Just a side note before I start reviewing this chapter. The other day I got my daily message from LDS-Gem which really struck me because it is what we are reading in this book. Here it is:
"We are safe on the rock which is the Savior when we have yielded in faith in Him, have responded to the Holy Spirit's direction to keep the commandments long enough and faithfully enough that the power of the Atonement has changed our hearts. When we have, by that experience, become as a child in our capacity to love and obey, we are on the sure foundation."
Topics: Jesus Christ, Holy Ghost, Atonement
(Henry B. Eyring, "As a Child," Ensign, May 2006, 15-16)
Grandfather has been teaching Rick to become as a little child, which is just what President Eyring saying. When we can love unconditionally then the atonement can work in our lives.
Now, on to chapter 15. Rick is trying to connect the messages of Abigail and Jonah in his mind. He remembers "yes, the Lord has paid in full for others' sins, that was the point--that it may be helpful to think more often about how he has paid for others' sins rather than just dweling on how he has paid for our own." Maybe this is thinking of others and not ourselves as much. Rick outlines his thoughts about the atonement:
1. We are each of us sinners, entitled to nthing but hell and therefore utterly and equally dependent upon the mercies of the Lord. (Jonah)
2. I can receive the Lord's mercy--and the happiness, healing, and peace that attent it--only to the extent I extend the same to others. (Jonath).
3. The Lord mercifully removes any justification for failing to extend mercy to others. (Abigail)
A. For the Lord has taken the sins of others upon his own head and personally atoned for them. (Abigail)
B. What possible justification could there be for demanding more for others' sins than the Lord has given? (Abigail)
4. I can recover mercy by remembering (a) Abigail's offering, (b) the Lord's question to Jonah, and (c) my own sins, the memory of whch brings me to the Lord and invites me to rediscover his mercy and peace.
5. if I repent of failing to extend mercy, the Lord will supply me with everything I need and more--he will grant me his love, his companionship, his understanding, his support, He will make my burdens light.
Rick does some serious thinking when he gets upset with remarks Carol makes.
"My peace is not determined by others--whether they be righteous or ot--but by myself. Or rather, my peace is determined by whether I come to Christ myself. For when I come to him, he blesses me with his mercy, and basking in that mercy I find peace. Whether others come to Christ--Nineveh and Nabal, for example--will determine their peace but not mine." In his mind he continues to think that it would be easier to come to Christ if Carol were only better and then thinks about the Book of Mormon and how the Nephites came to Christ when things were hardest and their burdens greatest. He feels a voice from within telling him,"...you find it easier to sin toward those who sin toward you. But it is your sin, not theirs, that is the source of your struggle. Carol cannot keep you from me. Only you can. Your love faileth. Mine never will. Come cast off your sins and drink of my love."
Children love fully, despie the problems we create, because of their own purity from sin. And Christ, who suffered at the hands of every soul, nevertheless loves us perfectly, and this because He was perfectly free from sin himself.
Grandfather appears and hands Rick a book,(the description of this book is beautiful and should be read by everyone!) The words he reads are from 2 Nephi about the chains of hell. Grandfather tells him that he has been flattered by these very chains and that he needs to get rid of them if he is to be at peace.
There is so much coming up in the next chapters that I will need to stop here.
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