Sunday, October 28, 2012

Atonement



Position Statement:
I believe in the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that he lived, suffered for me in Gethsemane, died on the cross, and rose on the third day. I know that he did it for me. I know that he did it for you. If we live by his teachings we can be happy in this life and live with him in the life to come because of his atonement. every time I fall down I know that he is there to lift me back up on to my feet. It is because of the supreme act of the atonement that I am able to improve each day and have hope for my own resurrection.

"If we have sinned or made mistakes—if we have made choices that we now regret—there is the precious gift of Christ’s Atonement, through which we can be forgiven. We cannot go back in time and change the past, but we can repent. The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret and remove the burden of our sins. His Atonement allows us to leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart, and a determination to do better and especially to become better."
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"My prayer is that many of us will be together in the glorious future that lies before us. I bear you my testimony that your hope for those days will be justified. The Lord Jesus Christ, through His infinite Atonement, made it possible for each of you. Heavenly Father hears and answers your prayers of faith for guidance and for help to endure in your service for Him."
-President Henry B. Eyring

"The enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us to do and be good and to serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity."
-David A. Bednar

"I do not know who in this vast audience today may need to hear the message of forgiveness inherent in this parable [of the laborers in the vineyard], but however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines."
-Jeffry R. Holland

"The message, ministry, and Atonement of Jesus Christ, our Savior, is our essential family curriculum. No scripture characterizes our faith better than 2 Nephi 25:26: 'And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.'"
 -Elder Quentin L. Cook

"I believe that none of us can conceive the full import of what Christ did for us in Gethsemane, but I am grateful every day of my life for His atoning sacrifice in our behalf. ... The darkness of death can ever be dispelled by the light of revealed truth. ‘I am the resurrection, and the life,’ spoke the Master. ‘He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.’"
-President Thomas S. Monson

 "The great and infinite Atonement is the supreme act of forgiveness and reconciliation. Its magnitude is beyond my understanding, but I testify with all my heart and soul of its reality and ultimate power. The Savior offered Himself as ransom for our sins. Through Him we gain forgiveness."
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"If you have made no mistakes, then you do not need the Atonement. If you have made mistakes, and all of us have, whether minor or serious, then you have an enormous need to find out how they can be erased so that you are no longer in darkness.
“Jesus Christ is the light and the life of the world.” As we fix our gaze on His teachings, we will be guided to the harbor of spiritual safety."
-President Boyd K. Packer

"The Lord’s revelation that through proper priesthood authority, baptism could be performed vicariously for the dead preserved the justice of His statement: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”1 Vicarious baptism can mercifully provide this essential ordinance for all worthy deceased who did not receive it in mortality.
This glorious doctrine is another witness of the all-encompassing nature of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He made salvation available to every repentant soul. His Atonement conquered death, and He permits the worthy deceased to receive all ordinances of salvation vicariously."
-Elder Richard G. Scott 

"My prayer is that as bearers of His priesthood, we will ever stay attuned to the why of priesthood service and use the principles of the restored gospel to transform our lives and the lives of those whom we serve.
As we do so, the infinite power of the Atonement will purify, cleanse, and refine our spirits and characters until we become the men we are meant to become. Of this I testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Family




Position statement:
I believe that  families are the most sacred thing we are given on this earth and our responsibility to our families stretch far beyond this life. The actions we make affect our families now, reflect our ancestor, and lay the road for our posterity. If we hold close to those truths which are most sacred our families will be blessed and the world will begin to change for the better. the world is an increasingly darker place but if we teach our children and our families the beautiful light of the gospel they will be equipped with the necessary   tools and strength to remained undamaged. may we all receive the shelter we seek from the lord.

"We need to protect our families and be at the forefront together with all people of goodwill in doing everything we can to preserve light, hope, and morality in our communities."
 -Quentin L. Cook

"When children see their parents faithfully performing Church callings, it strengthens their family relationships. When families are strong, the Church is strong. The two run parallel."
-Dallin H. Oaks

"The prophets have warned us that the home is the place to save society. A proper home, of course, is not created automatically when a boy and girl fall in love and marry. It takes those same virtues that were taught in pioneer homes—faith, courage, discipline, and dedication—to make a marriage successful."
-L. Tom Perry

"So the bad news is that family breakdown is causing a host of societal and economic ills. But the good news is that, like any cause and effect, those ills can be reversed if what is causing them is changed. Inequities are resolved by living correct principles and values. Brothers and sisters, the most important cause of our lifetime is our families. If we will devote ourselves to this cause, we will improve every other aspect of our lives and will become, as a people and as a church, an example and a beacon for all the peoples of the earth"
-Elder M. Russell Ballard

"Melchizedek Priesthood holders who are fathers in sealed families have been taught what they must do. There is nothing that has come or will come into your family as important as the sealing blessings. There is nothing more important than honoring the marriage and family covenants you have made or will make in the temples of God."
-President Henry B. Eyring

"The great Russian author Leo Tolstoy began his novel Anna Karenina with these words: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” While I do not have Tolstoy’s certainty that happy families are all alike, I have discovered one thing that most have in common: they have a way of forgiving and forgetting the imperfections of others and of looking for the good."
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"The family unit is fundamental not only to society and to the Church but also to our hope for eternal life. We begin to practice in the family, the smaller unit, what will spread to the Church and to the society in which we live in this world, which will then be what we practice in families bound together forever by covenants and by faithfulness"
 -President Henry B. Eyring

"The key to strengthening our families is having the Spirit of the Lord come into our homes. The goal of our families is to be on the strait and narrow path."
-Robert D. Hales

"The onslaught of wickedness against our children is more subtle and brazen than it has ever been. Building a strong family culture adds another layer of protection for our children, insulating them from worldly influences."
- L. Tom Perry

"When we have sampled much and have wandered far and have seen how fleeting and sometimes superficial a lot of the world is, our gratitude grows for the privilege of being part of something we can count on—home and family and the loyalty of loved ones. We come to know what it means to be bound together by duty, by respect, by belonging. We learn that nothing can fully take the place of the blessed relationship of family life."
-President Thomas S. Monson