Justice, Restitution, and the Atonement

In Ensuring a Righteous Judgment by James R. Rasband of the 70, he reminded us that the Atonement "fulfills all the demands of justice," then posed the question "But what exactly are the 'demands of justice'?" He then asked us to consider Alma the Younger, how he, after his repentance or perhaps as part of it, sought to reclaim those that he had led away. I think that's part of the demands of justice: restitution, seeking to undo the damage one did. If someone steals something, justice demands that they give it back. If they can't give it back, then justice demands that they give back something of equal or greater value. Granted, that's not always possible either, but my point is that when we do something wrong, we should do what we can to undo it or at least make up for it.

The Atonement can help us do that. In fact, we may need the help of the Atonement for that part as well as for the part about being cleansed from our sins. (Though actually, come to think of it, making restitution may be part of becoming cleansed from our sins.) Elder Rasband (of the 70) went on to say that Alma the Younger was, unfortunately, unable to bring back everyone that he had led astray. But according to Elder Rasband, President Boyd K. Packer once taught that "Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and you cannot fix is the very purpose of the atonement of Christ.” I imagine that that includes helping us make restitution that we otherwise could not make.

No matter what we're doing, whether we're trying to live the Gospel or whether we're trying to repent and make restitution, all we can really do is do the best we can and leave the rest to God. We can't be perfect all the time, but we can try, and we can repent when we fall short. We can't always make proper restitution, but we should do as much as we can to undo whatever damage we did, and we should leave the rest up to the grace and justice of God. We can trust God to help us fix our mistakes, including helping us make the restitution necessary to fix our mistakes.