Does the Mormon church still teach blood atonement?

Question

Brigham Young taught that certain sins had to be paid for by the shedding of the blood of the guilty; that Christ's blood wasn't enough. Is that still taught today?

http://www.irr.org/mit/WDIST/wdist-blood-atonement.html

For some reason, lds.org doesn't list talks of early leaders of the Church, such as are included in "History of the Church", "Millenial Star", "Journal of Discourses", etc...

Answer 1

Yes. We do still believe that there are some people who have committed gruesome murders that cannot attain forgiveness in this life. Do we demean the atonement of Christ? No. But we do recognize that there are certain sins which people cannot receive forgiveness in this life for.

Answer 2

I have been a member my whole life - 26 years - and never heard of "blood atonement" until I came on YA.
So, no, it is not taught. We do believe Christ paid for our sins when He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and then gave His life on the cross. BUT, those who do not take advantage of the atonement, that is to repent and come unto Christ, I believe will have to suffer for their own sins.
D&C 19:16-18
16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

Ask all the questions you want, the more you fight against the gospel, the more you are just doing Satan's work for him.

Answer 3

I am looking in the literature you supplied, so far I see nothing regarding a blood atonement. I will further read to see what it is that you are writing about.

Thus far in my reading, these quotes having nothing to do with a blood atonement as a law of God. I do see laws of the time, laws of man regarding crimes.

Thanks for the questions, they bring me closer to God and my church.

Answer 4

Let us go back and examine what the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers. It truly covers every sin and weakness you can think of, but if you consider the steps of repentance and forgiveness there is an interesting step called "making restitution" that has to be taken into account. There are certain sins that you cannot make restitution for, that is, you cannot restore what was taken. Murder is one of them, because as human beings we do not have the power to resurrect another human being, medical science not-withstanding. Other related sins that are impossible to make restitution for in a literal sense involve breaking the law of chastity - e.g. adultery, fornication, sexual abuse of a child, etc. You cannot in and of yourself restore things to the way they were before the sin occurred. Now let's consider the case of the previously war-like anti-Nephi-Lehies, or the people of Ammon who were under King Lamoni and his brother Anti-Nephi-Lehi, you can read in the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon more about how their repentance process was brought about. Lamoni says in Alma 24, "And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do, (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we (collectively speaking - please note) have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain--Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken way our stains, and our swords have become bright (that is to say, no longer stained with blood of those who were killed, literally and symbolically speaking), then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren." The people go on to make a covenant that they would never take up arms against anyone ever again, because they were so committed to avoiding the sin of being angry enough to kill along with killing anyone, even in the case of defensive warfare. We do not know how long it took the people, who did not know much about the Atonement of Jesus Christ due to the traditions they lived with, to repent. A note below on the page says this speech probably occurred somewhere between 90 and 77 B.C. That's a 13-year spread - it may have taken 13 years for them to repent to the extent that the Nephites were willing to even have friendly relations with them. If you are willing to study this out, I feel you will find the Atonement of Jesus Christ is not meant to be a catch-all for every murder that has ever been committed on the earth. If that were the case, some people would think they could murder repeatedly and hurriedly repent of it and go on with their lives and still be on the same spiritual standing as those who had never committed murder, which would be a completely unfair principle. You are judged in accordance with how much knowledge you have, but because every human is born with the light of Christ, or conscience, innately human beings who are aware of the need to treat others with kindness should know that murder is wrong. If you look at our current prison system, you note it almost always takes years for a convicted murderer to repent enough that they would never even entertain the thought of killing again, and many never reach that realization in this life. It was not so different in the 19th century as well. That is probably why Brigham Young preached that idea, because we as human beings are limited in our ability to inspire other human beings to repent. However, if a murderer is removed 100% from the temptation to kill, and his mind is open to what the cause and effect is, and he is taught about the Atonement of Jesus Christ by angels or those spirits who have already passed through this mortal life, his repentance process is going to be expedited. The closer we get to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the harder Satan and the spirits who support him are going to work to try to get people to commit truly heinous crimes, including murder. I believe what I have heard most often is that this life is the time to repent, this life is the time to prepare to meet God, and it is better to repent here in this life while our knowledge is still limited, and while we have our agency to act for ourselves and become acquainted with our physical weaknesses on more of a trial-and-error basis.
To answer your second question - we are reviewing the early prophets of the Church in our meetings now. But we are not stuck in the 19th Century, and it mystifies me why people want to hold us to 19th century ideas and doctrines. Isn't it a sign of strength, that doctrines can become more developed over time? Also, the more you study history, the more you see large patterns rather than minor ones. Or perhaps that is a right-brained principle, and some of us should work on being more creative and right-brained. Have a happy day, and I send you a gummy bear.

Answer 5

It may not be taught (officially) - but it is certainly believed!!

That is the very reason why Utah still offers "firing squad" as an option for those sentenced to death.

Remember Gary Gilmore, executed in Utah? Opted for firing squad. Why? He was a Mormon.

Answer 6

No. As far as I know, we never did except for Christ's blood.

Answer 7

Brigham Young was 51/50 and the book of Mormon is false they believe in their own writings so it's false on every level.

Answer 8

I'm sure this falls into the same category as caffeine and polygamy........they don't do it anymore. Is that because their prophet had a vision....or they wanted to fit in?

Another salad bar, pick and choose religion.

Answer 9

Yeah...Young was supposed to be a prophet and inspired by God....unless you don't like what he says.