I'm sure they had fun talking about Ihr Korken Unterseebooten
Posted on 03/16/2011 3:41:44 PM PDT by Paragon Defender
By Elder Alain A. Petion
Area Authority Seventy
Alain A. Petion, "Words of Jesus: On the Cross", Ensign, June 2003, 32
As we ponder the lessons contained in Jesus’ final words, we exclaim with the centurion, “Truly this man is the Son of God” (see Mark 15:39).
While driving alone for long distances, I enjoy listening to Handel’s Messiah and other sacred music that uses the scriptures as the text. This music has always brought deep emotions for the Savior to my heart.
Many years ago, a friend presented me with a recording of Franz Joseph Haydn’s oratorio called The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross. This oratorio came to my mind again more recently as I was reading and pondering anew the gospel accounts of the Savior’s Crucifixion, attempting to better understand His death. I gained further appreciation for the final earthly moments of our beloved Redeemer while reading Psalms 115–18, which Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles suggested must have been sung by the Savior in His last Passover. Both Haydn and Elder McConkie organize the last mortal utterings of the Son of God in the same chronological order, which I will follow here. 1
To appreciate our Redeemer’s last precious sayings, one needs to remember that the Crucifixion was the final act in a series of profound and difficult events. First was the Passover meal, followed by the mental, physical, and spiritual agony of Gethsemane. Then came the arrest and subsequent illegal trials. Pilate and Herod questioned Him. He was scourged with leathern thongs weighted with jagged edges of bone and lead. The derision of soldiers rang in His ears as they dressed Him in a purple war robe, crowned Him with thorns, and placed a reed as a scepter in His bound hands. He then bore His cross to Golgotha with the help of Simon of Cyrene. At the third hour, they crucified Him (see Mark 15:25).
Securely fastened to the infamous cross between two crucified thieves, stripped of His outer garments that were parted between the soldiers, tortured by pain with each breath in this unnatural position, the Son of God was publicly and ignominiously exposed before the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, the soldiers, passersby, and a handful of friends and relatives. Even then and there, His last words are a reflection of His divine nature.
The Prophet Joseph Smith provided significant insight by clarifying that them and they in this statement refer to the soldiers who crucified Him (see Joseph Smith Translation, Luke 23:35).
The soldiers who whipped, mocked, and nailed Jesus to the cross were obeying orders. Their choice was to do the will of Pilate or be punished. Jesus’ teachings had likely never come to their ears. To them He was but one more man from a strange and difficult-to-manage nation. Our Savior pled with His Father that their acts not be counted as sins upon their heads. The responsibility for His death rightly rested upon those who had said, “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matt. 27:25).
He who taught, “Love your enemies, … do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which … persecute you” (Matt. 5:44) was concerned for the spiritual well-being of the persons who pierced Him. What a lesson for us! Looking beyond their apparent motives, we must show concern for those who do not know what they are doing.
One thief who was crucified recognized that he was like a sheep who had gone astray and turned to his own way (see Isa. 53:6). His inner light was rekindled in the presence of “the true Light, which lighteth every man” (John 1:9). He did not join in the mocking. Instead he appealed to the Good Shepherd, seizing upon the tenuous hope that he might be saved: “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). The Savior graciously answered and gave him hope. This criminal likely did not understand that the gospel would be preached to him in the spirit world or that he would be given an opportunity to live according to God in the spirit (see 1 Pet. 4:6; D&C 138:18–34). Truly the Savior cared for the thief who hung beside Him; surely He cares greatly for those who love Him and strive to keep His commandments!
The Savior’s mother, Mary, stood there by the cross. Perhaps at that moment, as she suffered to see the infinite burden placed upon her son, the Son of God, she recalled Simeon’s prophecy: “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. … Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also” (Luke 2:34–35). Yet in her own pain, she must have sensed He was fulfilling the will of God, His Father, for it was she who had responded to the angel, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).
Now as He was about to exit this earthly stage, the Savior’s attention and ministering words turned to His mother, Mary. Joseph, her husband, had passed away. John the Beloved would now see to her needs. These words teach an everlasting lesson from the Firstborn on family responsibilities: honor God’s will from generation to generation, honor parents, and see to each other’s needs.
The preceding words from the cross were uttered between the third and the sixth hour. At the sixth hour, darkness covered the whole land for three hours as the “God of nature” suffered (see 1 Ne. 19:10–12). “It seems, that in addition to the fearful suffering incident to crucifixion, the agony of Gethsemane had recurred, intensified beyond human power to endure.” 2
In Gethsemane, an angel had appeared to strengthen the Savior (see Luke 22:43). Now He had to tread the winepress alone. No answer. No angel. Alone. To which hiding pavilion had the Father withdrawn (see D&C 121:1)? It is difficult to consider these words from His dying lips without experiencing deep emotion.
