On the Atonement as Love

Today is the midpoint of Holy Week.

Yet here we LDS are in our community, troubled by so many revelations of impropriety, of anticipation of announcements of Conference, that I feel we are losing the deep significance of what Christians celebrate this week.

Atonement.

Our third article of faith says: “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”

I think this really says what we Mormons think of the atonement: it is the eventual forgiveness of our sins, the redemption of our fallen state, conditioned upon our obedience.

Our Book of Mormon explicitly defines atonement as being necessary to satisfy the demands of justice, for if mercy robbed justice and removed the punishment for our sins, god would cease to be god.

I wonder.

I really, really wonder about this concept that justice demands punishment else god would cease to be god.

And I doubt it.

It makes no sense to me, not any more.

I recognize that in rejecting our LDS and Christian definition of atonement, I probably offend some and put myself outside of Mormon and Christian orthodoxy.  To the self-appointed defenders of our religion, my questioning and doubting of the atonement as defined in our scripture and articles of faith makes me “antichrist”.

So be it.

I have come to realize that the atonement, as taught by Christ himself, has nothing to do with penal substitution or the satisfaction of a justice bound god.

It is entirely about Love.  And only about Love.

Last year on Wayfaring Fool we did a contemplation of the atonement as taught by Christ in John chapters 11 through 17.   We discovered that during the Atonement discourse and events, Christ taught nothing about the fall and the necessity to satisfy god’s justice.

Midpoint in the week, we explored the Atonement in the context of Judas’ betrayal and the separation we feel from god and each other.  All the symbolism of the Garden of Eden narrative, the betrayal, the very crucifixion — these all demonstrate a pattern of separation.

To reconcile this separation, to atone, is not by virtue of some payment that gets us out of hell —be it “free” in evangelical Christian thought, or “after all we do” in Mormon scripture—atonement is the call to BE ONE.  Present tense.  Something we are called to DO in order to be One.  The atonement is the opposite of separation: it is that which connects us.

And what is that Commandment?  What is the connecting power of the Atonement?

Love.   God’s Love.  Unconditional Love.  A new Commandment, that we love one another. 

But much more.  That we abide in love.

True, Jesus said, “if ye love me, [ye will] keep my commandments.”  And then he said, “and this is my Commandment: that ye love one another as I have loved you.”

But what does this mean to love someone?

1.  Love is unconditional: it does not judge.

Our Mormon definition of love often includes judgment and reproach.  We love our children, and thus demand that they stay on the Lds path without deviation—if they stray, then they are cut off from our presence.  This is he pattern stated by god in the the Book of Mormon: if ye keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land.  If ye keep not my commandments ye shall be cut off from the presence of god.

Our current prophet spoke of how god’s love is not unconditional.  Our church defines Jesus as Judge, and patterns all church officers as being “common judges”, discerning the Worthiness of members.

Judgment of others is deeply engrained in our culture.  And we judge those who judge.

Yet Jesus said: “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world”
(John 12:47)

So, when we embrace the atonement as Love, we too must cease to judge others.  Love does not judge.

2.  Love is not hierarchal, but equal.

Deeply embedded into LDS doctrine is the idea that there is a hierarchy of intelligence, that whenever two people exist, one is more intelligent than the other.  The Lord is more intelligent than all others, and our priesthood leaders are the noble and great ones, chosen before they were born.  (Abraham 3)

Accordingly, we revere our leaders, we put upon them honorific titles of bishop, President, elder...  we consider them the lord’s anointed and any evil speaking of the lords anointed is cause for church discipline,

We even have a temple ordinance, the second anointing, that declares that these elect are *separate* and holy from the rest of us.  In deep irony, the ordinance includes the washing of feet, pronouncing that the recipient is clean from the blood and sins of this generation.

Yet when Jesus did this very act, he was demonstrating the exact opposite: the washing of feet was a demonstration that the person called to lead is to set himself beneath those he is called to serve.

And Jesus called us to be friends: the only kind of relationship that is truly equal.

3.  Love is about now, not the future.

When our narrative about the atonement focuses upon being “saved” in the future, I believe it takes us out of the present, and puts us into a mode of self preservation and self exaltation.

