Catch The Broken Heart: Applying The Atonement To Lifes Experiences Depicted By Bruce C. Hafen Presented As File

some reason, I found this book slower going than The Believing Heart, which is the first book in the set, It seemed more cerebral and had fewer illustrative stories to tug at my heart, And yet, as I thumbed through it after reading it, I noted the many insights that were new to me and quotes that I very much loved, For instance, I had never realized that "if we decline the Savior's invitation to let him carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur thorough a combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance.
" Paying for sins is not the same as repenting, which moves us to become something better, Justification is not the same as sanctification,

I loved the comparison between the animal sacrifice of the Old Testament and the sacrifice of a broken heart of the New Testament, In the first we offer a possession in the second we offer our own heart, Also, "one who offers an unblemished animal, the firstling of a flock, acts in similitude of the Father's sacrifice of his unblemished, firstborn Son, By contrast, one who offers his own broken heart acts in similitude of the Son's terribly personal sacrifice of himself, "

The book explores beautifully the reasons for trials and tribulations and heartbreak in life as necessary elements in our growth, As Neal Maxwell is quoted in the book, "the soul is like a violin stringit makes music only when it is being stretched, " Besides detailing the "mortal bitterness" in life, Elder Hafen explains how the "Atonement somehow releases the forces of grace, through which the Savior empowers and endows us with strength, capacity, hope, and other spiritual gifts we may need.
" One of my favorite chapters was about hope and how we reconcile the gap between "what is real and the ideal, between what is and what ought to be.
" Hope is a very real gift to help us deal with our own sense of personal inadequacyneither erasing the gap by lowering standards and throwing out guilt, nor dishonestly ignoring the gap and pretending to be better than we are, but rather balancing with peace and patience the disparity as we slowly work toward narrowing what is with what can be in a process of time.
Good reminder that all the hard stuff we go through is ultimately meant to make us more like Jesus Christ, I feel like my review couldn't do this book justice, Bruce C. Hafen is such a deep thinker and beautiful writer, I can only hope to ever be so wise, I gained new insights into Adam and Eve and the Fall, God's love for each of his us in his flock, and the Savior and his grace, I had to take the content in small chunks because it was so dense, I'd like revisit this book slowly now, taking time to digest the information and pondering how it informs my temple worship, This is a keeper!

"Whatever the source of our wandering, we are likely to have our own deep experience with Adam and Eve's life cycle, leaving God's presence for the lone and dreary world with the hope of returning to him someday when we are ready.
If we in that dark tunnel do all we can, we will see at the tunnel's end the light of him who forgives, sweetens, and makes recompense for all our troubles.
When we do return, offering our broken heart to him whose broken heart binds up our own, we will understand life in ways we could not have understood before leaving.
Then we will understand what it means to say, 'I am his' and 'he is mine forever' from hymn "The King of Love My Shepherd Is", " One of the best gospelthemed/doctrinal books that I have ever read, Hafen put in writing some thoughts I've had on my own, as well as expanded those thoughts to some I had not yet considered in the same way, He explains how some of us us as in members of the church sometimes misunderstand such an essential part of the gospel as the atonement, yet how we can better apply the atonement in the journey of our experiences, not just our outright sins.
He also talks a lot about how the journey of Adam and Eve is our journey, and he ties in a lot about the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life.
I'm sure I could get more out of certain chapters if I reread this one, What a great book, deep, I had to read certain parts a few times to make sure I got it all, He does a great job of using stories and examples to illustrate points to help you understand the principles, I really enjoyed the book, So when I saw this book on my bookshelf I said,

A, What is this book doing here,
B. This book looks boring as sin, The cover was horrible
C, I'm never going to read it,
D. Why am I spending so much time making a list about this book

But then, just to spite myself I began reading it, And was sorely disappointed in my initial prejudice, This was a practical book on the powers of the atonement, which is something I've been wanting to learn more about, It is not nebulous and motivational as much as brasstacks definitions and enlightening steps toward understanding and taking full advantage of the atonement, And Bruce Hafen is a great author, very compelling with wonderful references and tieins to modern literature and philosophy outside the mormon church, You can tell he is a lawyer as he lays out the doctrine without much wiggle room,

Insert cliché "book by it's cover" closing statement here, Spiritually nourishing book that helps the reader more fully understand God's grace and how it is available for us, Excellent read which i recommend to everyone, Whether you worry about sin or have sorrow over things you have no control over, this author can help you gain the peace that is more powerful than any darkness.
This, along with Stephen Robinson's great Believing Christ, gives a comprehensive explanation of how we can access the blessings of Christ's love in our lives, how we can feel it more, and why we shouldn't be afraid to seek it.
Invaluable. The concepts in this book still hold true even though the book is more thandecades old, An incredibly wonderful read. It answers a lot of questions, and broadens the understanding of suffering here on earth, the Saviour's role, and our own in relation to the Atonement and eternal life.


I would recommend this book to all my family and friends, The Broken Heart is one of the best inspirational books I have read, Even though it was written by an author who belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints, I think it is applicable to many Christians,
While he discussed the Atonement in relation to sin and Jesus' sacrifice being able to cleanse us from it, he also explained ways in which it will also apply to our other shortcomings, imperfections, and to our suffering.

