--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - George H. Brimhall collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 24 number: 6 published: 1921-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'George H. Brimhall, "Vital Problems of Life," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 6 (April 1921): 533–541.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2406unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2406unse start_page: 533 end_page: 541 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2406unse publication_year: 1921 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Vital Problems of Life Vital Problems of Life A Study for the Advanced Senior Classes of the M. I. A., 1920-21 By Dr. George H. Brimhall Lesson XXI. — Why Believe in the Atonement? Introduction In considering the love aspect of the atonement, the thought of sex affinity has no place. Filial love, parental love, love that preserves justice from autocracy and prevents mercy from degenerating into mere indulgence; to this form of love our discussion is confined. The sacrifice aspect of the atonement is foreign to human sacrifice. The offering of human sacrifice is grievous to the God of Israel, whether it be on a priestly altar, a funeral pyre, or a battle front. The Father neither slew the Son nor aided those who did it. He approved a plan of duty-to-the-death that higher life might come. The criminality of human sacrifice was proved at the altar of Elkanah, the non-necessity of it was shown on Mount Moriah. Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham 1:1-20; Genesis 22:1-21. Not human slaughter but psychic unselfishness was the gift acceptable to the God of Abraham. Selfishness in sacrifice makes the act sinful, and they who seek a martyr's crown are among the ones who miss it. Sacrifice in disobedience is never acceptable to God, from the days of Cain and Abel unto the present hour, but sacrifice with obedience brings forth the blessings of heaven. I Samuel 15:22. Sacrifice made contrary to the word of God, the counsel and admonition of his recognized authority on the earth, has behind it either faithless ignorance or egotistical wilfulness. /. Believe in the Atonement because it is a marvelous love scheme. In the light of what has been done through the Atonement, it seems evident that its purpose was twofold; the proving of God's love for man, and the winning of man's love for God. No one in this day of enlightenment, will deny that one of the highest aims of existence is service; neither will anyone deny that the quality of service is to be measured by the amount of unselfish love put into the service. Unselfish love makes 534 IMPROVEMENT ERA way for liberty, and liberty presupposes the pursuit of happiness; not the mere acceptance of the best conditions, but the yearning for and the reaching out after these conditions. The divine plan to prove God's love for humanity was, make way for humanity to voluntarily come into a state first, to of helplessness, thus making helpfulness possible, thus opening the way for the awakening of gratitude in the human breast. The fall of Adam has been called a fall upward, but it must be remembered that the upwardness of that fall began with the provisions of the redemption. Eve had no occasion to rejoice in the act through which she was banished from Eden until it was revealed to her that mortality could carry over into immortality. Her transgression left her at the bottom of the letter U. The curve upward began when the Christ mission was made a part of her mind content. She and Adam had gone to the bottom of the well and were companions of death. The atonement was the ladder by which they could voluntarily ascend; faith, repentance, and baptism being the rounds of that ladder. Through the fall the unescapableness of divine justice was provided for. Man learned what it was to be spiritually dead, i. e., to be justly an outcast from the presence of his Father, God; and that, too, without the knowledge of any pathway back, and with a keen consciousness of an unworthiness for that spiritual life or companionship with God. There was no room for complaint, the claim of justice could not be challenged; its power to encompass the universe was left unquestioned; sternly he stood at the gateway forbidding the entrance of a hope to the tree of life, yearnings only could pass him by. Through the atonement, the infinite reach of mercy was provided for. Behind this mercy was something more than justice, something more than mercy, it was the sum total of them both so blended that the strength of the one was unimpaired and the sweetness of the other unwasted. It was the love of God starting from the heights above and reaching to the depths below. Well did the psalmist exclaim, "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there." Psalms 139:8. The fathomless interest of Divinity in humanity is expressed in the scripture, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. No one can fully know what that gift meant except him who gave it. It was a gift of a son, a counselor, a companion Deity, made by the Father that he might prove the love of Divinity VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 535 for humanity, and win the love of humanity for Divinity and thus increase the love and joy of both. