Like
many, I receive numerous messages from all kinds of people, about all kinds of
things. I recently received a video clip via WhatsApp from a pastor friend of
mine. His advice to me was: ‘Watch this.’
He
told me that a member of his congregation had sent it to him with the same
advice. The video was of a three-year-old girl singing about Jesus. She was
incredibly cute, as all three-year-olds tend to be, and she sung beautifully.
The Pastor had not sent the song to me for the same reason that his congregant had
sent it to him. As he watched it, he felt there was something not quite right.
Hence, he sent it to me for my thoughts.
Here
are some of the lyrics from the song:
He
felt all that was sad,
wicked
or bad
All the pain we would ever know
While His friends were asleep
He fought to keep
His promise made long ago
Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
So He went willingly
To Gethsemane
The hardest thing That ever was done
The greatest pain that ever was known
The biggest battle that ever was won
This was done by Jesus.
The fight was won by Jesus.
Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
So he gave His gift to me
In Gethsemane
I completely
understand why many Christians would hear this song sung by a little girl, and
think it so lovely, that they want to send it to other believers. So, what was
it about this song that made my Pastor friend a little uneasy? Why did he send
it to me?
He
had rightly spotted what many may not, that this song was not from an orthodox
Christian source. It was, in fact, produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
What
is it with Mormons and Gethsemane?
Did
you know that the Mormons believe that the atonement of Christ took place in
Gethsemane? Yes, you read that right! Before we get into that, it would be good
to firstly define what is meant by atonement. A simple definition, which would
be agreed upon by both Mormons and Orthodox Christians would be that the
Atonement involves the reconciling of a sinful people to a Holy God.
Both
parties would agree that this atonement was achieved by Jesus Christ but would disagree
about ‘where’ this took place.
Mormon
authorities (leaders) have consistently taught that the atonement took place in
Gethsemane. The thirteenth president of the Mormon Church, Ezra Taft Benson
taught:
It
was in the Garden of Gethsemane that Christ “suffered as only as God would
suffer, bearing our griefs, carrying our sorrows, being wounded for our
transgressions, voluntarily submitting Himself to the iniquity of us all, just
as Isaiah prophesied.”
“It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him”[1]
Mormon
Apostle, Bruce R. McConkie wrote the following:
“Forgiveness is available because Christ the Lord
sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane as he bore the incalculable weight of
the sins of all who ever had or ever would repent”[2]
“And as he came out of the Garden, delivering himself voluntarily into the hands of wicked men, the victory had been won. There remained yet the shame and the pain of his attest, his trials, and his cross. But all these were overshadowed by the agonies and sufferings in Gethsemane. It was on the cross that he ‘suffered death in the flesh,’ even as many have suffered agonizing deaths, but it was in Gethsemane that “he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.”[3]
The
current president of the Mormon Church, Russell M. Nelson said this:
“Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind, even as many as will, shall be redeemed. The Savior began shedding His blood for all mankind, not on the cross but in the Garden of Gethsemane. There He took upon Himself the weight of the sins of all who would ever live. Under that heavy load, He bled at every pore.”[4]
Even though there is no biblical support for the
atonement having taken place in the Garden of Gethsemane, Mormonism continues
to hold this view, and teach it to their children.
Teach
them young…
When
I looked on YouTube I found, not only a three-year-old girl singing about
Gethsemane, but a whole plethora of renditions, many of them by children. This
is not surprising, when we realise that this ‘doctrine’ is taught to them from a
young age. This is from a Mormon Sunday School Teacher Manual:
“Draw
a priority chart with 1st, 2nd, 3rd across the top and A (cross), B (garden),
and C (washing) down the side….Let A represent Christ hanging on the cross, B
his suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, and C Christ washing the feet of the
apostles….have the students rank the events first, second and third in order of
their feelings for Christ’s greatest act of love. Have them show their decision
by raising their hands. Count the number of hands raised and write it in the
correct box on the priority chart. It is important that the students understand
that Christ’s greatest act of love was shown when he suffered for the sins of
the world in the garden of Gethsemane.”[5]
So, what is the problem?
So,
what is the problem with the Mormons believing that the Atonement took place in
the Garden of Gethsemane? It is not like they do not believe that Jesus died on
the cross. Are we just ‘splitting-hairs’? Not at all. This peculiar Mormon
doctrine has wide-ranging implications which we will consider next time.
[1] Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.15
[2] The Promised Messiah, Bruce R. McConkie, p.337
[3] The Mortal Messiah, Bruce R. McConkie, p.127-128
[4] Russell M. Nelson, “His Mission and Ministry,” New Era, Dec.
1999, p. 4, 6
(5) Introduction to the Scriptures, Part B [Sunday School Course 13 teacher’s manual (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1980), p. 56).
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