In one part he says, "We might think of the degree of our personal fault for the bad things that happen in our lives as a continuum ranging from sin to adversity, with the degree of our fault dropping from high at one end of the spectrum to zero at the other.
. . Between the poles of sin and adversity along this faultlevel continuum are such intermediate points as unwise choices and hasty judgments, in which it is often unclear just how much personal fault we bear for the bitter fruits we may taste or cause others to taste.
"
He also speaks of the pride we are subject to if we insist upon 'paying for our own sins' beyond sincere repentance instead of letting our Savior do it for us.
"Justice is a law of balance and order and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or His, But if we decline the Savior's invitation to let Him carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance.
Working together, those forces have the power permanently to change our hearts and our lies, preparing us for celestial life, "
I enjoyed this book and was lifted up and inspired by its message, It's impressive that ayear old book still holds such strong value and relevance, I wish I would've read this a decade ago when I first heard about in Robinson's class, The book has great examples of and clarity in explaining some aspects of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I recommend it! pg: "Could it be that the great 'atonement' of Christ could put back together the broken parts and give beauty to the ashes of experience such as this"

Love this idea that the bad things that happen to you, can come together to have some meaning and possibly even become beautiful.


pg: "The Atonement not only pays for our sins, it heals our wounds the selfinflicted ones and those inflicted from sources beyond our control, The Atonement also completes the process of our learning by perfecting our nature and making us whole, In this way, Christ's Atonement makes us as he is, It is the ultimate source of our forgiveness, our protection, and our peace of mind, " powerful!

Really enjoyed chapter one:
page: "The experience of Adam and Eve is an ideal prototype for our own mortal experience, "
Lots of neat ideas in this chapter, Several years ago I came across a talk entitled "Beauty for Ashes" by Elder Bruce C, Hafen. That talk changed forever my understanding of the Atonement, So, I was pleased when I came across this book in a bookstore one day and I bought it, So, so, glad I did! Elder Hafen in this book expounds on the true meaning and application of the Atonement for our every day lives, Using concepts he touched upon in the aforementioned talk he succeeds in bringing new insight and understanding on the Atonement, one of the possibly least understood concepts of LDS doctrine.

Through his understanding you come to see the Atonement not just as a doctrine for sinners, but also a healing doctrine for anyone who has

made mistakes, has weaknesses or needs a mended heart.
Absolutely a great read! Excellent discourse on the atonement of Christ, Elder Hafen writes in a rich and educated simplicity, Inpages he quoted several scriptures and explained our need for the atonement clearly and concisely, Many times in the past I have thought or wondered about the topics he discusses in this book and it was nice to gain more perspective, I recommend it to every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints as well as anyone who does not understand what the Church believes about the atonement.
" The great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we must 'repay' him in exchange for him paying our debt to justice,but because repentance initiates a developmental process that, with the Savior's help leads us along the path to a saintly character.
" pg

I want/need to read this one again! This was a truly remarkable read, It unlocked pieces of my mind and heart about the relationship between grace and works in so many enlightening ways, So faith promoting and took my level of understanding of the Atonement to a place of clarity like nothing else has before, making my personal ability to apply the principles of repentance in a more effective way, and really understanding what it means to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Obliterated any narrow view I had of the purpose, reach and effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice for me and us all, This is technically the second book I added to my 'want to read' list here on Goodreads way back in March of, I had bought it back then and just never felt in the mood to read it, One item on my reading goals for this year was to read the first book entered on my Goodreads to read list, I decided last year that I didn't want to read the book that was really the first on the list, so removed it and gave the book away, So, I have accomplished that,

Why did I wait so long I found this book to be powerful and enlightening and encouraging and educational, hmm, if I remove 'powerful' I will have pure alliteration in that description,

Bruce Hafen is a lawyer and that is evident in his writing, Not that his writing is incomprehensible to a layman, but because he is direct and lays down the facts in a coherent manner and makes thoughtful connections and draws logical conclusions.
I'm saying that about a book about a religious concept : His writing is pleasant and not too difficult most of the time, although I admit that a second or third reading would probably help me understand things even better.


I am dismayed but not surprised that many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints do not have a good understanding of the doctrine of their own faith.
I hope that in theyears since this book was published that situation has improved, And no wonder the world has such a profound misconception of our beliefs, when the members of the church don't even get it, It isn't because it is hard, The doctrine is pretty plain and straightforward, Let's just call it a too casual approach to learning and living the gospel, I am guilty of this, too,

The examples and comparisons and stories used all help bring a better understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the role of grace, and our part in it.


I appreciated the overviews of belief systems such as Calvinism and the brief history outlines,

Favorite chapters:
Two Cheers for Excellence talking about the need for perspective and not letting our pursuit of 'rewards' and 'success' distract us from the real goal of this life: to love God and worship Him.


Obedience, Sacrifice, and a Contrite Spirit a fascinating exploration of "those who demand too much of themselves, . . and those who do not demand enough of themselves," two sides of the same coin, "Both reflect a basic shallowness in their understanding of the purpose behind the commandments, the significance of one's internal motivation, and the meaning of the Atonement, At issue is their comprehension of the law of obedience and sacrifice specifically, their readiness to offer the Lord and broken heart and a contrite spirit, "

Pretty much the entire book, I have highlighted aboutof it,

If I have any quibble, it is Hafen's apparent/obvious dislike of mental health counselors, If every person had the highest level of faith and commitment and relationship with Christ, therapy would not be needed, I agree, But I don't know many/any people like that, Sometimes we need professional help, It is important to find a therapist who will respect your beliefs, Most good therapists are simply trying to help you discover the tools available to you to break out of detrimental thought processes, which, coincidentally, will help you in your quest to develop that faith and commitment and relationship with Christ.
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