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The Atoning Prayer

We all remember the story. Jesus Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane when he offered the atoning prayer where he took the sins of the world...but how we do know of this prayer? The apostles were all asleep and they could not have recorded. Then how do we know the exact words he used?

Prayer Atoning The

My first guess is revelation.

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

The second (not mutually exclusive) option is the He told them, perhaps during the 40 days of instruction following the resurrection:

Acts 1:3 To whom [the Apostles] also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

It is, after all, a pretty important issue, especially for us LDSs, since we know the import of Luke's statement that "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44). Gethsemane stands largely for, what is in my opinion, the spiritual side of the Atonement, while Golgotha is (primarily) the physical side. So our knowing what He prayed that night has much relevance to us.

We do know, for instance, that Luke was not there at all, asleep or otherwise. His missionary was Paul, who was not there, either. Even John, who was there, assuming he had stayed awake, was not in earshot anyway. None of the Apostles could have heard that prayer, He arranged it to be so. The Atonement required that He be alone (at least that is my understanding). Even the Angel (Whom I believe to have been Father Himself) seems not to have appeared but once, while Jesus prayed three times for the cup to pass from Him.

So, at the very best, our records are two and three removes from the original.

Lehi

Edited: Lehi on 23rd Apr, 2007 - 5:38pm

The Atoning Prayer Studies Doctrine Mormon

One thing that we has latter-day saints have that other church don't is continuing revelation.

The Gospels were written between 30 and 40 years after Christ ascended. The only way we could know what the words were is that the writers of the Gospels, received revelation on the events that were written. This is the only way they could have known what was said in the Garden.

Prayer Atoning The

Lehi, I have heard this before and think it is very possible. I am just curious as to why they would reference the Father as an angel instead of His sacred title? Do you know or read anything about that?

Prayer Atoning The

Jesus could have told them all after his Ressurection. Remember he met with them many times after, part of it I am sure nvolved going over all that He experienced in the Garden. We can see this too when he visits the Nephites and asks why certain things had not been written and immediately decrees that it should be.

Some years ago in an Ensign it was hinted that the Angel who appeared to him was Adam, I however have no doctrinal source material for that, so take it at face value.

The Atoning Prayer

We also remember that there is another source that the gospels are basing there information on. The source known as "Q source." This is an unknown gospel that the synoptic gospels are basing there writings upon. We know that Luke and Matthew use over 200 verses from this source. Clearly Mark the first known gospel written is using this unknown source and Luke and Matthew rely heavily on it as well. Mark's recollection is most likely Peter's witness, but who wrote the Q source is unknown. Perhaps it was Jesus himself. ( that is probably a stretch to say.) John is a work unto its own who seems to not use any other source but himself. For more information on this look up the synoptic gospel problem to get more on this idea of sources. So where the words of Christ actually his or not is hard if not impossible to say for sure because we do not have the Q source which most of the gospels are quoting from.