Updatre

Hey this is was my paper for D&C

I couldn’t really decided what to do my lto on and then one day the majority of my classes all assigned talks that had to do with the atonement and the final judgment day. While I read through the talks I decided to share my thoughts and feelings with my roommate and together we both came to love and understand how much we truly are dependent on the savior’s sacrifice for us; and how much we will need Him to be there for us in the last days.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks referred to the following parable in a talk he gave in 2001.
“…the owner of the vineyard hired laborers at different times of the day. Some he sent into the vineyard early in the morning, others about the third hour, and others in the sixth and ninth hours. Finally, in the eleventh hour he sent others into the vineyard, promising that he would also pay them “whatsoever is right” (Matt. 20:7).
At the end of the day the owner of the vineyard gave the same wage to every worker, even to those who had come in the eleventh hour. When those who had worked the entire day saw this, “they murmured against the goodman of the house” (Matt. 20:11). The owner did not yield but merely pointed out that he had done no one any wrong, since he had paid each man the agreed amount.”
I was reading through the talk given by Elder Packer titled The Mediator it just stood out too me how much we really needed to rely on the Lord when it’s time for the day of final judgment. I think deep down I have always had this thought of “he will have mercy whether I repent or not.” However Elder Packer stated: “Each of us, without exception, one day will settle that spiritual account. We will, that day, face a judgment for our doings in mortal life and face a foreclosure of sorts.”
I believe that one of the main misconceptions about hell is that God will be merciful and not really make anyone suffer. Or if he does cause us to suffer to any degree then it will not be forever because of the belief, that Elder James E. Talmage stated in the April 1930 conference talk, that “hell has an exit as well as an entrance”, that they will just walk away shortly afterwards. Or that they will just receive a slap on the hand and a telling off and then they will be fine.
One of the major things I have learned about the final judgment day and gained a greater understanding of how we need someone to defend us for when we are on “trial” before our heavenly father. And that we, like Elder Packer stated it, need to have both mercy and justice in one setting. Because of the idea of mercy and justice it put the atonement into a new type of setting for me. I gained a deeper understanding about what it really had to offer to me personally. We really could not pay for our own sins and if we didn’t have a mediator who could take on our debts then we would all suffer in Hell.
It also just made me think about how we need to repent, whether it’s easy or hard, we need to be willing to admit what we have done is wrong and truly repent for it. It can be such an easy process, to comprehend maybe not so much actually using it, it seems weak on our part if we do not use it to our full advantage. I personally know how hard it is to overcome sin and use the atonement.
When I was talking to my roommate about my ideas on the atonement she referred me to the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 19:4 it states: And surely every man must repent or suffer, for I, God, am endless. And that just coincides with what I stated that even if it is not easy to repent for a sin. It will be better to do it now and not wait until a future date, because you do not know if you will be able to live to that future time or not. Alma 34:33 it says “… I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity.
I truly have come to love this gospel and I am personally so grateful that when I do sin it does not have to go onto a “permanent record” and that I have the opportunity to wipe and record clean through the atonement. And I hope that when the judgment day come I hope to be able to have our savior Jesus Christ being my mediator before Heavenly Father and say that I have performed will full faith and I did you the atonement to its fullest.

 
Work Cited:
Boyd K. Packer, “The Mediator,” Ensign, May 1977, 54
Dallin H. Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Liahona, Jan 2001, 40–43