Yet Jesus did the opposite.

Somehow, we equate this with how by his death and resurrection we too will be resurrected into eternal life if we are “worthy”.

This focus on future personal salvation and exaltation is the opposite of what I believe Jesus called us to do in his atonement.

He called us to Be One through Love.

To *Be* is eternal present tense, not about becoming something in the future.  Jesus quoted Psalm. 82 in declaring “Ye ARE gods” even if we will die like men.  To be is the very Name of God: Yahweh—I AM.

To be One is to be unified in our diversity.  It does not mean that we are singular and separately saved.  To be One is to be fully connected in our diversity.

And what is that connecting power?  How can we BE ONE?  Jesus answers, through Love.

Love is present tense.
Love never judges or separates us.
Love does not seek her own, it is never hierarchal.
Love abides forever.

Love is the First Commandment.
Love is the Second Commandment.
Love is the Greatest Commandment.
Love is the Commandment upon which all else depends.
Love is the New Commandment.
Love is the Last Commandment.
Love is the Atonement.

Love is something we do.

Here.  Now.  Together.

One.

A Liturgy on the Spirit World and Beyond

As I passed my local Catholic Church this morning, I noticed the parking lot is empty, for the first time this week.  All other days during Holy Week, Christianity celebrates pivotal events in the Passion of Christ.  Yet today, Saturday, there are no masses, no services, no formal, institutional worship of god.

God has died.

(sigh)

I was prepared, in contrast, to seek from our LDS scriptures, a point of view on the Spirit World that doesn’t view this time between the Crucifixion and Resurrection in such bleak terms, that Christ died and ascended instead to a glorious spirit world.  I opened up to Doctrine and Covenants, Section 138, highlighting Joseph F. Smiths dream-vision of the afterlife.  He starts with his contemplation of 1 Peter chapters 3 and 4, quoting:

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”
(1 Peter 3:18–20)
“For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
(1 Peter 4:6)

Then, Joseph F. Smith sees in vision, an “innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faith in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality…they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand…There Jesus preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection, and redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance.  But to the wicked he did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised.”

As I read President Smith’s words, my heart sank.  The Jesus I have come to know visited me in my unworthiness, when I was in the midst of addiction and self-condemnation.  The Jesus I have read about in the Gospels communed with publicans and sinners – the “unjust”, not with those who were the “just”.  The Christ who met with his disciples washed the feet of all of God’s children, even he who would betray him.  The Christ who gave his last commandment, his New Commandment, told us to love one another, as he has loved us, that is, unconditionally.  And when Christ was crucified, he proclaimed, “tetelestai” – “It is completed”, meaning, that the connection of love between heaven and earth, between saint and sinner, between us and all that is, is now complete, whole, and unconditional.

(sigh)

To be honest, I’m struggling with the contradiction between President Smith’s exclusive vision of the paradise of the holy versus the prison of the sinners.  I struggle, because I wonder, “where is the dividing line between saint and sinner?”  Is there really an “us” versus “them” in the eternities?

The thought makes reason stare.

I truly think there are some wonderful ideas in Mormon thought, but the hard-line dualism between us and the rest of the world is not one of them.  It’s not loving.  It’s not edifying.  And to me, those two failings of this theology – this specific dualism – witnesses that it isn’t of god.  God is Love, universal, absolute, unconditional love.  Yes, if we Love him in return, we WILL keep his commandments, and which commandments?  We will love one another as Jesus and God have loved us.

And again, to be honest, I do not know that there is an afterlife.  Yet, there are a large number of anecdotal stories of near death experiences that give me pause – there are enough hints that keep my faith in our afterlife story alive in me.

One of the most common experiences in these near death experiences, completely uncorrelated with what kind of life one has lived before, is that in entering into the next life, three things happen:

1. We are greeted in unconditional love and kindness.
2. We see, in perspective, the events of our life, and feeling sorrow for our fears and lack of love,
3. We are motivated to be more loving, inclusive, and kind to all.

I sense that these perspectives are largely formed by our cultural biases, but that may well be the skeptic in me.  Yet what I hear from these near death experiences – almost all of them – is that the next life is characterized by unconditional love.

