Blood Atonement - If It
Was Never Taught, Why Do So Many Mormons Believe It?
By Bill
McKeever
In a
1994 article entitled "Concept of Blood Atonement Survives in Utah Despite
Repudiation," Peggy Fletcher Stack, staff writer for the Salt Lake
Tribune, wrote, "In the past decade, potential jurors in every Utah capital
homicide were asked whether they believed in the Mormon concept of 'blood
atonement'" (11/5/94, p.D1),
No
doubt the
Accordingly, the doctrine asserts that those who
commit certain grievous sins such as murder and covenant-breaking place themselves beyond the atoning blood of Christ, and their only
hope for salvation is to have their own blood shed as an atoning sacrifice. In
his writings, Joseph Smith only hinted at the doctrine, Brigham Young
successively denied and asserted it, Joseph F. Smith ardently defended it, and
in more recent years, Hugh B. Brown repudiated it and Joseph Fielding Smith and
Bruce R. McConkie both have vigorously defended it in
principle while staunchly denying that the Church has ever put it into actual
practice, whereas most other General Authorities have prudently preferred to
remain silent on the subject. It should be noted that the whole notion of blood
atonement is so obviously linked to the Mormon literal mind-set that it does not
seem to admit of a mitigated, symbolic interpretation and is either accepted or
rejected outright, depending on one's level of literalistic belief
(Dialogue, Vol.15, No.4, p.93).
When
child-killer James Edward Wood, a Mormon, was tried for the murder of
11-year-old Jaralee Underwood, he was visited by LDS
Church leaders who "talked to him about shedding his own blood" (Salt Lake
Tribune, 11/5/98, D1). The same article noted that the LDS Church
headquarters tried to distance itself from this counsel by filing a document
with the court that read, "The doctrine of blood atonement through the shedding
of blood, as taught by the [the Mormon Church] refers only to the atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." This statement certainly does not
reflect the position of many past LDS leaders.
Tenth Mormon prophet and president Joseph Fielding Smith wrote, "Man may commit
certain grievous sins - according to his light and knowledge -that will place
him beyond the reach of the atoning blood of Christ. If then he would be saved,
he must make sacrifice of his own life to atone - so far as the power lies - for
that sin, for the blood of Christ alone under certain circumstances will not
avail. Joseph Smith taught that there were certain sins so grievous that man may
commit, that they will place the transgressors beyond the power of the atonement
of Christ. If these offenses are committed, then the blood of Christ will not
cleanse them from their sins even though they repent" (Doctrines of
Salvation, 1:135,138 emphasis mine).
To
assume that there are certain sins beyond the atoning power of Christ is
certainly an idea foreign to the New Testament. Only God grants atonement for
sins, and He is able to forgive any sin no matter how great or grievous. First
John 1:9 tells us, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."
King
David recognized the forgiving power of the Lord when he wrote, "Who forgiveth
all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" (Psalm 103:3).
Judas, a victim of Blood
Atonement?
The index to the Journal of Discourses (26
volumes of recorded sermons by early Mormon leaders) gives seven entries under
the subject of Blood Atonement. One of
the more interesting is a quote from Mormon leader, Heber C. Kimball,
grandfather of the late 12th Mormon President, Spencer Kimball.
Kimball stated that because of Judas' betrayal of Christ, the twelve disciples
actually kicked him to death in order that he would atone for his sin. Volume
6:125,126 reads:
Jesus said
to His disciples, `Ye are the salt of the earth, and if salt loses its saving
principle, it is then good for nothing but to be cast out.' Instead of reading
it just as it is, almost all of you read it as it is not. Jesus meant to say,
`If you have lost the saving principles, you Twelve Apostles, and you believe in
my servants the Twelve, you shall be like unto the salt that has lost its saving
principles: it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden
under foot of men.' Judas lost that saving principle, and they took him and
killed him it is said in the Bible that his bowels gushed out, but they actually
kicked him until his bowels came out.
On
I know
that there are transgressors, who, if they knew themselves and the only
condition upon which they can obtain forgiveness, would beg of their brethren to
shed their blood, that the smoke might ascend to God as an offering to appease
the wrath that is kindled against them, and that the law might have its course"
(JOD 4:43).
Speaking
in the
There are
sins that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness in this world, or
in that which is to come, and if they had their eyes open to see their true
condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the
ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their
sins, and the smoking incense would atone for their sins, whereas, if such is
not the case, they will stick to them and remain upon them in the spirit world
... Now take a person in this congregation who has knowledge with regard to
being saved in the kingdom of our God and our Father and being exalted, one who
knows and understands the principles of eternal life, and sees the beauty and
excellency of the eternities before him compared with
the vain and foolish things of the world, and suppose that he is taken in a
gross fault, that he has committed a sin he knows will deprive him of the
exaltation he desires, and that he cannot attain to it without the shedding of
his blood, and also knows that by having his blood shed he will atone for that
sin, and be saved and exalted with the Gods, is there a man or woman in this
house but would say, `shed my blood that I might be saved and exalted with the
Gods?' All mankind love themselves, and let these principles be known by an
individual and he would be glad to have his blood shed. That would be loving themselves, even unto an eternal exaltation. Will
you love your brothers or sisters likewise, when they have committed a sin that
cannot be atoned for without the shedding of their blood? Will you love that man
or woman well enough to shed their blood? (JOD 4:219).
