Every night after reading scriptures, we recite a few verses from memory. The one we always choose first is "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25)
Over the past few years, I've learned more about just how big a fall from heaven that was, and it's been overwhelming.
In the past, I've generally thought of sin as an isolated, individual event, as are its effects. Sin might hurt you and the people closest to you, but that would be the end of it. A little bit of repenting would fix things up just fine.
But for whatever reason, I see things differently now. Selfishness is always at the heart of evil, but it can be perpetuated a variety of ways, and sometimes it is taught as much as it is chosen. People do have agency, but it is often hampered by a variety of environmental and cultural factors. Although a terrible person occasionally has a wonderful upbringing, most people who choose wickedness seem to slide into it in one way or another, be it through addictions, lousy parents, mental illness, societies that teach them how to hate, or any number of factors that seem to limit their accountability and agency from the get go.
Additionally, most nations have a history of oppression of some kind or another, and the effects of that can linger for centuries. Worse, quotes from religious texts -- be it the Bible, Quran, or other scriptures -- can be used as a battering ram for outrageous policies that can further this oppression by adding the threat of the wrath of God toward anyone who speaks up.
How could the Atonement cover all of this? How could the Savior redeem countries with stains of evil on them? How could He make centuries of state or religious sponsored abuse not impact the present anymore? How could He atone for pollution, for systemic racism, for unwise foreign or domestic policies, for corruption, for poverty, for drought, for wishful thinking confused with revelation, for poor decisions, and even for mistakes that still result in death? How could Christ save the world from itself?
The Savior himself had an interesting answer to that in His intercessory prayer: "I pray not for the world." (John 17:9) Considering that He earlier told Nicodemus that "God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved," (John 3:17) that seems a little harsh and contradictory.
But here's the detail I hadn't understood -- it's the "world through him" that will be saved, not just the world. It is the disciples that believed Christ that he prays for, and they are the ones who will become one with the Father, even as Christ is one with the Father (John 17:11).
Christ's Atonement is absolutely about families and communities and societies -- that's why we have churches and temples, and that's why we look forward to Zion. But those communities will be comprised of people who have chosen Him individually. No matter how we first become acquainted with sin, whether we slide into it or willfully choose it, we all need to individually turn to Christ. It is through Him that every person in the world can overcome all the scars and baggage we inherited by being born.
This is not to say that we should just give up on "The World" once we have individually accepted Christ. Although it is ultimately more important to take the slums out of a person than a person out of the slums (to quote Ezra Taft Benson), often we take the slums out of ourselves by working to take each other out of the slums. Besides, people really do have an easier time choosing the right and seeing the light when they aren't surrounded by crime, alcohol, and scarcity. Kids really do have an easier time in life when we take the lead out of their drinking water and their paint. People are less likely to return to sinful ways when they have a supportive community to nurture them through the change. We should work to create Zion both temporally and spiritually in the world we currently live in, even if The World itself will never fully be incorporated into Zion.
And ultimately, though I still do not fully understand it, I have faith that somehow all the gaps in our efforts -- the people who grow up without proper accountability, the ones who are subjected to a failed policy here or there, and the ones who never get the chance to accept Christ in this life -- were somehow already accounted for in the Garden of Gethsemane. Somehow Christ's Atonement is big enough to handle a really fallen world, because it is a world full of individuals who are still God's children. And though things may never look like Zion in this lifetime, we can all find out one by one that when we turn to Him, He is mighty to save.
Over the past few years, I've learned more about just how big a fall from heaven that was, and it's been overwhelming.
In the past, I've generally thought of sin as an isolated, individual event, as are its effects. Sin might hurt you and the people closest to you, but that would be the end of it. A little bit of repenting would fix things up just fine.
But for whatever reason, I see things differently now. Selfishness is always at the heart of evil, but it can be perpetuated a variety of ways, and sometimes it is taught as much as it is chosen. People do have agency, but it is often hampered by a variety of environmental and cultural factors. Although a terrible person occasionally has a wonderful upbringing, most people who choose wickedness seem to slide into it in one way or another, be it through addictions, lousy parents, mental illness, societies that teach them how to hate, or any number of factors that seem to limit their accountability and agency from the get go.
Additionally, most nations have a history of oppression of some kind or another, and the effects of that can linger for centuries. Worse, quotes from religious texts -- be it the Bible, Quran, or other scriptures -- can be used as a battering ram for outrageous policies that can further this oppression by adding the threat of the wrath of God toward anyone who speaks up.
How could the Atonement cover all of this? How could the Savior redeem countries with stains of evil on them? How could He make centuries of state or religious sponsored abuse not impact the present anymore? How could He atone for pollution, for systemic racism, for unwise foreign or domestic policies, for corruption, for poverty, for drought, for wishful thinking confused with revelation, for poor decisions, and even for mistakes that still result in death? How could Christ save the world from itself?
The Savior himself had an interesting answer to that in His intercessory prayer: "I pray not for the world." (John 17:9) Considering that He earlier told Nicodemus that "God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved," (John 3:17) that seems a little harsh and contradictory.
But here's the detail I hadn't understood -- it's the "world through him" that will be saved, not just the world. It is the disciples that believed Christ that he prays for, and they are the ones who will become one with the Father, even as Christ is one with the Father (John 17:11).
Christ's Atonement is absolutely about families and communities and societies -- that's why we have churches and temples, and that's why we look forward to Zion. But those communities will be comprised of people who have chosen Him individually. No matter how we first become acquainted with sin, whether we slide into it or willfully choose it, we all need to individually turn to Christ. It is through Him that every person in the world can overcome all the scars and baggage we inherited by being born.
This is not to say that we should just give up on "The World" once we have individually accepted Christ. Although it is ultimately more important to take the slums out of a person than a person out of the slums (to quote Ezra Taft Benson), often we take the slums out of ourselves by working to take each other out of the slums. Besides, people really do have an easier time choosing the right and seeing the light when they aren't surrounded by crime, alcohol, and scarcity. Kids really do have an easier time in life when we take the lead out of their drinking water and their paint. People are less likely to return to sinful ways when they have a supportive community to nurture them through the change. We should work to create Zion both temporally and spiritually in the world we currently live in, even if The World itself will never fully be incorporated into Zion.
And ultimately, though I still do not fully understand it, I have faith that somehow all the gaps in our efforts -- the people who grow up without proper accountability, the ones who are subjected to a failed policy here or there, and the ones who never get the chance to accept Christ in this life -- were somehow already accounted for in the Garden of Gethsemane. Somehow Christ's Atonement is big enough to handle a really fallen world, because it is a world full of individuals who are still God's children. And though things may never look like Zion in this lifetime, we can all find out one by one that when we turn to Him, He is mighty to save.
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