Nearly thirteen years ago, my mother passed away.  It was a tough two years before she died; she was in chronic pain, had become addicted to opiates, and had developed multiple infarct dementia.  Coherent conversation ended perhaps six months before she died, and for the last several months, she couldn’t speak.  Yet, on Mother’s Day, 2004, one week before she died, she told me, in clear voice, “I love you, Mark.  I love you, Mark”.

A few weeks later, we had a family wedding of one of my nieces in the St. George Temple.  The sealing room was so packed we had to sit three people to every two chairs.  For whatever reason, at the last minute, the chair one seat away from my niece vacated.  This is where my mother would have sat were she alive for this event.  I checked – it wasn’t intentional, yet in my heart, I knew that she was there, for she loved this niece and had felt a special connection with her.

To this day, nearly thirteen years later, I miss my mother with all my heart.  Do I know that I will be with her in the eternities?  No, I don’t know.  But I hope, I have faith, that God is loving beyond all that I can possibly imagine, and in that Love, things will just work out.

So in this walk this week in Jesus’ last week of life, I walk into this spirit world.  I place myself today, not on the Cross, nor in the tomb, but walking into this spirit world.  Will this be a prison or paradise for me?  If I had to choose, based upon my own self-condemnation and hatred for the many stupid, selfish things I do, I pretty sure I with the sinners.

It’s a good thing Billy Joel is here as well (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

But I am wrong in this assessment.  Not the “sinner” part – that’s pretty clear.  But the prison, as it turns out, is in my mind – my self-defeating behaviors, my compulsions, where I exercise control, dominion, or compulsion over myself, or over others – these are the prisons of my mind.  Paradise is all around me, and I fail to see it.

But this I know.  In walking with Jesus in this Spirit World, I am walking with him in BOTH prison and paradise.  They are not separate places, but rather, separate states of mind – or better said, a “separated” state of mind.  Our dualistic thinking, our black-and white mentalities, our favoring of those like us and condemning of others – all things that separate ourselves – these are the prisons of our mind.  These are the Hell that we experience not just in the afterlife, but rather, they are a living hell, here and now: our fears, anxieties, hatreds, angers, contempts, and disgusts bind us with the chains of Hell.

And Jesus comes, to liberate the captives – us – from these bonds.  The Atonement is the connecting principle of Love that frees us from our self-defeating behaviors, for if we Love, our fears cannot paralyze us in anxiety, but rather, we act in love to overcome them.  Our angers will not morph into contempt and disgust, for we will seek loving answers one with another.  The Atonement – God’s unconditional love – marks the path and leads the way, and every point defines, to light and life, and endless day, where God’s full presence shines.

Where is this afterlife?  Where is this Spirit World?  In some of our theology, we presume that this Spirit World is not in some separate place in the sky, but around us.  This is a scary thought, in a way, thinking that all of our ancestors are watching us as we do embarrassing things… but this a literalized absurdity.  If we think of the Spirit World, not as "there", but *here*; if we think of Eternity not as "then", but *now*, a new perspective arises:

Life before death.

What if, to take the perspective of a near death experience, I think in terms of a “new life experience”?  What if, as I contemplate this Spirit World into which we have entered, I think in terms of what happens in a near death experience:

1. Can I seek for and find the unconditional love and kindness all around me?
2. Can I see, in perspective, the events of my life, and feeling sorrow for my fears and lack of love?
3. Can I be motivated to be more loving, inclusive, and kind to all?

As I have walked this week with you in the last steps of Jesus’ mortal ministry, I have come to realize that Love is the entire meaning of the Atonement.  Nothing else matters.  But love is not an abstract feeling, it finds in me, the need to see the love around me, assess whether I am being loving – not to condemn myself in shame, but rather, to find what I need to do better – and then, day by day, walk with you, sharing each other’s burdens, mourning together, and comforting each other.

And the Comforter comes, and abides, in this very moment.

The Spirit World is here, now, and forever.

