{"id":452,"date":"2007-10-07T15:11:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-07T22:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newcoolthang.com\/index.php\/2007\/10\/an-atonement-parable-from-truman-g-madsen\/452\/"},"modified":"2020-01-09T05:50:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T12:50:14","slug":"an-atonement-parable-from-truman-g-madsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newcoolthang.com\/index.php\/2007\/10\/an-atonement-parable-from-truman-g-madsen\/452\/","title":{"rendered":"An Atonement Parable from Truman G. Madsen."},"content":{"rendered":"

A while back, Jacob <\/a>brougt up the idea of posting something devotional on sundays. It being conference weekend and all, I thought I’d make an effort. This is what I did between sessions.<\/em><\/p>\n

On this blog there have been many stories or parables discussed. We have, of course, argued the intent of Packer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mediator<\/a>. We have discussed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the parable of the bicycle<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, and Geoff J has graced us with his own piano player parable<\/a>,and another financial parable<\/a>. In discussing the atonement in a recent thread, Blake brought up the idea of using the story of a Bishop<\/a> who has a great capacity for empathy as a parable of the Atonement. Heck, I even once tried to compare the atonement to an eagle teaching her children to fly<\/a>. (Sorry If I missed any.)
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\nI would like to add another parable, but one that does not originate with me. It comes from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Redeemer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a> a collection of essays published by Deseret Book in 2000. Truman G. Madsen titles one essay \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Suffering Servant.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I am not aware if it has been published elsewhere, but I extract here a brief excerpt of a parable that I feel paints the most understandable yet simple parable of the atonement I have read.<\/p>\n

As a mere lad, I once stood at the edge of a swimming pool, frightened of the water because I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even learned to dog paddle. Friends prodded me to do what I had never done: dive in head first. A bully said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dive, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll throw you in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d My father intervened and then quietly coaxed me. But I would not move. An instructor slipped into the pool and reaching up said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m right here. I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let you sink.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Still I balked and backed away. My father said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll show you how.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And he dived in. That helped a little. But I was saying to myself, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good for him. He is a grown up. I am only a boy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

He read my face. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wait a minute,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said and went to recruit my brother, just a little older than I, and brought him to the poolside. <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Show your brother how to dive,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dad said. He plunged in and then stood waist deep, waiting. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Come on in; come on in. You can do it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Still trembling but heartened, I finally dove. He reached down, lifted my head above water, and eventually helped me learn to swim. Ever since then I have been grateful for such a father and a brother. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To me, this answers one of the toughest questions of the atonement, which is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why would Heavenly Father cause Christ to suffer for the atonement, and not do the atonement himself?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

The answer is that we are as small children, and as small children cannot understand how to become like God the Father just as a small child can not understand how to become mom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and dads. Our Father, understanding our inability to see past the gap of experience that is between us to understand and become like him, has called on our wiser and more advanced brother, even Christ, to offer us the solutions to our struggles in life, and to lift us above the challenges we are not ready to solve on our own until we too learn to do and be as our Father is. <\/p>\n