Atonement
When God the Father sent us to earth, He longed for us to return. However, the laws of justice required us to an atonement made by one who was sinless in order to live with God again. He knew we would not be sinless, and therefore we couldn’t atone for our own sins. Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, offered to carry out the atonement on our behalf. He would come to earth and live a perfect life, and then serve a brief mission. At the end of the mission, He would take on the individual sins of each person and suffer for them, even though He himself would never sin. This was done in the Garden of Eden. Finally, although no one could take His life from Him, He would voluntarily sacrifice it, allowing those who didn’t believe in His mission to kill Him on the cross. He would then be resurrected, setting the stage for all of us to be resurrected as well.
All of this the Savior did, and all was planned for us by Him and by a loving Father in Heaven, who endured watching His Son suffer and die because He loved us.
Mormons believe that there were two parts to the Savior’s gift. The first is grace, which is a free gift given to all God’s children. Everyone will be risen from the dead and allowed to live forever, regardless of their choices here on earth. Everyone also has the ability to repent of his sins as a result of grace.
The atonement gives us more than this, however, and what it gives us is based on our choices. We can choose to accept or reject the Savior’s gift of atonement. Atonement is literally “At One-Ment,” meaning it is a process that allows us to become at one with God. If we accept the gifts we’ve offered Him, love Him and work hard to make Him proud of us by keeping His commandments, we can return to live with Him.
Paul told the Corinthians: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” (1 Corinthians 6:9). God is pure and only those who are also pure can live with Him. Our lives are meant to be a time of preparation to live with God, to become the kind of person who is worthy to live with God-and comfortable doing so. This is what the atonement gave us-the opportunity to work toward perfection, which, while not entirely attainable in this life, is something we can work for, gradually improving our ability to live God’s commandments. The greater our love, the easier obedience becomes. Our outward actions are a demonstration of our inward testimony.
Living forever is a wonderful gift, but to live forever without the ability to be in God’s presence would be a terrible thing for those who love Him. The gift of the atonement isn’t just grace’s gift of life everlasting, but the greater gift of eternal life with our Creator.