From Tad R. Callister’s book ‘The Infinite Atonement’ we read:
On one occasion I was asked to speak at a graveside service for a fine man who had passed away. Prior to the service, I met with the family at the mortuary. It was obvious from those in attendance that the deceased was greatly loved and missed. For a few moments as the family gathered around the casket, I tried to offer some words of comfort. We then had a word of prayer and all departed for the graveside service. I lingered long enough, however, to see the bereaved widow walk over to the casket for the last time, gently kiss her beloved companion’s forehead and say, “Goodbye darling, I love you.” How senseless that life would be if that goodbye were forever. Yet such would be the case without the Savior.
If there had been no Atonement, the rising of every sun would be a reminder that for us it would one day rise no more, that for each of us death would claim its victory, and the grave would have its sting. Every death would be a tragedy, and every birth but a tragedy in embryo. The culmination of love between husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters would perish in the grave to rise no more. Without the Atonement, futility would replace purpose, hopelessness would be exchanged for hope, and misery would be traded for happiness. If there would be no Atonement, Elder Marion G. Romney declared, “The whole purpose of the creation of the earth and our living upon it would fail.”6 President David O. McKay quotes James L. Gordon in this regard: “A cathedral without windows, a face without eyes, a field without flowers, an alphabet without vowels, a continent without stars, a sky without a sun—these would not be so sad as a . . . soul without Christ.” The contemplation of such a world as this would be the most despairing thought that could ever darken the mind or sadden the heart of man. But fortunately, there is a Christ, and there was an Atonement, and it is infinite for all mankind. ~Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2000), 56-57
6. Conference Report 1953, 34
