It seems obvious to me that unless the whole point of the atonement is to allow us to avoid the consequences of our actions, then "Christ has died in vain," (a quote I threw in there during the ensuing discussion).
How is it possible that a self-proclaimed Christian church cannot see so elementary a fact?
This is not the
whole point of the Atonement. Once you acquire at least a rudimentary, working grasp of LDS doctrine here, and the philosophical depth to analyze its elements in a serious manner, perhaps we can have a productive discussion.
Suffice it to say that the fundamental purpose of the Atonement is not to "allow us to avoid the consequences of our actions," but to redeem us and cleanse us from our sins, through the grace of Christ, such that we may return to the presence of our Father in Heaven. Acceptance of the Atonement is an action, for which their are consequences. Non-acceptance of the Atonement, and a life lived in wickedness, also has consequences. In both cases, there is no avoidance of the consequences. The Atonement, it is true, in an ultimate sense, waives the requirements and claim of justice upon us at the judgement seat of Christ, but that final state of purity through the Atonement does not obviate the consequences of our conduct in mortality. We are still subject to the consequences of our behavior here, and the dynamics and side-effects our choices set in motion, even after having accepted the Atonement and its blessings.
The Atonement then, when freely chosen, is not so much an avoidance of consequences, in an eternal sense, as the
choosing of an alternative set of consequences. Indeed, one might say that the Atonement doesn't so much allow us
avoidance of the consequences of our sins as it places us in a state in which there are no longer any consequences to avoid. This is part of what is meant when the scriptures say that, although our sins may be red as scarlet, through the Atonement, we become white as wool. It is a total and ultimate purging and purification. Our past sins are no longer imputed to us - they have been utterly erased, not "avoided" per se (as though those consequences still exist somewhere and we swerved to avoid them once having been forgiven and sanctified through the power of the Atonement). The consequences no longer exist at all. The debt incurred with respect to eternal law and justice was paid by Jesus Christ for all those who accept that atoning sacrifice. That is a consequence of our actions, as well as any we would incur upon dying in our sins having not exercised faith in Christ, obeyed his commandments, and accepted the Atonement.
Christ died that we may become exalted beings like he himself is and "inherit all things." The fundamental crux of this isn't avoidance of the consequences of sin but
purification from sin.
In a gospel sense, just having avoided the Second Death itself would, while a relief, be hardly even a baby step toward that which is contemplated by the concept "exaltation."