Blood Atonement
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to Mormon Quotes Index
“If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
- Holy Bible, KJV, John 1:9
“For you know that it was not with perishable things... that you were
redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your
forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without
blemish or defect.”
- Holy Bible, 1 Peter 1:18
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us
from all sin.”
- Holy Bible, 1 John 1:7
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“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 thereof ascend up to God; and if ever I have the privilege of
making a law on that subject, I will have it so.”
-
Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church,
v. 5, p. 296, 1949
“[My life was in
danger] if I remained there, because of my protest
against the doctrine of Blood Atonement and other new doctrines that
were brought into the Church.”
-
Apostle William Smith, brother of Joseph Smith,
Jr., Temple Lot
Case, p. 98
“I will tell you how
much I love those characters. If they had any
respect to their own welfare, they would come forth and say, whether
Joseph Smith was a Prophet or not, ‘We shed his blood, and now let us
atone for it;’ and they would be willing to have their heads chopped
off, that their blood might run upon the ground, and the smoke of it
rise before the Lord as an incense for their sins.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 2, p. 179, February 18, 1855
“The time has been in
Israel under the law of God, the celestial law,
or that which pertains to the celestial law, for it is one of the laws
of that kingdom where our Father dwells, that if a man was found guilty
of adultery, he must have his blood shed, and that is near at hand.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 4, p. 219
“Will you love your
brothers and 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? That is what Jesus Christ meant.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Deseret News, April
16, 1856
“Any of you who
understand the principles of eternity – if you have
sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto death
– would not be satisfied or rest until your blood should be spilled,
that you might gain the salvation you desire. This is the way to
love mankind.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Deseret News, April
16, 1856
“I say, rather than
that apostates should flourish here, I will
unsheath [sic] my bowie knife, and conquer or die [Great commotion in
the congregation, and a simultaneous burst of feeling, assenting to the
declaration.]. Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment
will be put to the line, and righteousness to the plummet [Voices,
generally, ‘go it, go it.’]. If you say it is right, raise your
hands [All hands up.]. Let us call upon the Lord to assist us in
this, and every good work.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 1, p. 83; online at http://journals.mormonfundamentalism.org/Vol_01/refJDvol1-16.html
“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 Kingdom of
God. I would at once do so, in such a case; and under the
circumstances, I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put
a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean
hands.... There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants
made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt.
The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone
for it.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 1, pp. 108-109
“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. I will prove by my works whether I can mete out
justice to such persons, or not. I would consider it just as much
my duty to do that, as to baptize a man for the remission of his sins.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 1, pp. 108-109
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.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 4, p. 43
“Now take a person in
this congregation who has knowledge with regard
to being saved... and suppose that he has committed a sin that he knows
will deprive him of that exaltation which he desires, and that he
cannot attain to it without the shedding of blood, and also knows that
by having his blood shed he will atone for that sin and may be saved
and exalted with the God, is there a man or woman in this house but
what would say, ‘shed my blood that I may be saved and exalted with the
Gods?’”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 4, pp. 219-220
“It is true that the
blood of the Son of God was shed for sins through
the fall and those committed by men, yet men can commit sins which it
[the blood of Christ] can never remit.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 4, p. 54
“This is loving your
neighbour as ourselves; if he needs help, help
him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood
on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 4, p. 220
“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.”
-
Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses,
v. 4, p. 375
“It is not fully
comprehended why it was necessary that Jesus Christ
should leave the heavens, ... and come upon the earth to offer himself
up a sacrifice; ... why this should be, why it was necessary that his
blood should be shed is an apparent mystery.... What sins of the world
did he take away? We are told that it is the sin which Adam
committed.”
-
Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses,
v. 10, pp. 114-115
“The people of Utah
are the only ones in this nation who have taken
effectual measures... to prevent adulteries and criminal connections
between the sexes. The punishment, for these crimes is death to
both male and female. And this law is written on the hearths and
printed in the thoughts of the whole people.”
-
Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 223
“I say, there are men
and women that I would advise to go to the
Presidency immediately, and ask him to appoint a committee to attend to
their care; and then let a place be selected, and let that committee
shed their blood. We have amongst us that are full of all manner
of abominations, those who need to have their blood shed, 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.”
-
Apostle Jebediah M. Grant, 2nd counselor to Brigham
Young, Journal of
Discourses, v. 4,
pp. 49-51
“We would not kill a
man, of course, unless we killed him to save
him...”
-
Apostle Jebediah M. Grant, Deseret News,
July 27, 1854
"I would have a
tendency to place terror on those who leave these parts
[Utah], that may prove their salvation when they see the heads of
thieves taken off, or shot down before the public... I believe it would
be pleasing in the sight of heaven to sanctify ourselves and put these
things out of our midst.”