Golgotha’s excruciating public suffering reaffirmed the private agony of Gethsemane, allowing Jesus henceforth and forever to address the Father thus: “Behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed” (D&C 45:4).
Jesus’ loneliness in suffering reminds us that in His infinite love and respect for His children, God our Father may at times be silent so as to allow our meager efforts to gain the humble victory and to represent the “all we can do,” after which He will save us by His almighty grace (see 2 Ne. 25:23).
These words confirm in part the awfulness of Jesus’ physical agony on the cross. His bodily needs cried out for relief. His tongue struggled to articulate as it clung to His parched lips. In terms of physical suffering, we have a God who has “descended below them all” (D&C 122:8).
A sponge soaked in vinegar was raised to His mouth. Jesus received it and gave His final statements in mortality.
The perfect Atonement had been wrought! His suffering for the sins of the world was completed. Could there be a more glorious moment in all eternity? The Prophet Joseph’s inspired additions to the Bible teach us that before the Son said, “It is finished,” He addressed the Father. He then announced that the will of the Father had been done (see Joseph Smith Translation, Matt. 27:54).
From the first words of His prayer in Gethsemane to His last words on the cross, Jesus did the will of His Father. He drank out of the bitter cup that the Father had given Him, bringing glory to the Father and salvation to all humankind (see 3 Ne. 11:11). May we be so submissive, humble, and selfless in our mortal victories and successes!
The Son of the Almighty gave His life voluntarily. He had inherited mortality from His mother, Mary, and He had inherited the ability to live forever in a mortal state from God, the Father of His mortal body. He gave His life to bring to pass the Resurrection of all humankind. The righteous spirits in prison “were filled with joy and gladness” (D&C 138:15) at the news of His death, for His death and Resurrection guaranteed their deliverance from the chains of death. And so can we, every day of our lives, be filled with joy and gladness because of the gift of His sacrifice and Resurrection.
The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob expressed a hope “that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death” (Jacob 1:8). The Savior’s atoning sacrifice provides the means for all men to repent and thus obtain eternal life. As we marvel at the events of His death and ponder the depth and fulness of the lessons contained in His words while on the cross, may we exclaim with the centurion, “Truly this man [is] the Son of God” (Mark 15:39).
Where’s the part about becoming a god on an alien planet?
How about that part about the magic underwear? I’m curious about those things.
Please explain.
I would like for you to post what Yashua did in America after he died on the cross and just before his resurrection; according to the Book of Mormon that is. What words of wisdom did He give. Or was it something else.
Both Christians and Mormons speak of Christ's atonement, but the atonement means different things to both parties. Christians have looked to the cross of Calvary as the place where this grand act of reconciliation took place; Mormonism, on the other hand, has emphasized the Garden of Gethsemane.
On page fourteen of his book, "Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson," the thirteenth president of the LDS Church stated it was in the Garden of Gethsemane that Christ "suffered as only as God would suffer, bearing our griefs, carrying our sorrows, being wounded for our transgressions, voluntarily submitting Himself to the iniquity of us all, just as Isaiah prophesied."
He further stated on that same page: "It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him" (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pg.15).
In his book "The Promised Messiah," Mormon Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote, "Forgiveness is available because Christ the Lord sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane as he bore the incalculable weight of the sins of all who ever had or ever would repent" (pg. 337). On page 552 of the same book McConkie continues by saying, "In a garden called Gethsemane, outside Jerusalem's walls, in agony beyond compare, he took upon himself the sins of all men on condition of repentance."
On pages 127-128 of McConkie's "The Mortal Messiah," he wrote, "And as he came out of the Garden, delivering himself voluntarily into the hands of wicked men, the victory had been won. There remained yet the shame and the pain of his attest, his trials, and his cross. But all these were overshadowed by the agonies and sufferings in Gethsemane. It was on the cross that he 'suffered death in the flesh,' even as many have suffered agonizing deaths, but it was in Gethsemane that "he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him."
In light of all the importance LDS leaders leader give Gethsemane, it should be mentioned that the Bible mentions this landmark only twice. To conclude that the atonement took place there is to certainly read something into these passages which is not there. While Mormon commentators point to the sweating of "great drops of blood," the New Testament says nothing about this phenomenon having a part in the atonement.