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay clown his life for his friends." John 15:13. "God is love." John 1:5. But God is more than love, and yet he is more love than anything else. The love element dominates in him. The godliness of man is measurable by his love of God, subject to the test of keeping God's commandments. The Son planned the play in which he, the hero of the great drama, must give to each and all of humanity more than they could give to him. They should with freedom become helpless captives of death; Christ should ransom and give new life to all; he should suffer and die and descend into the pit; open the prison doors, and provide a gospel dispensation for the dead. I Peter 3 18-20 ; "Vision of the Redemption of the Dead," Improvement : Era, December, 1918, p. 166. The Christ was to be in hell but not of it, and all this for love; first, of his Father, second, of humanity, third, of his mission, wanting nothing more. That he neither sought for nor thought of other recompense is made clear in his prayer report to his Father. John 17:5. He paid the race death debt, that man might be in the life to come an immortal living soul, which is more than he was in the life before, for then he was but a living spirit. He gave his body and shed his blood that man might have a body new with spirit blood within its veins; and then besides, he lived an earth-life which not only taught the way, but made the path back from spiritual death to spiritual life, which spiritual the enjoyable presence of him with whom Adam dwelt life is in Eden; and thus the Christ, the hero, became the ideal of the eternal ages. The love-winning power of the atonement glows in the expression, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John 12:32. And there is prophecy as well as edict in the two great commandments, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the sescond is like, namely, this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31. The last personal injunction of the Great Redeemer to his apostles was a love message: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 13:34. One of his final declarations pointed to the carryover of 536 IMPROVEMENT ERA his affections into the world beyond, when he said, "I go to prepare a place for you, * * * that where I am ye may be also." John 14:2-3. These statements seem to encompass all love from the call of Divinity to the coo of the dove; parallel in scope with the reach of the atonement from the abode of the God to the prisons of the condemned. Reading References Mediation and Atonement, John Taylor. At Rest with Christ, Joseph F. Smith. Elias, Canto III, Orson F. "Whitney. Added Upon, Nephi Anderson. Pearl of Great Price. The Four Gospels. "Vision of the Redemption of the Dead," Joseph F. Smith, Improvement Era, Dec, 1918. Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 19, 29, 45, 74, 76. Gospel Doctrine, Joseph F. Smith, pages 120-121. 'The Original Sin," Vitality of Mormonism, James E. Talmage. "The Fall and the Redemption," Orson F. Whitney, Era, March, 1921. Suggestion A fitting hymn to sing at the close of this lesson will be, "I know that my Redeemer lives," the favorite hymn of President Joseph F. Smith. Questions and Problems 1. With what form of love does this lesson now deal? 2. Show that parental love, filial love, and fraternal love are prominent elements in the atonement. 3. Why is the seeking of a martyr's crown a sure way to miss finding it? 4. How did the Fall contribute to the making of a way for God to prove his love for humanity? 5. Show that the evident purpose of proving one's love is to win the love of others. 6. Discuss the seeming paradox: "Love's captives are always free." 7. WTierein does the atonement provide for the heroic element of life? 8. How does the atonement provide for man to receive more than he can give? 9. Illustrate this definition of mercy: Mercy is the going further for another than we must To fulfil an obligation. It is being more than just. Discuss this quotation from Shakespeare's "Merchant of Ven- 10. ice:" "Therefore, Jew, though justice be thy plea, consider this; that in the course of justice, none of us should see salvation." 11. Show that justice gains our confidence, and mercy wins our love. Illustrate. In the light of John 12. 12:32, where do we find prophecy as well as edict in the two great commandments? VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 537 13. Quote the Redeemer's new commandment to his disciples at Jerusalem. John 13:34. 14. What does the expression, "God is Love," mean to you? 15. Make a memory gem of the test of your love of God. John 14:15. 16. Compare the two following quotations: "Love levels all ranks, and puts the shepherd's crook beside the scepter." Bulwer Lytton. "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am ye may be also." Jesus. Lesson XXII. — Why Believe in the Atonement? (Continued.) II. Believe in the Atonement because of its free agency pro- visions. In the widest sense, free agency consists of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the atonement plan, a newness of life is provided for; an "added upon" form of existence; a mortal state; a more than spiritual existence; a condition of being able to be more, to do more, and to enjoy more than was possible in the premortal state. After the provision for life, comes the one for liberty, the privilege of choice. Life gave man the capacity to choose, but not the possibility of choosing; because possibility requires capacity and opportunity for the exercise of that capacity. Possibility is capacity