Elder Christofferson Defines Redeem

Today, we're doing community service, and I don't have much time for blogging, so I thought I'd just grab something quick off of Facebook. Apologies to everyone who has already seen it.

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. He paid the spiritual debt that we should have been punished for - the debt that would have had us sent to hell. He delivered us from hell by paying that ransom. He redeemed us in both sense of the word.

It's hard to imagine what price He had to pay to redeem us. That mathematical estimation I did in Sunday morning (1¢ per Sin X One Sin per Day X 365 Days per Year X 50 years = $182.50) barely scratches the surface because many sins are more serious than a 1¢ debt, and I'd say almost all of us commit a few more than one minor sin per day, depending on how strict we're being with our definition of sin. Also, a lot of people live longer, and some shorter, than 50 years, so each person's actual sin debt varies, as if the debt of sin could even be quantified in a monetary value in the first place.

My point is that we owe a spiritual debt. By accepting the Redeemer's terms, we can pay our debt to Him basically by being Christians, or we can refuse His terms, decide to pay the debt ourselves, and there will literally be a hell to pay.

I'd write a little more, but I'm out of time. Happy Saturday!