While part of my daily reading of the Scriptures, I read the following in the Book of Mormon:
And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son . . . Behold, if ye do, ye must believe what Zenos said; for, behold he said: Thou hast turned away thy judgments because of thy Son . . . For behold, he said: Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son. (Alma 33:11, 13, 16)
This text stood out for me as it speaks of how God is propitiated and bestows mercy and blessings upon people due to his being personally pleased with his divine Son, not because Jesus and his then-future atonement (cf. Rom 3:25) was a purely forensic payment of sins, showing that the atonement is personal and only “forensic,” at most, in an incidental manner (like how a marriage is more personal and only legal in an incidental manner).
