Conference Report, First Day Afternoon Meeting, October 1953, p 35; “Jesus then went into the Garden of Gethsemane. There he suffered most. He suffered greatly on the cross, of course, but other men had died by crucifixion; in fact, a man hung on either side of him as he died on the cross. But no man, nor set of men, nor all men put together, ever suffered what the Redeemer suffered in the garden. He went there to pray and suffer.” – Marion Romney
Psalm 22:16-18; “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
There are dozens of prophecies about Jesus being crucified, and as you can see today, we’ve listed six of them from just three verses in Ps. 22:16-18. Overall, the OT contains a minimum of 333 prophecies about Jesus, and each of those were fulfilled during His life!
Mr. Romney’s statement is true. Many other men died by crucifixion, and no other men had gone to the Garden of Gethsemane to suffer in agonizing prayer like our Lord did.
The problem with this man’s comment is the vindictive manner in which he said it. Clearly, he’s trying to downplay the significance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The reason he did this is because LDS doctrine won’t accommodate the truth about God’s choice of when, where or what the altar of sacrifice should be.
There’s no doubt the agony He went through in the Garden was excruciating, but the Garden of Gethsemane isn’t where God’s Son paid the price for our sins. The Bible is replete with vivid explanations of where Jesus would pay for our sins, and in fact the Lord Himself even prophesied about it!
John 12:32-33; “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.”
Not only did this signify what type of death He’d suffer, it also signified salvation would be for all men; Jew and Gentile alike.
This whole thing reminds me of a website I had the misfortune of landing on. The site was filled with links to videos of Muslims trying to prove Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. The unsaved will do and say anything to discredit His word, deny God and place seeds of doubt in the minds of men. The arguments they presented were really no different than what we’ve seen in today’s LDS dilemma.
1 Corinthians 1:18; “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
Vindictive is the right word. It’s like a knife in my heart.
Thank you, Jesus, Lord of Lords, King of Kings!