I finished reading this last night. I've owned this book forever and have wanted to read it for quite a while, probably dating back to my mission when I first became familiar with the great quote on the atonement that is in this book: "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.'"
It's a nice, uplifting book. I liked reading a book primarily dealing with grace, a topic that can be overlooked at times. I think my favorite part was a section in the book dealing with perfection and how the only way this can be accomplished is through the covenant relationship with Christ: "Taken together as a single entity, the two of us, Christ and I, are perfect." Another: "[I]n the covenant relationship, I am not judged separately and alone but as one with Christ." And: "Any two people who are joined together and have become one in a covenant unity are perfect as long as one of them is Jesus Christ." I learned some things and that's all I can ask for when reading a Church book.
Here are some other quotes:
"Normally, we think of only one winner in a race, but in the gospel race, all who finish win. In addition, the differences in their finishing times are irrelevant. Some people will have good times and some will not, but the only losers are those who give up and quit before they reach the goal."
"God may be predisposed in our favor, he may put within our reach what was once beyond us, and he may remove every obstacle in the way of our salvation, but he will not force us down the path he has cleared, nor will he save us without our consent. The gospel covenant is provided by sheer grace, but it must be entered into by choice."
"To insist that salvation comes by works alone, that we can earn it ourselves without needing the grace of God, insults the mercy of God and mocks the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our behalf. On the other hand, to insist that salvation comes by belief alone and that God places no other obligations upon the believer insults the justice of God and makes Christ the minister of sin."
"Faith is always willing to try - and to try again and again. While success is not a requirement of the covenant of faith, my best attempts are."
"No one has ever been as alone as Christ in the Garden."
"In that infinite Gethsemane experience, the meridian of time, the center of eternity, he lived a billion billion lifetimes of sin, pain, disease, and sorrow."
"If you or I had gone into the press of Gethsemane and shouldered that load of sin and pain, it would have squashed us like bugs, snuffed us out instantly. But because he was the Son of God and had power over death, his life could not be taken until he laid it down of his own will.... Did his infinite agony tempt him to lay down his life and end his suffering before the price was fully paid? Was his greatest temptation to abandon his weaker brothers and sisters and seek relief from an infinity of pain by dying prematurely? Perhaps. All he had to do was let go, and the pain would stop, but you and I would be lost. And so second by second, hour by hour, he embraced his agony; he could not rest, but he would not die, not until it was finished, not until we were saved with him."