Despite the evidence that shows that such a doctrine
was indeed taught among the Latter-day Saints in the 1800's, Mormon Apostle
Bruce R. McConkie insists that enemies of the Mormon
Church fabricated the idea that it was actually taught and practiced:
From the
days of Joseph Smith to the present, wicked and evilly-disposed persons have
fabricated false and slanderous stories to the effect that the Church, in the
early days of this dispensation, engaged in a practice of blood atonement
whereunder the blood of apostates and others was shed
by the Church as an atonement for their sins ... there is not one historical
instance of so-called blood atonement in this dispensation, nor has there been
one event or occurrence whatever, of any nature, from which the slightest
inference arises that any such practice either existed or was taught (Mormon
Doctrine, pg. 92.)
McConkie then
proceeded to accuse critics of taking
one
sentence from one page and another from a succeeding page and even by taking a
part of a sentence on one page and a part of another found several pages away
--all wholly torn from context - dishonest persons have attempted to make it
appear that Brigham Young and others taught things just the opposite of what
they really believed and taught.
After making such an adamant denial, McConkie, on the same page no less, makes a remarkable
turnabout! "But under certain circumstances there are some serious sins for
which the cleansing of Christ does not operate, and the law of God is that men
must then have their own blood shed to atone for their sins" (Mormon
Doctrine, Pg. 92).
On
page 93 of the same book, McConkie quotes his
father-in-law, Joseph Fielding Smith, and church founder Joseph Smith, Jr. Both
taught there are some offenses for which a sinner must atone for his sins by
shedding his own blood. McConkie went on to write,
"This doctrine can only be practiced in its fullness in a day when the civil and
ecclesiastical laws are administered in the same hands."
Mormon writer Keith Norman, in his Sunstone
article entitled "A Kinder, Gentler Mormonism Moving Beyond The Violence Of Our Past" (Aug. 1990, p.11), recognized McConkie's duplicity and remarked:
Well, if I
understand Elder McConkie, he was saying that,
although earlier Church leaders never believed, preached, or practiced blood
atonement, we actually do believe in it and would practice it if we had the
legal and political power to do so. (Even though we didn't
when Brigham Young presided over the theocratic
Crimes Warranting Blood Atonement
Murder: "I am
opposed to hanging, even if a man kill another, I will
shoot him, or cut off his head, spill his blood on the ground and let the smoke
ascend thereof up to God..." (Joseph Smith, Documentary History of the
Church 5:296).
Adultery: "Let me
suppose a case. Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a
javelin through both of them. You would be justified, and they would atone for
their sins, and be received into the
Stealing: "If you
want to know what to do with a thief that you may find
stealing. I say kill him on the spot, and never suffer him to
commit another iniquity ... If I caught a man stealing on my premises I should
be very apt to send him straight home,
and that is what I wish every man to do, to put a stop to that abominable
practice in the midst of this people"
(Brigham Young, JOD 1:108).
Marriage to a person of black
skin: "Shall I tell you of the law of God in regards to
the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his
blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty under the law of God is death on the
spot. This will always be so" (Brigham Young, JOD 10:110)
Covenant Breaking: "I say, there are men and women that I would advise to got to
the Presidency immediately, and ask him to appoint a committee to attend to
their case; and then let a place be selected, and let that committee shed their
blood. We have those amongst us that are full of all manner of abominations,
those who need to have their bloodshed, for water will not do, their sins are
too deep a dye ... I believe that there are a great many; and if they are
covenant breakers we need a place designated, where we can shed their blood ...
Brethren and sisters, we want you to repent and forsake your sins. And you who
have committed sins that cannot be forgiven through baptism, let your blood be shed, and let the
smoke ascend, that the incense thereof may come up before God as an atonement
for your sins, and that the sinners in Zion may be afraid" (Jedediah M. Grant, JOD 4:49-51).
Grant would later be quoted in the Deseret News, as saying, "We would not kill a
man, of course, unless we killed him to save him..."(
Heber C. Kimball stated, "If men turn traitors to God
and His servants, their blood will surely be shed, or else they will be damned,
and that too according to their covenants" (JOD 4:375). The phrase
"according to their covenants" refers to the promises Mormons make in their
sacred temple ritual.
Conclusion
It
would be incorrect to assume that 19th century blood atonement was merely
another term for capital punishment. Capital punishment is the act whereby a
lawbreaker forfeits his life as a result of breaking a law or laws. The taking
of a life in this manner satisfies the needs of the state to protect its
citizens from further crimes perpetrated by the individual. In a biblical sense,
the word atonement means to make amends or reparation; satisfaction for
wrongdoing, as far as transgressions against God. Atonement was made in one of
two ways. In the Old Testament, atonement was made when a penitent sinner
offered a sacrifice on behalf of the sins he had committed. In the New
Testament, atonement was made when Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice
on the cross of
The
teaching of blood atonement, as espoused by some LDS leaders, is a perversion of
passages such as Hebrews
"And
you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Colossians 2:13, 14).
"...but by His own blood He entered in once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews
"So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for
Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Hebrews
"By
the which will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10).