Feature Article

The Continuous Atonement
By Brad Wilcox

A Personal Introduction to The Continuous Atonement
By Jim M

With so many spiritual gems in this book, I had to give it to a friend who is traveling through his own Gethsemane. I purchased a second copy, it is that good!

Being a diploma-carrying graduate from LDS Institute, I arrogantly thought I understood the Atonement. Yet, just after one of the most beautiful church meetings I have ever attended, my own Church Disciplinary Council (CDC), I picked up Brad Wilcox's new book The Continuous Atonement and learned that "repenting and remaking broken covenants allows us to feel a deep sense of gratitude to the Lord. In those moments of struggle, our needs are accentuated. When we experience our own Gethsemanes, we truly begin to value Christ's. When we recognize our own weaknesses, we stand in awe of His strength" (p. 181)

From the start, I identified with the familiar experience of hopelessly repeated promises to remain clean and fears of the quick return to addiction that plagued me for over 22 years. Through another example, I was reminded of my own Sacrament Table ordeal 23 years ago as a newly ordained and nervous Priest. The painfully familiar stammering and repeated fixing of errors after the gentle nudging of a loving Bishop taught me that through Christ's gentle nudges from the Spirit, I can "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). "For some reason, we think that Atonement of Christ applies only at the end of mortal life to redemption from the Fall, from spiritual death. It is much more than that. It is an ever-present power to call upon in everyday life.... The Atonement has practical, personal, (and) everyday value" (p. 50).

I, also, learned that the word Atonement means "to cover", from the ancient Hebrew word kaphar, and how the animal skin covering for Adam's and Eve's nakedness in the garden points to the Atonement's role in "covering" our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. This "covering" takes effect, when we feel lost and discouraged, by "light"-ing and "light"-ening our way. Touched even more by the meaning of Arabic/Aramaic word for the Atonement—kafat, meaning "to embrace"—I was reminded of the loving "embrace" of my Savior while in the arms of my Bishopric at the close of my CDC.

To close, I want to contrast two vignettes in the beginning and end of the book, Brother Wilcox tells of listening to two gentlemen mock the Christus statue at Temple Square, and how the Lord's continuous Atonement covers them as well. "Christ's requirements are not so that we can make the best of the Atonement, but so that—on His generous terms—the Atonement can make the best of us" (p. 100). He later teaches a missionary how the Redeemer takes our rough rocky ruin of a life and turns me into a polished God-like gem of a soul. There are more stories, but these touched me the most. In the end, for me this was a tear-filled and healing read.

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