The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister

10/10

In honor of a rare Sabbath post, I will do a church book. This is one of the best church books out there. Here's the reason. The atonement of Christ is the most important event in history and also the least understood. This book covers such a great and challenging topic as clearly and completely as any book possibly could. One word: vast. A lot of the book is quotes from other authorities like prophets and apostles and the like, combined with related, appropriate, and helpful commentary from the author.

Here come, I reckon, a lotta quotes. So get out now if you can't hack it.

"The Atonement is the central act of human history, the pivotal point in all time, the doctrine of doctrines." - Robert L. Millet

"Atonement means taking two things that have become separated, estranged, or incompatible, like a perfect God and an imperfect me or you, and bringing them together again, thus making the two be 'at one'." -Stephen Robinson

"Eve did not receive her name until after she and Adam had partaken of the forbidden fruit. When Eve was first created, Adam decreed that 'she shall be called Woman'.... Then, just as the future parents of all mortals were about to be expelled from their garden home, Adam called 'his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living'...she was not called Eve until she was capable of being Eve (i.e. the mother of all living)."

"Somehow his sponge alone would absorb the entire ocean of human affliction, weakness, and suffering."

"He had observed our spirits throughout the eons. He understood the inner workings of each man's heart."

"To define his suffering, Elder Neal A. Maxwell called it 'enormity multiplied by infinity'."

"Satan's final taunt, 'If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross', was not an idle suggestion, but a powerful reminder that he could."

"The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none." Thomas Carlyle

"I think if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him." -C.S. Lewis

"Redeemed humanity is to be something more glorious than unfallen humanity would have been."

"[Man's godhood] will not detract anything from the glory and might of our heavenly Father, for he will still remain our Father, and we shall still be subject to him, and as we progress in glory and power, the more it enhances the glory and power of our heavenly Father." -Brigham Young

"Do not all Christian churches advocate Christlike behavior? If so, are we better men and women, better Christians, if we desire to be only 90 percent like Christ, rather than 100 percent? If it is blasphemous to think we can become as God now is, then at what point is it not blasphemous to become like him - 90 percent, 50 percent, 20 percent, 1 percent? Is it more honorable to seek partial godhood than total godhood? Are we to walk the path of godhood with no hopes of ever reaching the destination? Yet that seems to be the tragic conclusion of many."

"The difference between man and God is significant, but it is one of degree, not kind. It is the difference between an acorn and an oak tree, a rosebud and a rose, a son and a father."

"There is no one in this entire universe that can rob us of perfection, except ourselves. Unfortunately, some people sell themselves short. In feigned honor of God they auction themselves off as servants, not sons."

"For one, life's challenges and tragedies become stumbling blocks; for the other, they become stepping-stones."

"Grace [and] works...go hand in hand. When the lifeguard stretches out a pole to the drowning swimmer, the swimmer must reach out and hold on if he desires to be rescued. Both the lifeguard and the swimmer must fully participate if the swimmer's life is to be saved."