LDS Quotes on Atonement
“We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker’s, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ.”
“In that most burdensome moment of all human history, with blood appearing at every pore and an anguished cry upon His lips, Christ sought Him whom He had always sought — His Father. ‘Abba,’ he cried, ‘Papa,’ or from the lips of a younger child, something akin to ‘Daddy.’
“This is such a personal moment it almost seems sacrilege to cite it. A Son in unrelieved pain, a Father His only true source of strength, both of them staying the course, making it through the night – together.”
“The Atonement is our singular hope for a meaningful life.”
| The Infinite Atonement
“God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability!”
| Ensign, July 1975, p. 7
“The Atonement of Jesus Christ does not just provide a way to clean up messes; it provides the purpose and desire to avoid making more messes. The Atonement doesn’t allow us to ignore our appetites or pretend they don’t matter, but to educate and elevate them.”
| The Continuous Atonement
“Healing seldom comes in an instant, with one decisive choice or one divine ministration. That is a function of our mortal limitations, not the Healer’s. Divine mercy, like the Sun, ‘must dazzle gradually or every man be blind.’
“The novelist Marilynne Robinson also saw judgment in more compassionate terms. She wrote: ‘The reaction of God to us might be thought of as aesthetic rather than morally judgmental.’ God wants us to live beautiful lives.”
“The great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we must ‘repay’ him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process that, with the Savior’s help, leads us along the path to a saintly character”
| The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 149;
“In our life’s journey to return to and become more like our Father, we are not left alone. God has given us the necessary gifts to help us in our mortal experience…These gifts help us navigate our lives toward eternal goals. What a comfort it is to know that there is a plan providing us with a Savior, Jesus Christ. His sacrifice makes it possible for all people who comply with His gospel teachings to be forgiven through repentance. What a comfort it is to know that help is available for us to succeed in our endeavors to return to live with our Father in Heaven. What a comfort it is to know that we are not alone sailing uncharted waters as we go through life’s experiences.”
| Gifts to Help Us Navigate Our Life, April 2009 General Conference
“The miracle of the Atonement can make up for imperfections in our performance.”
“It is hard to know when we have done enough for the Atonement to change our natures and so qualify us for eternal life. And we don’t know how many days we will have to give the service necessary for that mighty change to come. But we know that we will have days enough if only we don’t waste them.”
| "This Day," Conference April 2007