The Atonement Rarely Gets Addressed from the Perspective of the Father

There is an old, short movie produced by the Church entitled, "The Bridge". In summary, it depicts the choice a father must make to sacrifice his son or the passengers of a train as he controls the switch that either will allow the train to cross the bridge and kill his son who is running across that bridge or swing the bridge in such a way that his son will survive while the train crashes. The following is a statement made by someone criticizing that movie and my response:

"It becomes trite, not majestic, when one tells a story like this. It makes the Atonement seem like a cheap parlor trick."

"Maybe for you and some other adults, but the basic construct can teach a powerful lesson for the children and teenagers for whom it was intended - who have no personal frame of reference for the concept of a parent who would watch a child die willingly and not intervene to provide help when He seems to have that power. The Atonement rarely gets addressed from the perspective of the Father who did not intervene. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son." Most kids really don't get that, and many adults don't get it until they have kids. Some don't even get it then - and many of the common constructs of the Trinity essentially deny the need to understand how one separate Being (the Father) interacted with another (the Son). Without the foundational aspect of separate beings comprising one Godhead, the film makes no sense whatsoever.

Are there flaws in the analogy? Of course, there are flaws in all analogies. Can it make a very simple point in a powerful, visual way - something to help somewhat immature and inexperienced hearts and minds begin to grasp it? Yes. God, the Father, really did love all of us enough to allow His Son to die for us - enough to not intervene and save that Son while we all die. There really are two separate Beings in this narrative, and the Father literally was an active participant - first, of course, in strengthening Jesus in the Garden, but also in stepping back and "forsaking" Jesus as He died.

The film does a pretty good job capturing that aspect in a way that resonates in our current world, which is what analogies are all about - imperfect though they are."

The Creeds and the Trinity

The nature of the creeds, their evolution within Christian theology, and how they inform Catholic vs. Protestant doctrine is a very complex discussion, and it varies radically according to which creed is being cited and which creed each Christian accepts. Just for the record, I believe strongly that the “creeds” mentioned in the First Vision are not the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athenasian Creed, but rather are the Westminster Confession and other more modern Protestant Creeds. Those were the primary creeds of the religions about which Joseph prayed, and those are the statements that include elements which are anathema to Mormon doctrine. I wish that was better understood, so we (Mormons) could move away from silly arguments over ancient creeds with which we actually agree more than disagree. (There is nothing within the Apostles Creed that is opposed to Mormon doctrine, and there is very little in the Nicene Creed and Athenasian Creed that even is questionable.)

I believe strongly that we need to embrace others no matter their beliefs, practices and religious affiliations, but we can’t compromise our doctrinally unique beliefs.

For example, the “mysteries” of the trinity can be argued ad infinitum; personally, I think we are very similar to other Christians in most of the ways we can talk about the Trinity. However, I believe those similarities pale in comparison to the underlying difference encapsulated in how we view Godhood - especially our belief that God, the Father, is an actual, physical father (with a body of flesh and bones), we are His actual children in a real and tangible way and we have the capability of becoming like Him. Even that last phrase alone draws a clear distinction between us and the rest of Christianity when we discuss the Trinity.