plus opportunity. The possibility for free agency required a law which man felt conscious of being able to keep or break. The forbidden fruit no doubt contained the causes of physical death, but the disobedience accompanying the act of partaking of the fruit was the forerunner of a spiritual death, a psychic or mental unfitness for the presence of the Lord. Adam's first banishment was self-inflicted, he fled to the thicket, he was out of harmony with the divine in himself and therefore could not enjoy the presence of the divine without, even though it be his Father. Of course, just as men do now, the first man tried the experiment of slaying in Eden, in a condition altogether incompatible with the position or place; he would be in and out at the same time, but he could find no hiding place in Eden. Transgression destroyed Adam's desire for his Father's presence, and the ejection from Eden separated him from his Father. He was as if he His guilt estranged him, justice banished him. had no Father, he was spiritually dead. While the Fall banished Adam from the presence of the Lord, it brought him face to face with the divinity within himself, a something from which he could not even hope to hide. Through the Fall was born the human conscience, a knowledge of good and evil and its responsibilities. Man, from a creature of innocence guided from without, became a creature 538 IMPROVEMENT ERA of ethical experience to be moved and guided from within as the Gods were, and thus far man through the fall became as God. Man had obtained something desirable, but it had come to him through the breaking of law, and instead of being a blessing or addition to his joy, it became a calamity diminishing what joy he had. Adam and Eve, estranged from God out of Eden, were spiritually dead, with the sentence of physical death upon them. But one tie existed between them and paradise, and that tie was a yearning. Faith and hope, the two arteries of spiritual life, were severed, still Adam and Eve yearned, and God heard their yearnings; he called; they heard and answered, like every soul must hear and answer, when spiritual death has separated them from God. They cried, "Lord, what wouldst thou have us do?" and he answered, "Make sacrifice," and they, in faith and hope, obeyed. The spiritual resurrection had begun; they had died through choice to disobey; they were being made alive through choice to obey. Adam and Eve were spiritually dead, yet physically alive, saw evidence of the impending doom to physical annihilation; they saw the great chain of death and destruction with the creatures of the air, the water, and the land. As the strong lived by the death of the weak, they saw both growth and death. They saw the perpetuity of the race, but the death of the individual in that chain of destruction of which they were a part. They had yearned for spiritual life, and their Father brought it to them through his own voice, the ministry of angels, and their obedience, yet had they another yearning which was a desire for individual continuance. God heard that yearning, also he knew it would come and had made provision for its gratification through the atonement. By the choice of disobedience they had lost the right to bodies, by choice of obedience they were to establish the right to a renewal of their bodies, a physical resurrection. He presented the contract in symbol; they signed it, not with pen and ink, nor mark of any kind, but with their whole bodies. They wrote it in the elements, they were baptized in water and confirmed by authority, the spiritual resurrection was complete. Adam and Eve had now a free agency birthday, they were by choice son and daughter of God. Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses, Chapter 6:64-68. Doc. and Cov. 25:1. From the vantage ground of a free agency birth the atonement provides for the purest happiness through an infinitude VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 539 of time, which is eternity, by the exercise of the free will in the line of obedience to the law upon which happiness is predicated. ///. Believe in the Atonement because without its vicarious- ness no human repentance can be complete. Complete repentance consists in (a) the recognition of wrong, (b) the regret for doing wrong, (c) the discontinuance of the wrong, (d) the reparation of the wrong and its effects. Aman may recognize the wrong of neglect to his family; he may regret that neglect, he may discontinue that neglect, ho may provide well for them physically, morally, and spiritually; but can he make up for the lost opportunities of his children in their education, in the stunted growth, caused from lack of food, can he pay for the premature agedness of his wife, to say nothing of the effects of his negative conduct on society in general? Can he fully compensate? or, is he dependent, as was Adam, for a completeness of reparation? No one's repentance can be complete enough to make full reparation, because sin goes further than the sinner, or his reach to recall. It throws the universe out of harmony, and to the Master of the universe must be left the completion of the compensation; and this part of repentance is a gift from God, IV. Believe in the Atonement because it not only provides for the unconditional redemption from the effects of the race- sin, but it also provides for a conditional redemption from the effects of our individual sins. See 1 Cor. 15:22;1 John 1:7. V. Believe in the Atonement because through the resurrection of Christ it has demonstrated the truth that, though dead, men shall live again. The resurrection of Christ was no fiction. Jesus, the Redeemer appeared at least fourteen times in his resurrected body: 1. To Mary Magdalene at Jerusalem. 