A Good Friday Liturgy

For most of Christianity, Good Friday is the holiest of days, more holy than Easter or Christmas – something I’ve never quite understood.  Even the name baffles me.  “Good”.  And then the symbol of the Cross --  I don’t think as Mormons, we have any real theology or symbolism in the Cross – in fact, I believe we shun it.

Perhaps there is a good reason to shun the Cross.  There is an aspect of this that it’s use in Roman times was as an instrument of torture and capital punishment.  Christ was not the only one crucified, but many were.  Over time, there seems to be no limit to who cruel people can treat others in the name of justice, and I wonder why anyone would use it as an affirming symbol.  Would we use a noose, guillotine, or electric chair as a symbol for something good?  I hardly think so.

I have long held this opinion, perhaps unkindly so.  When I was on my mission, having contracted Typhoid fever, I was rushed to a Catholic hospital, and feeling like I was about to die, asked that the symbol of a Cross be removed from the room.  As a rather self-righteous, unempathetic Mormon missionary, I failed to realize how offensive my request was.

Since those days of my youthful folly, I have come to realize the deep significance in the Cross as a symbol to so many Christians.  It is not just as a symbol of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ to atone for our sins, but for how the Cross represents the center of all that is – the nexus between heaven and earth, between life and death, between body and spirit.  In a deeply paradoxical way, the symbol of death becomes the center of life.

And Jesus knew this.  Deeply.  The beginning of the Passion narrative in John, starts: “Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world” (John 13:1).  While I suspect that he knew the forces of evil were marshalling against him – any revolutionary heretic would know this – there was something more in his prophecy.

He knew that he needed to die, but the reason he gave in John wasn’t to satisfy justice, to pay a ransom for guilt, or to be our substitute for the penalties we deserve.  He said, “But now I go my way to him that sent me; and … because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” (John 16:5-7)

Thus, the reason Jesus died, according to his own words in John, was that we might have the Comforter abide with us.  Why was this the only way?  It seems incomprehensible to me.

Perhaps, if I stop trying to think this through, and put myself into the narrative through creatively contemplating what happened next, perhaps the answer is yet to come.

On Friday morning, the Sanhedrin convened a “Church Disciplinary Court” on Jesus of Nazareth.  This is not so hard to imagine for us today – it seems to happen often, when someone doesn’t quite fit into the norm of LDS rules.  Jesus’ encounter with the Sanhedrin sounds ominously familiar.  He stands alone, with the Council surrounding him as his accusers.  They try all sorts of charges against him, and finding nothing, they elicit a direct confession from him.  Indeed they ask, “Are you, then, the Son of God?”  Jesus answered, “I AM what [you say] I AM”.  Consider what he said.  The most sacred name, JHVH, means something like “I AM”, as revealed to Moses on the mount.  God said, “I AM that/what I AM” to Moses, and then said, “Go tell them that I AM (JHWH) sent you.”  To the Church leaders of the time, this was the highest form of blasphemy.

Was Jesus the Son of God?  Was he JHWH, the very God they worshiped from Abraham?  Jesus had said in John 9, “Before Abraham was, I AM”, again invoking the Sacred Name.  To the Jews and Christians alike, God is not a human being, so for a human to suggest that he is in any way “God”, is a profound blasphemy: it is taking the name of God in vain.  It is worshiping the creature rather than the creator.  God cannot be human, he is forever “the Other”, the “Numinous” – that which, being uncreated, is outside from us – wholly different.

Yet this man, this mortal being Jesus of Nazareth, proclaimed, “I AM”.   That was enough for them.  He was excommunicated on the spot, and would have been stoned to death if the Disciplinary Council weren’t subject to Roman rule.   So they sent Jesus off to Pilate.

Yet they had a problem: blasphemy is not a capital offense to Romans.  They make Emperors their god all the time, so the idea that a man could be god would be no big deal.  So, instead, they trumped up charges that Jesus made himself a King.  How Jesus and Pilate respond to this charge dominates the rest of the Passion narrative.  The Way in which Jesus Christ is King becomes the answer as to why Jesus had to die in order for us to live in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus and Pilate engage in a brief but deep philosophical discussion:

Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, “Art thou the King of the Jews?”
 Jesus answered him, “Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?”
Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”
Pilate therefore said unto him, “Art thou a king then?”
Jesus answered, “[as] Thou sayest, I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
Pilate saith unto him, “What is truth?”  And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all,”

Pilate’s reasoning was to determine if Jesus was a King in the sense of the world, and that such a King would constitute insurrection.  But instead, Jesus spoke of another kind of Kingdom, one inside each of us, as he had taught earlier, “the Kingdom of Heaven is within”.  It is a Kingdom where “I AM, the Way, the Truth, and the Life”, and as such, “Truth” is the essence.

