure. But I’m not sure we necessarily have right a) what it is that is being judged, and b) what the right responses are. There’s Abraham 3:25. But Abraham 3 doesn’t actually tell us what the answer is. A lot of things are assumed. Life as a test to be passed as a once only proposition affecting eternity seems quite flat. hat if what is being assessed is how much we learnt from the experience, given our starting point, handicaps etc. What if we continue learning and get to refer to our mortal experience in that process, regardless of where we are initially placed at judgement?
Hedgehog:
“I’m not sure we necessarily have right a) what it is that is being judged, and b) what the right responses are.”
You have to find out what is being judged.
You have to find out what the right responses are.
You have to do it while you are in this life.
If He doesn’t give it to you here, you will be taught in the hereafter. In this day and age I wouldn’t count on that. Your chosen leaders might help but in the end you will have to listen to God and do what He says.