For several months I had been meaning to see the movie “Hacksaw Ridge”.  Finally I did, and while it is certainly not for the faint of heart, those so inclined will be rewarded with something truly special…

(If you have not seen the movie, there may be “spoilers” below; that stated, what I have written would be unlikely to dissuade you from viewing it).

Prior to even hearing about this movie I had read an article that lauded Desmond T. Doss, a man classified as a conscientious objector during the second World War.

Despite harsh treatment from many enlisted, perhaps especially from his superiors, several who thought him a coward, he pushed forward, not looking for an escape from what he knew could potentially cost him his life.

Determined to serve with his enlisted brothers, but not kill, he braved the front lines of the brutal and relentless fight in Okinawa without a weapon, as a medic, hoping to save lives rather than take them.

After arriving and experiencing the horrors of the battle on the front lines, he managed (crediting God’s help) the fortitude to stay with the wounded after his battalion had retreated down a ridge (Hacksaw Ridge) and throughout the night worked tirelessly to locate and then lower wounded men back to safety.

Although he was alone in his efforts on the ridge and in constant mortal danger, after finding each man and bringing him to the ridge (often on his shoulders) he devised a clever rope tie to harness and then lower the wounded down the steep cliff.  Doing this he managed to help save 75 men.

As this is portrayed in the movie (and as Doss recollected the experience) after lowering each man to safety, (and though utterly exhausted and suffering his own injuries) he would pray “Please Lord, help me get one more.”

I found the portrayal in the movie particularly poignant, as in it I perceived this man’s heroic example an analogy to what was accomplished by Jesus Christ for each of us.

Doss, one by one, helped to save those 75 men.  While Christ, one by one, with his atoning sacrifice for every individual, helps to save us, not just in this life, but in eternity.

As a Christian and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I believe that Jesus Christ willingly atoned for the sins of every individual who will accept him as their savior.

And additionally, that Christ suffered death and then (in reality) rose again to life on the third day, conquering the death of all humanity and ultimately lifting us all from death to life, through the power of his resurrection.

It surpasses my own comprehension just how Jesus was able to accomplish this.

However, it is a truth that I have felt in my whole being.

I have been given understanding that Christ is real… a beautiful experience that resonates with me still.

Watching the afore mentioned scene from the movie, I wondered if, perhaps, as Jesus Christ battled through the anguish and suffering, occasioned by taking upon himself our sins, pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, infirmities, and ultimately death, that perhaps verbally (or in his heart), he could have been heard to say:

“Please Father… help me save one more.”

It may be that such a process is repeated time and again, not only for 75 men close to death’s door on a remote ridge in Okinawa, but for everyone: you, me, and all else, until each of us is not lowered, but instead raised, one by one, with His hand firmly grasping yours, then mine, to the safety of a heavenly embrace.