Pilate understood completely. Asking, “What is Truth” without seeking an answer, he concludes, “I find no fault in him at all.”  and asks the Jews if he should release their King.  Their answer?  “We have no king but Caesar.

As I contemplate this scene, and all else that follows, the “crown” of thorns, the sign above his head, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”, I begin to realize that Jesus Kingdom is not of this world, and may never be so in my lifetime.

Yet we continually put up men to be our leaders and kings, priests and presidents.  We seek to have a powerful hero fight our battles for us.  We are King-men and women, seeking to have a powerful leader who can fix that which we cannot fix ourselves.

Are we any different than the people at the time of Samuel who demanded that they have a king?  Were the people of the time of Christ any different?  They expected on Palm Sunday that Jesus would be their King, and, disappointing them, turned against Him.

The reality is that we cannot truly be One in love one to another if we continue to look toward Power and Authority figures rather than taking responsibility for loving one another ourselves.  As long as there is a King and hierarchy, we cannot be One with each other.  The Atonement is not possible as long as there is a Man in charge who is the exclusive focus of our love and admiration.

Yet in this moment of the Cross, such philosophical notions about kingship and truth are abstractions to be dealt with another day.  We are at the moment of Jesus crucifixion, the death of our God and King, and our hearts mourn.  We walk the path of sorrows, trying to find meaning, and such meaning eludes us in the present.

The Cross sits high above us, seemingly connecting heaven and earth.  Darkness surrounds us, as we deepen in sorrow: why does this have to be?  Our souls, like the veil of the temple, are rent in grief.  No easy or quick answers can calm our mourning.

Ye Jesus speaks, and tells John to care for Mary as his mother.  He is no longer there to bind our sorrows, to heal our sick, to bring comfort to the grieving.  Instead, we must comfort one another, we must find the connecting principle that helps us become one.  In our afflictions, in the sorrow of our hearts, we come before Cross and realize how deeply we need each other.

Then Jesus says, "It is finished"; the Greek word "Τετέλεσται"/tetelestai, from the exact same verb teleios that meant, perfect, complete, and unconditional LOVE.  In dying, Jesus has made the connection of Love, and in that connection between heaven and earth, between god and human, between male and female, between all that is, we find Christ in the Midst of us.

The Atonement is made complete in Love.

We are One.

A Liturgy on the Atonement

Holy Wednesday is known as “Spy Wednesday” because on this day, Judas is said to have made a bargain with the high priest to betray Jesus.  It is a time when the crowds, so effusive in their praise of Jesus on Sunday, now are turning against him.  They will eventually betray him, as did Judas, demanding the Romans to “Crucify Him”.

As I meditate on this scene, I contemplate how easy it is for me to be swayed by desire and fear into spaces that disconnect me from the divine.  Judas succumbed to something inside us, as did the people, in choosing to separate themselves from the god who could save them.  Is this not symbolic of so much we do as humans?  When we are filled with desire or fear, we can be swayed to a kind of mob mentality, a choice to destroy rather than to build, a choice to separate rather than connect. 

In a symbolic way, this choice to separate ourselves from God is the essence of the Garden narrative.  When Eve and Adam made a choice to be human, they chose to disconnect themselves from God.  As Mormons, we embrace this as an essential choice – the right choice, yet we must also realize that they “sinned” in doing so.   The plan was for them to learn through their own experience to distinguish good and evil, and when they would sin, a Savior would be provided for them.

So here we are, mid-Holy Week, contemplating the betrayal of Judas, the fear-based mob mentality that drives a wedge in our relationship with god, separating us from the divine.  This is the gathering of the darkness in our journey, when we contemplate the our separation from God, and our need for the Savior.   We seek something.