2. To other women at Jerusalem. 3. To two disciples at Emmaus. 4. To Peter at Jerusalem. 5. To ten apostles at Jerusalem. 6. To eleven apostles at Jerusalem. 7. To seven apostles at the Sea of Galilee. 8. To five hundred disciples at the Mountain of Galilee. 9. To James at Jerusalem. 10. To apostles at Bethany (Ascension). See Rand McNally Bible Atlas, page 111. 11. Introduced by his Father to the Nephites in America. 12. To the Nephites, preaching the gospel. 13. Healing the sick and conferring the priesthood. 14. To Nephite disciples.See Book of Mormon, III Nephi, 11:29. 540 IMPROVEMENT ERA VI. Believe in the Atonement because of its cost! The atonement cost a rebellion in heaven; it cost the banishment of one third of the hosts of heaven; it cost the decension of a Deity to the earth, and suffering more than mortal man hath ever known living. A life more ideal than mortal could live. VII. Believe in the Atonement because of its naturalness. Anyone who finds fault with vicariousness, or the law providing that one may suffer that others may enjoy, let him think of his own entry into earth life. If he would criticise in the name of nature a provision for one to die that others might live, let him think of the flower that must lose its leaves that fruit may be; or of the planted seed that must give up its germ of existence that the plant may come into the sunshine. VIII. Believe in the Atonement because of its universality (a) as to time, (b) as to place. The story of the atonement in various forms is found in the traditions of the savages on the main lands, and on the islands of the sea. The mythology of the pagan bears witness of its existence, the Old Testament foreshadows it in ceremony and the New Testament makes record of its culmination; and the best of modern civilization is an outgrowth of all it has meant and promises to the world. IX. Believe in the Atonement because of its origin. The origin of the atonement was the legislation of the law and order element of heaven. See lecture on atonement, Orson F. Whitney, and particularly his quotation from the III canto "Elias." Era, March, 1921. X. Believe in the Atonement because a disbelief in its demands the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher of falsehood. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 3:5. Questions and Problems i 1. Discuss this statement: inevitably leads to banishment - Sin from God; (a) self banishment of unfitness, (b) his withdrawal. 2. Discuss the following analysis of the first spiritual death, (a) entertaining evil, (b) accepting a half-told lie against the Lord's truth, (c) exercising agency against God's commandment, (d) lack of desire for communication with God, (e) discomfort in God's presence, (f) withdrawal of God's Spirit beyond man's power to recall, (g) official decree of spiritual separation between God and man. 3. Consider the following steps of the first spiritual resurrection, VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 541 (a) response to God's call, their prayer, (b) confidence, obedience, not blind obedience, to divine instruction, (c) symbolic signature to the contract, a new alliance with God, (baptism by water) (d) God's official approval of the contract, confirmation, gift of the Holy Ghost, (e) man's renewed desire for and enjoyment of the presence of God, (f) a consciousness of a new cleanliness or fitness for God's presence. 4. Show that prayer is not only an evidence of spiritual health but a means of creating spiritual vigor. 5. How does Sabbath day observance tend to keep one in good spiritual health? 6. Wherein is the sacrament service a renewal of the atonement covenant? 7. How is one's spiritual health kept good by tithe-paying? 8. Show the relationship between temple marriages and spiritual life. 9. Name some of the common symptoms of spiritual sickness, leading to spiritual death. 10. What atonement advantages has the baptized person over the unbaptized? 11. Illustrate the impossibility of complete repentance without the atonement. 12. How does the atonement as a means of redemption enter into our daily lives doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves? 13. Discuss the proposition: Disbelief in the atonement brands the earth-life of the Savior either as a myth or a fraud, and thus destroys the foundation of Christianity. Reading References The list of reading references is the same for lesson 22 as for lesson 21. Introspection What do you think of me, dear little playmate, How do I look, through your wondering eyes? Am I a cloud o'er your garden of sunshine, Am I the cause of your innocent sighs? What do I mean to you, dearest companion; Noble —ah! perfect, dearer than life; Am I a blight to your righteous endeavors, Have I been the cause of sorrow or strife? What are your thoughts of me, father and mother; How am I paying the debt which is mine? Will I bring to you yet, sad disappointment, In the dreams you have cherished, sweet and sublime? What do you think of me, Father in heaven, You who can judge from the heart of your child? O, help me to know still the joy of your Presence, Grant me the privilege of seeing your smile. Auburn, Wyo. Elona Gardner Hillyard