Leaders such as Benson and McConkie both claim Jesus' greatest agony took place in the garden. However, fifth President Lorenzo Snow stated Jesus' suffering in the garden was a result of knowing He was about to face the cross. Said Snow, "... the time approached that He was to pass through the severest affliction that any mortal ever did pass through. He undoubtedly had seen persons nailed to the cross, because that method of execution was common at that time, and He understood the torture that such persons experienced for hours. We went by Himself in the garden and prayed to His Father, if it were possible, that that cup might pass from Him; and His feelings were such that He sweat great drops of blood, and in agony there was an angel sent to give Him comfort and strength" (Collected Discourses, Lorenzo Snow, 10/6/1893). The "cup" He was praying could, if at all possible, be passed was the greater pain and suffering awaiting Him at Golgotha.
By emphasizing the Garden of Gethsemane, Mormon leaders miss a very significant point regarding the atonement. The expiation of sin was not based on the substitute's perspiration, it was based on the fact that the substitute died. Christ's atonement for the sins of man was accomplished in his death, not his short time spent in the garden.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul stresses that Christ's death was of primary importance in the atonement. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 he wrote, "I delivered unto you first of all ...that Christ died for our sins."
Throughout the New Testament it is the death of Christ that is stressed. Consider the following passages which refer to the reconciliation of Christ:
Romans 5:8- "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:10- For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
Hebrews 9:22 states that without the shedding (not sweating) of blood, there is no remission of sins.
Never is the Garden of Gethsemane mentioned as playing a role in the atonement. Instead, it is the cross that is emphasized.
Galatians 6:14- "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
Philippians 2:8- "And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
To many Mormon leaders, the cross seemed to play only a secondary role. While LDS leaders do sometimes mention that Christ did die on the cross, this method of execution was only a necessary evil in order for the resurrection to take place. During a conference speech in 1953, Marion Romney, a member of the LDS First Presidency, stated, "Jesus then went into the Garden of Gethsemane. There he suffered most. He suffered greatly on the cross, of course, but other men had died by crucifixion; in fact, a man hung on either side of him as he died on the cross. But no man, nor set of men, nor all men put together, ever suffered what the Redeemer suffered in the garden. He went there to pray and suffer'" (Conference Report, October 1953, Pg.35).
Perhaps it is for these reasons that you will not find crosses on Mormon buildings. Certainly in the mind of the Latter-day Saint its significance is not equal to that of the Bible-believing Christian. We who hold the Bible dear have no choice but to concur with the Apostle Paul and declare without reservation, "That the preaching of the cross (not the garden) is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18).
http://mrm.org/gethsemane http://mrm.org/gethsemane
LDS Church takes public stance on immigration legislation
Treason!
The 181st Annual General Conference of the Church will convene in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday and Sunday, April 2–3, 2011.
I wonder what the MAIN subject will be at GC, since it's so close to April 6?
"In 1830, 172 years ago, the Prophet Joseph Smith restored the Church. Because of that significant event, prophets and apostles throughout the years have centered other activities, dedications, and celebrations on 6 April, says Alex Baugh, a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University.
?
Oh Seeker of Truth:
You will ONLY be told the parts of MORMONism that is the same as Christianity.
Any unique MORMON teachings will be severely downplayed as unimportant.
Cross, mormon - does not compute.
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Color coding explanation:
Added stuff... Changed stuff... Rearranged stuff... Removed stuff...
*(UNDERLINED stuff is the DISTRACTING reference on every fifth word that infuses LDS 'scripture' online.)
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Posh!
It mattereth not.
Mormons are not Christiuans
But worry not...
In mormonism the mormon jesus is the big bro to the devil...
and while Brucie said that mormons are not to think they can have a relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ of the Christian Bible...
mormons can still have a great relationship with the devil...
to the mormon prphets he sticketh closer than a brother...
“When they can get rid of me, the devil will also go.”
(Joseph Smith, Sunday, May 26, 1844)
“Well, these evil spirits are ready to prompt you. Do they prompt us? Yes, and I could put my hands on a dozen of them while I have been on this stand; they are here on the stand; Could we do without the devils? No, we could not get along without them. They are here, and they suggest this, that, and the other.”
(Brigham Young, JoD, 3:369, June 22, 1856)
I did not know that about the Mormons. That is something the church covered up.
See some differences between GOD’s Word and the Joseph Smith’s ‘translation’
Sorry but there are no differences. There may be differences between God’s true revealed word and what YOU accept as the correct translation however.
Have a great night all. I hope and pray you lose a little of the hardness in your hearts and let the spirit witness to you what millions know to be true.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ’s true Church restored to the earth in these latter days. You can know it too but you have to sincerely want to know and be willing and humble enough to accept the truth. It’s up to you.
interesting...
Mormonism is founded on lies and blasphemies ... and real Christians know whom is the father of lies, a murderer from the start. He continues to murder the souls of folks trap in mormonism. And you're helping him, PD.
Thank you for posting those links!
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