Atonement.

A moment of silence touches my soul as I consider the word, and how much baggage this principle provides for so many who have embarked on a journey of Thoughtful Faith.  Our Book of Mormon describes the atonement in very specific terms:

“For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption.

For the atonement satisfieth the demands of justice" (2 Nephi 9:6-7, 26)

This explanation gives me pause, because it says that God is so rigid, so fixed on justice, that he must have a *satisfaction* of the law, and such satisfaction must be infinite.  I have three responses to this:

1.  Is that a good description for a god of love? 
2.  Where did the idea of “satisfaction” of law and justice come from?

3.  How does this doctrine affect how we live?

To the first point, I do not believe that God is so vengeful, so demanding of justice, that he requires the death of his Son in order to satisfy an infinite need for justice.  I think this makes god out to be a monster, rigid and inflexible.  But more importantly, such a doctrine justifies a kind of legalism in how we behave toward one another, that we can justify condemning others based upon this principle. 

Secondly, this idea of “satisfaction” is interesting in its origin.  The use of the term indicates that the Book of Mormon’s view of atonement derives from Anselm’s Satisfaction Theory of Atonement, that Jesus Christ suffered and died to satisfy God’s just wrath against man’s transgressions, from Adam onward.  In effect, much of our LDS thinking of the atonement derives from this, and from Calvin’s Penal Substitution Theory of Atonement.  Whether to satisfy god’s wrath, or to stand as substitute for the punishment mankind deserves, these theories of Atonement all make god a monster. 

The problem is that these theories of atonement do arise not from scripture, but rather, a distinctly non-Mormon worldview: that mankind is a degenerate, fallen creature, totally depraved, and incapable of freedom to choose the right.  Mormons, on the other hand, believe that we are co-eternal with God, that the Fall was a necessary part of a plan, and that mankind is imbued with free agency: we can choose to do good, or we can choose otherwise. 

As for the third point, I simply wonder, when we focus so much on the guilt and pain we have caused Christ; when we harrow ourselves with shame for our sinful selves, what are we to do differently because of these theories of atonement?  How do they help us?

I don’t believe they do.  And when I read the Passion narrative of Christ, I find no evidence at all of these theories.

I believe we need to embrace a more inspiring model for atonement, one that first examines, this Holy Wednesday, what it means for us to separate ourselves from God, and then finds the Way to reconnect ourselves to God. 

The Wednesday Liturgy starts with the betrayal of Judas.  There is a scene where Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus head with a “pound of spikenard, very costly”, and Judas reaction was that he thought this to be over the top.  Indeed, the value of twelve ounces of this imported essential oil from Nepal was an entire year’s salary for a laborer, perhaps the equivalent in today’s dollars of $30,000.  Yet as frivolous as this seemed, Jesus allowed it. 

The scriptures paint Judas as evil in his intent, but I’m not sure that is a fair assessment.  He may have had good intention, we cannot be sure.  His act was to move the story along, but more importantly, his act of betrayal, for whatever reason, was an act to *separate* Christ from his disciples, and vice versa. 

In like fashion, the people who a few days earlier celebrated hosannas at Jesus’ triumphal entry were now doubting, and ultimately called to *separate* themselves from Jesus, demanding him to be crucified.

When we look back to the symbolism of the Fall, the act of Eve and Adam to partake of the fruit caused them to *separate* from the presence of God.

If the effect and status of mankind as a result of the fall and our errors in judgment is to separate us from god, then the atonement must be the reconciliation of us to god.  When we view the various theories of atonement through the ages, whether “Christ Victor”, “Moral Influence”, “Ransom”, “Satisfaction”, or “Penal Substitution”, none of these actually address *how* we connect back to god.  In fact, they all result from a perspective that Fall creates depravity rather than separation.  None of these terms focus on what the Atonement actually is, or what we should do about it.

The Gospel of John presents Christ’s *Connection Model of Atonement*: how we become ONE with God. He starts by stating his intent:

John 14:2-3 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

We interpret this verse to speak of the heavens – that the kingdom of heaven is full of various “mansions”.  But the Gospel of John is not as much about the future, as it is symbolically about the present.  The Kingdom of God is to be found within.   When Christ receives us unto himself, it’s not so much about the next life as it is about this one: we become reborn in Christ when he receives us unto himself. 

