Bruce C. Hafen - The Contrite Spirit: How the Temple Helps Us Apply Christs Atonement

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hafen, Bruce C., author.

The contrite spirit : how the temple helps us apply Christs atonement / Bruce C. Hafen and Marie K. Hafen.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-62972-158-3 (hardbound : alk. paper)

1. AtonementThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2. Mormon temples. I. Hafen, Marie K., author. II. Title.

BX8643.A85H343 2015

264'.09332dc232015028993

Printed in the United States of America

Publishers Printing, Salt Lake City, UT

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cover painting:

The Angel with Adam and Eve by Walter Rane

by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

Art direction: Richard Erickson

Design: Sheryl Dickert Smith

Book design 2015 Deseret Book Company

Other books by Bruce C. Hafen

The Believing Heart: Nourishing the Seed of Faith

The Belonging Heart: The Atonement and Relationships with God and Family (co-authored with Marie K. Hafen)

The Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Lifes Experiences

Covenant Hearts: Why Marriage Matters and How to Make It Last

A Disciples Life: The Biography of Neal A. Maxwell

Spiritually Anchored in Unsettled Times

To

Sarah, Ben, Spencer, Joshua, Eliza, Samuel, and Hannah

Devin, Lauren, Abby, Michael, Anna, Lizzy, Claire, and Emma

Daniel, Chaya, Caleb, Elia, Asher, Micah, Devorah, and Jaren

Lydia, Hannah, Emma, Clark, Kayla, Ellie, and Brigham

Holden, Ethan, Caleb, Eve, Peter, Marie, and Charlie

Madison, Zach, Jacob, Joshua, Kate, and Andrew

Cadence, Oakley, and Scarlett

And [Elijah] shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.

D&C 2:2

And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

3 Nephi 9:20

Preface

This book seeks to complete, or at least to move forward, a project that began twenty-six years ago with the publication of The Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Lifes Experiences. That book tried in an introductory way to explore how the Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to the many human experiences that can cause us to be, or to feel, separated from God.

Those experiences include not only the physical separation caused by death and the spiritual separation caused by our sins; they also include feelings of estrangement from God caused by adversity, by our inadequacies, and by our unintentional mistakes. At-one-ment means bringing together that which has been separated, especially separated from God. And, as stated in The Broken Heart, the Atonement is not just for sinners. The blessings made possible by the Saviors sacrifice can also heal our other wounds, whether self-inflicted or from sources beyond our control. In addition, those blessings can eventually help us become as He is. Christ is the ultimate source not only of our forgiveness but also of our peace and our perfection.

In the intervening years we have concluded that the exploration of Christs Atonement begun in The Broken Heart cannot be complete without including the temple. So The Contrite Spirit will consider the doctrines, principles, ordinances, and covenants of the templeeach a part of what our Father in Heaven has prepared to help us along our journey back to Him. Essential to this journey is a clear understanding of how the Atonement applies to our lives, not only at the beginning of our trek but as we grow beyond our baptism toward spiritual maturity. Also essential is our own contrite spirit, the meek and submissive attitude through which we access all that the Lord has prepared for us. These perspectives can also give new meaning to our participation in temple ordinances.

Part IHe Prepared the Way for Usoffers a road map for clarifying some doctrinal perspectives on the Saviors Atonement and on the temple. We can gain much of this clarity by considering the Atonement through the lens of the templeand by looking at the temple through the lens of the Atonement. Because of its interlocking pieces, we hope this conceptual framework will make more sense if it can first be seen as a whole, rather than being offered piecemeal throughout the book.

Part IIthe journey of engaging Christs Atonementthen illustrates some of the ways in which the teachings of the temple ordinances and the blessings of the Atonement can together help us stretch, grow, and become true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Part II, the doctrines of the Atonement and the temple are not always on center stage but act mostly as a backdrop for personal stories that illustrate how some of the doctrines apply to our daily lives. The entire book is of course a personal expression, not a statement of official Church doctrine.

The past two decades have given us a broader perspective on todays global Church, stirring our admiration for the many Latter-day Saints whose peaceable walk with the children of men (Moroni 7:4) shows that living the gospel bears the same rich fruits in any culture or language. Still we write only as part of the mutual trust among all Church members that allows a shared conversation, reflecting our common search to understand how to live the gospel.

The two of us met in 1963 in a religion class at BYU called Your Religious Problems. We solved our main religious problem when the conversations we began in that class led to our marriage. This book is a collaboration that has grown out of that continued conversation. We continue talking about the gospel and the scriptures as the primary perspective and motivation for nearly every aspect of our liveswhether we are talking about our children and their families, the temple, our friends, the books we read, the questions we have, music, current events, new ideas, young adults, and our experiences with other good people in and out of the Church.

One challenge with a co-authored book is with the voicewho is speaking when? Rather than getting bogged down in too many pronouns, we believe the context will show who is speaking. We also hope our individual styles will come through distinctly when they need to. For example, Marie wrote the Prologue, and we co-authored chapters 2 through 5 and chapters 16 through 18. Bruce wrote the first drafts of the other chaptersbefore Marie waded in to make them fully collaborative, our voices frequently interchanging. In his chapters, he is the I in any stories or personal reflections. In cases where the voice or the appropriate pronoun is in doubt, we are speaking as a couple.