This is a continuation of my reactions to the portrayal of church history and the rhetoric employed in the 2021 Come, Follow Me curriculum. These are not meant to be a thorough deep-dive into each lesson, but merely represent my surface level reactions to each week’s lessons from curriculum manuals for Individuals and Families, the Primary, the Sunday School, and the Youth. Previously, I posted these reactions in a single post that included the reactions for each week as subsections, which I would update from week to week. That was laborious, so I’m switching to a separate shorter posts for each week. This week will be unique, given that it is General Conference weekend and also Easter. As such, members will not have their regular Sunday School, Primary, or Youth lessons. Still, let’s take a look at what message the LDS church provides for home study this week.

The Easter of Joseph Smith

What better opportunity to focus a lesson entirely on Jesus Christ than on Easter? Unfortunately, for a church so constantly desperate to defend its identity as Christian, the Come, Follow Me lessons this week cannot help but turn Easter into an opportunity to push Mormon truth claims by centering Joseph Smith’s purported visionary experiences with the Savior and reminding members how valuable they find his published revelations. Consider the following excerpts from the lesson materials:

Individuals and Families
The Prophet Joseph Smith saw the risen Savior several times, and two of these experiences are recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. As you read sections 76:11–14, 20–24; 110:1–10, what impresses you about Joseph Smith’s testimony? Why is his testimony valuable to you?

Joseph Smith knew how it feels to mourn the death of loved ones. Two of his brothers, Alvin and Don Carlos, died as young men. Joseph and Emma buried six children, each younger than two years old. But from the revelations he received, Joseph gained an eternal perspective on death and God’s eternal plan. Consider the truths revealed in Doctrine and Covenants 29:26–27; 42:45–46; 63:49; 88:14–17, 27–31; 93:33–34.

One way to focus on the Savior at Easter time is to study revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants that teach about His atoning sacrifice. Some of these can be found in Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–13; 19:16–19; 45:3–5; 76:69–70.

Sunday School
Joseph Smith saw the risen Savior and bore a powerful witness that Jesus Christ lives. To help class members study Joseph Smith’s testimony, you could divide them into two groups and assign each group to read either Doctrine and Covenants 76:11–14, 20–24 or 110:1–10. ... How does Joseph Smith’s testimony strengthen our faith in the divinity and mission of Jesus Christ?

Primary
The Prophet Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ. One way to help the children strengthen their faith in the Savior is to share with them Joseph Smith’s testimony: “He lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:22–23).

Show the children a picture of Joseph Smith’s First Vision(see the January 4–10 outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families). Invite the children to tell you what is happening in the picture, and ask them to find Jesus Christ. Ask the children if they know about other times Joseph Smith saw the Savior. In your own words, tell about the experiences described in Doctrine and Covenants 76:11–24; 110:1–7. Tell the children how these scriptures build your faith in Jesus Christ.

As the children color this week’s activity page, read to them the scriptures it refers to. Point out details in the pictures that are described in the verses. Testify to the children that the Prophet Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ, and this is one reason we know that Jesus lives.

The Prophet Joseph Smith testified that Jesus Christ lives. A prophet’s most important mission is to testify of Jesus Christ. Help the children build their faith in the Savior by learning from Joseph Smith’s testimony of Him.

The following passages describe times when Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith: Doctrine and Covenants 76:11–24; 110:1–10; Joseph Smith—History 1:14–17. On the board, list some truths we learn about the Savior from these verses. Invite the children to identify which verses teach the truths listed on the board. What else do we learn about Jesus Christ from Joseph Smith’s experiences?

On this week’s activity page, help the children match the pictures with the scripture verses. Why is it a blessing to know that Joseph Smith saw the risen Savior? Share your testimony that Jesus Christ lives and that Joseph Smith is a prophet.

Even the coloring page included for the Primary lessons centers on Joseph Smith. It’s astounding how much these lessons devote to propping up Joseph Smith’s charismatic authority during a holiday commemorating the crowning moment in all of Christian theology—the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Fundamentalist Atonement Theology

As I mentioned in last week’s reaction, Mormonism teaches a theory of atonement termed “penal substitution,” which is common among Christian fundamentalists. In this model, Jesus pays the price for sin by suffering punishment in place of the penitent sinner, enabling God to be extend mercy through the forgiveness of sins. There are problems with this atonement model, which I will briefly introduce in a moment, but fist lets look at how this theory of atonement is presented in the verses of the Doctrine and Covenants prescribed in the Come, Follow Me lesson materials.

11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
12 And he hath arisen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.

D&C § 18:11–12, emphasis my own

16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—
19 Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.
20 Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.

D&C § 19:16–20, emphasis my own.

3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;
5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.

D&C § 45:3–5, emphasis my own.

69 These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood.

D&C § 76:69, emphasis my own.

These verses all teach that Christ was punish on behalf of humankind, thereby sparing the penitent that fate of suffering that same punishment for their own sins. This is arguably the least sophisticated theory of atonement, requiring only elementary black-and-white thinking to understand. It is also riddled with problems. For instance, if God is all-powerful, why does he need to punish anyone—let alone Jesus Christ—if they repent of their sins? Can’t God just choose to forgive? How is justice satisfied by punishing the innocent (Christ) and letting the guilty to go free? Isn’t that just adding injustice to injustice? How does Christ perfectly satisfying the indebtedness of all humankind leave any room for God to be merciful, seeing as there is no indebtedness remaining? These questions are just a surface treatment of criticisms that theologians have levied against the penal substitution model of atonement since the 16th century. The inadequacy of penal substitution to address these theological questions is one of the reasons that there are so many other models of atonement theology.

Another of the things I dislike about the Mormon model of Christ’s atonement is that it becomes a weapon used to coerce compliance. These are well demonstrated in the D&C verses above, which threaten that individuals who do not repent must suffer even as Christ suffered. For starters, this makes no sense if Christ already paid the price for their sins. Where is the justice in demanding the full payment of a debt from two separate people when one of those people—the one who never owed anything—as already satisfied the debt? Regardless, the message taught to members is that God will punish them if they do not repent, and importantly, access to the benefits of repentance is gatekept by LDS authorities. Christ’s atonement becomes less about forgiveness, liberation, and empowerment, and becomes instead about coercion, subjugation, and compliance. The God that Mormon atonement theology portrays is one who is vindictive, narcissistic, and cruel—willing to punish his innocent son, Jesus, and then to use that son’s suffering as a weaponized example of how his other children will suffer unless they do precisely what he asks of them.

This doesn’t sound like a loving and merciful God—it sounds like an abusive jerk. Granted, Mormon theology doesn’t conceive of hell as a place of infinite and unending torment in the same way that many other Christian denominations do, unless you consider Outer Darkness. Even so, Mormons still teach the idea that a loving father God would threaten to withhold his love and mercy from his suffering children—when the penalties for their sins have already be endured on their behalf by an innocent—and to tell them they are not worthy to enter his presence, but instead must be subjected to second or third citizen status for eternity. It sounds like a toxic relationship to me.