John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 

“At that day” refers to the moment that we are received into Christ: we realize something, we shall know something: not something that is happening “at that day”, but rather, that it has always been the case.  We shall realize that Jesus is IN the Father, and we are IN Jesus, and Jesus is IN us.  We, then, will realize that we ARE NOT separated from God, but rather, his presence is here, now, within us, and we have but to become reborn – resurrected in this life – in order to realize it.

John 15:4-5 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.  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.

What is this saying?  A branch, separate from the rest of the vine, cannot bear fruit.  Jesus is stating, in unequivocal words, that we MUST be connected to the Vine, to Him.  Jesus has explained the Atonement, that only by his death will they be able to reconnect themselves to the Vine, and the connecting power, the power of resurrection, is the Comforter, who abides with us, so that we can abide in Jesus, and He in us. 

Then, Jesus prayed:

“Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee…And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent…
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be ONE, as we are.Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be ONE; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be ONE in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be ONE, even as we are ONE: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect (complete, whole, unconditionally loving) in ONE…
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

The Atonement, as an English word, is literally made up of a phrase, “At-One”.  For us to understand the atonement as Jesus Christ taught it, we must set aside all worldly philosophies of “satisfaction”, “Ransom”, or “penal substitution”.  Jesus wants us to be ONE *in exactly the same Way* Jesus is ONE with the father.  This isn’t future tense: he is not speaking about being ONE in some future life as a resurrected being.

As humans, we seemed to be easily estranged from ourselves, from each other, and from whatever God may be defined as being. The Atonement is an amazing principle: we are forgiven already, so stop feeling guilty and get on with living. Oh, and be One with yourself, with god, and with each other. At-one-ment means just that.

If we accept that because of the Atonement of Christ, then the original Jewish principle of the Yom Kippur scapegoat symbolism is deeply meaningful.  Let us cast aside our sins and move on to the enlightened life, each day (yom) can thus be the day of atonement (literally, what "yom kippur" means, when we recognize our deficiencies, cast them onto the symbolic atonement sacrifice, and embrace the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is HOW we are to be ONE with each other.  Every part of the teachings Christ gave in this Holy Week liturgy has the effect of *connecting* us to the One.

On Sunday, we realized that the King of all is not found on thrones of red, but in homes of the humble, that he who comes in the name of the Lord…is us.  We are ONE when we bless each other, lifting each other’s burdens.

On Monday, we realized through the washing of feet, that we are ONE with each other, as we humble ourselves in service, connecting each other in love.

On Tuesday, we realized that the Comforter exists as ONE with us, as we connect with and comfort those who stand in need of Comfort.

The Atonement is the connecting principle, the way we are ONE with all that is, was, and will be. 

Then, and only then, will we realize and know that God is already in us, and we in God, as we declare, “Hear oh Israel, I AM our Gods, I AM ONE.”

Atonement

I've always been intrigued at the Jewish idea of Atonement: once a year, between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the Book of Life is opened, and Jewish people draw inward to determine where their life does not fit into the Book of Life, and then, identifying behaviors that aren't consistent with what is expected by God, they place their 'sins' on what was a 'scapegoat' -- a type of sacrificial lamb, and make a determination to live in tune with the better life.  The scapegoat, no longer sacrificed or sent afield as in ancient days, is symbolic of where we set aside our sins.  What is fascinating is that "Atonement", to the observant Jew, involves deep personal responsibility.

As the Jewish Christian community evolved, and the temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the community came to associated Jesus Christ as the "suffering servant", the "scapegoat", in a symbolic sense, that would take upon himself our sins.  It was clear to the Jewish Christians that Jesus Christ as the "Atonement" symbol was deeply symbolic.

On the other hand, Paul proclaimed the Corinthians that he had taught them that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor 15:3)  To the Greek converts, who became the majority of Christians by the end of the first century, the idea of "Atonement" had departed from the association with Yom Kippur.  Paul had seen in Christ a relief from his personal feelings of depravity, that the unredeemed man was condemned to death.  Later, Augustine would magnify the concept of original sin and guilt, leading to the Calvinist concepts of total depravity of mankind.

