We Are All Lost Sheep

Mosiah 14:6 says:

"All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all."

Michael McLean, the author/composer who wrote the Forgotten Carols, has a song called "Ninety and Nine" in which he sings--

I'm one of the ninety and nine                          

I'm not perfect but basically I'm doing fine     

I have not lost my way, I have not gone astray

I'm just one of the ninety and nine.                  

I do like this song and, because I saw him at Time Out for Women, I know he wrote this song for his Sunday School class full of good teenagers, people who hadn't experienced much of life's ups and downs yet.  The song goes on to say that the Savior reaches out for us all, even those safely in the fold.  All that said, I don't really like the part where it implies we can "do fine" on our own.  The scriptures make it abundantly clear that there is no other way to exaltation, except through Christ.  We cannot go to church, hold our ward calling, basically stay out of trouble and call it good.  I think that would be striving to gain exaltation through our works alone.  We NEED the Savior.  We all need him.  The need for him and his Atonement in our lives is basic and essential, it is not only set in place for those people who are really serious sinners. 

Christ's Atonement is amazing.  It allows me to be forgiven as well as makes is possible for me to forgive.  I have a personal testimony that utilizing the Atonement in both ways can bring about miraculous results.