183rd
Annual General Conference of
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Sunday afternoon, 6 April 2013
Elder Christofferson explains
the concept of "redemption' so carefully and so thoroughly that I choose to summarize this
address by directly quoting him.
Key Doctrines and Principles:
“The word redeem means to pay off an obligation or
a debt. Redeem can also mean to rescue or set free as by paying a
ransom. If someone commits a mistake and then corrects it or makes amends, we
say he has redeemed himself. Each of these meanings suggests different facets
of the great Redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ through His Atonement,
which includes, in the words of the dictionary, “to deliver from sin and its
penalties, as by a sacrifice made for the sinner.” (Webster’s New World College
Dictionary, 3rd ed. (1988), “redeem.”)
“The
Savior’s Redemption has two parts.
Favorite Quotes:
First . . . Physical death is well understood; spiritual death is
the separation of man from God. This redemption . . . is both universal and
without condition. (. . . “All
overcome the grave and are resurrected to immortality. In addition, all
overcome spiritual death by being brought back into the presence of God to be
judged. . . . Those who are cleansed from sin will remain with God in the
heavenly kingdom (3 Nephi
27:14), but those who have not repented and are unclean cannot dwell with a
holy God, and after the Judgment they must depart and thereby suffer spiritual
death again. This is sometimes referred to as a second death or suffering
spiritual death a second time. (See Helaman
14:15–18.))
. . .
Favorite Quotes:
“Inasmuch as we follow Christ, we seek to participate in and
further His redemptive work. The greatest
service we can provide to others in this life, beginning with those of our own
family, is to bring them to Christ through faith and repentance . . . We
can also assist in the Lord’s redemption of those beyond the grave (D&C
138:57). . . . With the benefit of
vicarious rites we offer them in the temples of God, even those who died in
bondage to sin can be freed . . .for the prisoners shall go free” (Doctrine
and Covenants 128:22).” (Emphasis mine.)
“If [we] reject the Savior’s Atonement, [we] must redeem [our]
debt to justice [our]self. . . . (Doctine
and Covenants 19:16–17). An unredeemed individual’s suffering for sin is
known as hell. It means being subject to the devil . . . (2 Nephi
2:29). Even so, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, hell has an end,
and those who are obliged to pass through it are “redeemed from the devil [in]
the last resurrection” (Doctrine
and Covenants 76:85).”
So what:
“We, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, go about doing
good in the redemptive pattern of the Master. This kind of redemptive work
means helping people . . . Much of our redemptive work on earth is to help
others grow and achieve their just hopes and aspirations.”
“Some forms of temporal redemption come by collaborative
effort. It is one of the reasons the Savior created a church. Being organized .
. .we can not only teach and encourage each other in the gospel, but we can
also bring to bear people and resources to deal with the exigencies of life . .
. on a scale needed to address larger challenges . . . to help redeem the needs
of our fellow Saints and as many others as we can reach across the globe. . . .
All of this does not begin to count the individual acts of kindness . . .by
which we may participate in the Christlike work of redemption.”
“As disciples of Jesus Christ, we ought to do all we can to
redeem others from suffering and burdens. Even so, our greatest redemptive
service will be to lead them to Christ. Without His Redemption from death and
from sin, we have only a gospel of social justice. That may provide some help
and reconciliation in the present, but it has no power to draw down from heaven
perfect justice and infinite mercy. Ultimate redemption is in Jesus Christ and
in Him alone.” (Emphasis mine.)
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