Along with the evolving idea that mankind was inherently evil were an evolving set of ideas around Atonement.  Whether these were "Moral Influence" -- that God needed to send Christ to put mankind back on track, or "Ransom" theory -- that God needed to pay Satan a ransom for the sins of mankind from Adam, to the Penal Substitutionary Model -- where mankind was so inherently evil that someone had to satisfy God's justice by paying the penalty for our sins in order to redeem mankind to the justice of God.

But here is the deal: all the Christian concepts of Atonement, including those taught in the Book of Mormon and in the LDS Church, are based upon man being completely estranged from God: the natural man is an enemy of God.  And while there might be some aspect of our personality that is worldly and evil, LDS beliefs are more that we have divine nature, an uncreated intelligence, co-eternal with God, that is better reflected that we are truly, literally, in ways we cannot fully embrace, children of God.  All of us. 

Given all this history of Atonement and the our true, divine nature, I do not believe the standard definition of Atonement: the concept that God is so hung up on justice that Jesus had to be tortured and killed in order to satisfy his thirst for vengeance for our sins. All the stories told in the church to try to explain this concept simply have failed to convince me that this makes any sense.

As well, I'm also reject the idea that original sin has any relevance to us today.  LDS Doctrine is that Christ's atonement has saved us (past tense) from the fall and therefore man is free. Since all this has already happened, the concept of original sin and fallen man is now moot: we are free agents, and I believe this deeply. The symbolism, however, of fallen man and redemption is very important.

As humans, we seemed to be easily estranged from ourselves, from each other, and from whatever God may be defined as being. The Atonement is an amazing principle: we are forgiven already, so stop feeling guilty and get on with living. Oh, and be One with your self, with god, and with each other. At-one-ment means just that.

If we accept that because of the Atonement of Christ, then the original Jewish principle of the Yom Kippur scapegoat symbolism is deeply meaningful.  Let us cast aside our sins and move on to the enlightened life, each day (yom) can thus be the day of atonement (literally, what "yom kippur" means, when we recognize our deficiencies, cast them onto the symbolic atonement sacrifice, and embrace the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

To me, atonement is best explained in the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. When Jesus asked where her accusers were, she didn't see any. Then he said, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." He forgave her, releasing her from the bondage of her sexual addiction, then charged her to live her life in harmony with the gospel (as it were).

It's important to note that he had already forgiven her before any act on her part. The idea that the atonement is conditional places conditions and limits on God's love, with is both infinite and unconditional. He has forgiven us from the foundation of this world -- we need only accept this atonement: he stands at the door and knocks, we need but to open up the door. We do not earn atonement, we embrace it -- we become one with it.

My testimony of the Atonement is a personal one. I was once addicted to alcohol, mainly because of the guilt I felt when I took a drink. I could never drink moderately, because I felt that I had already sinned, so I might as well enjoy it. It became an obsession -- i simply could not stop. I went into AA, because frankly, all church repentence processes, including going to bishop after bishop, failed to work. At the point that I 'turned my will and my life over' to a higher power, whom I felt was 'christ', I had a complete removal of even the desire to drink at all. ever. I did not have to go through a period of "repentance" and proving myself worthy, although when I did go to the bishop after this release from addiction through the atonement, I had to go through church discipline hell. (given the power of my atonement experience, I have an un-testimony of CD as a result of this). I came to the deep realization that atonement is absolutely real and tangible. I attribute this personal miracle to Christ. While this release from addiction could have been a result of releasing myself from church-imposed guilt, I don't know, nor do I care. The personal, spiritual experience I had from this release was very tangible to me.

Now I really don't know whether Jesus Christ will serve as my judge someday in the eternities as part of an entrance examination in the the "heaven" per the 'standard definition' -- to me, he already has judged me and found me to be acceptable to him. Completely and totally. The arms of his love completely encircled me and he has stood by my side since. So to me, Jesus atoned for me, and is my personal Savior and Redeemer.