Thesis 3: The Illusive Atonement

The basic pillar of Christianity rests on the atonement of Jesus Christ. Basically, the atonement says that all of us are sinners and that through the atonement Jesus took upon himself our sins so that we could be forgiven and return to the presence of God when we die.

This is core.

But ask 1,000 Mormons (or even 1,000 non-Mormon Christians) how and why the atonement works, and you’ll get 1,000 different answers. That’s because the scriptures and prophets that teach about it are contradictory, the nuts and bolts of the whole thing require a big chunk of assumptions, and a lot of unexplained “magic” is needed to fill in of the gaps. Here are a few of the issues that I can see:

-If God is all powerful, why does he not have the power to love us and return us to his presence even if we are “unclean” or full of sin? Can God do everything to create the universe except stand the sight of us without the blood of Jesus?

-What is this force of nature that somehow cares about when we’re “good” and when we’re “bad”? Why is that particular force/energy/accounting system deemed as the thing that will determine our forever resting place of heaven or hell? And how are our sins “counted”? Who is counting and why the heck do they care so much about who hit who and who said what?

-How did Jesus take upon him all of the sins that happened before, during, and after his lifetime? Is time non-existent? And why is this issue of time never addressed?

-In what way does Jesus suffering for our sins actually accomplish anything? If my friend Billy steals a candy bar from the store, and then I suffer pain because of it, how in any way does that “make up” for what Billy did, even if he “repents”? What does Jesus suffering have to do with anything? The connection is missing.

-What part of the creation, atonement, plan of Salvation is God in charge of, and what part is Jesus in charge of? And when we say “God” are we referring to Elohim or Jehovah? After years in the church I’m still not sure who is being referred to in talks and scriptures when “God” is mentioned- and I’m positive that I’m not alone on that.

-Why did Jesus have to suffer in the Garden of Gethsemene and then also die on the cross? Are both part of the atonement? Which part accomplishes what? And how does the Resurrection get tied in? (This is one of those bullets that will get you all kinds of “versions” depending on the Mormon you ask.)

-Is it not a little strange that the the core piece of our religion focuses on human sacrifice? It is often written verbatim that God “sacrificed his only son” to save all of us. Why do we look back on history and condemn the civilizations that tore out people’s hearts for the sake of religion, but instead look lovingly on God letting his son Jesus die in barbaric fashion by watching him “bleed from every pore” and then get crucified? Is it not weird that the symbol of most Christians (the cross) is the very device used for this human sacrifice? And why when “the plan” was being written up, was a barbaric sacrifice of a half-mortal the one thing that was required for everything to work?

And on and on and on. With all of these unexplained issues, the nuts and bolts of the atonement are rarely talked about, and members often attribute their own ideas about how it all works to a “personal testimony” of the atonement. “The atonement” is often referred to only as that phrase and glossed over as if everyone fully gets how it all works. And when detailed questioned are asked, the answer is usually something like, “we’re not sure how it works, but that doesn’t matter. When you die you can ask God about all the details!”

Perhaps this is the biggest reason of all why I’m leaving the church. After 30 years inside of it, I still don’t understand the core building block of it. Even after reading the entire canon of scripture multiple times, hearing the prophet and apostles speak in General Conference twice a year, teaching these principles during a two year mission, and going to church every Sunday, the atonement from my perspective is still full of gaping holes.

I still can’t give you a satisfactory answer that isn’t pulled verbatim from a Sunday School manual about how it works, why we need it, why it’s so confusing, why we need to rely on a middle-Eastern Jew from 2,000 years ago to make up for our tally of misdoings, etc.

Some in the church will say that I need to study and pray more to understand these answers. But if after 30 years I’m still drawing blanks, then maybe the problem isn’t with me and my learning methods; it’s with the flaw-filled core of Christianity.