-
Apostle Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses,
v. 1, p. 73
“... We may talk of
men being redeemed by the efficacy of his
[Christ’s] blood; but the truth is that that blood has no efficacy to
wash away our sins. That must depend upon our own action.”
-
Apostle Amasa M. Lyman, Apostle, Journal of
Discourses, v. 7,
p. 299, 1859
“Has Jesus done
anything that will bring salvation to you and me?
The chief of what he has done is that he has revealed the plan of the
Gospel – the scheme of human redemption, and manifested himself among
his brethren; and we may say he has done a great deal more, for he has
shed his blood for it. So have others shed their blood. But
whose blood has cleansed you and me? It is said that the blood of
Jesus cleanses from all sins. Then why is it that we remain
sinners? It is simply because the blood of Jesus has not cleansed
us from sin – because it has not reached us.”
-
Apostle Amasa M. Lyman, Apostle, Journal of
Discourses, v. 7,
p. 298
“... inasmuch as the
blood of Christ was shed for original sin
unconditionally, but for the remission of actual sin conditionally.”
-
Apostle Charles W. Penrose, Journal of
Discourses, v. 21,
pp. 81-82
“The principle, the
only one that beats and throbs through the heart of
the entire inhabitants of this Territory, is simply this: The man who
seduces his neighbors wife must die, and her nearest relative must kill
him!”
- Apostle
George A. Smith, Journal
of Discourses,
v. 1, p. 97
“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. Therefore their only hope is to have their blood
shed to atone, as far as possible, in their behalf. This is
scriptural doctrine, and is taught in all the standard works of the
Church.”
-
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of
Salvation, v. 1,
pp. 135-136, 1954
“The Mormons believe
in blood atonement. It is taught by the
leaders, and believed by the people, that the Priesthood are inspired
and cannot give a wrong order. It is the belief of all that I
ever heard talk of these things – and I have been with the Church since
the dark days in Jackson County – that the authority that orders is the
only responsible party and the Danite who does the killing only an
instrument, and commits no wrong.... Punishment by death is the penalty
for refusing to obey the orders of the Priesthood.
“I knew of many men
being killed in Nauvoo by the Danites. It was
then the rule that all the enemies of the Prophet Joseph should be
killed, and I know of many a man who was quietly put out of the way by
the orders of Joseph and his apostles while the Church was there.
It has always been a well understood doctrine of the Church that it is
right and praiseworthy to kill every person who speaks evil of the
Prophet. This doctrine was strictly lived up to in Utah...”
-
Elder John D. Lee, Brigham Young’s adopted son and
member of the Danites, John D. Lee Diaries
Others:
“I married Jesse
Hartly, knowing he was a ‘Gentile’ in fact, but he
passed for a Mormon, but that made no difference with me, although I
was a Mormon, because he was a noble man, and sought only the right. By
being my husband, he was brought into closer contact with the members
of the Church, and was thus soon enabled to learn many things about us,
and about the Heads of the Church, that he did not approve, and of
which I was ignorant, although I had been brought up among the Saints;
and which, if known among the Gentiles, would have greatly damaged us.
I do not understand all he discovered, or all he did; but they found he
had written against the Church, and he was cut off, and the Prophet
required as an atonement for his sins, that he should lay down his
life. That he should be sacrificed in the endowment rooms; where human
sacrifices are sometimes made in this way. This I never knew until my
husband told me, but it is true. They kill those there who have
committed sins too great to be atoned for in any other way. The Prophet
says, if they submit to this he can save them; otherwise they are lost.
Oh! that is horrible. But my husband refused to be sacrificed, and so
set out alone for the United States: thinking there might be at least a
hope of success. I told him when he left me, and left his child, that
he would be killed, and so he was. William Hickman and another Danite,
shot him in the canyons; and I have often since been obliged to cook
for this man, when he passed this way, knowing all the while, he had
killed my husband. My child soon followed after its father, and I hope
to die also; for why should I live? They have brought me here, where I
wish to remain, rather than to return to Salt Lake where the murderers
of my husband curse the earth, and roll in affluence unpunished.”
- Miss Bullock of
Provo, Utah, quoted by Mary Ettie V. Smith, in Nelson
Winch Green, Mormonism:
its rise, progress, and present condition…,
1858, 1870 ed., p. 273
“In the excavations
made within the limits of Salt Lake City during the
time I have resided there, many human skeletons have been exhumed in
various parts of the city…. I have never heard that it was ever the
custom to bury the dead promiscuously throughout the city; and as no
coffins were ever found in connection with any of these skeletons, it
is evident that the death of the persons to whom they once belonged did
not result from natural causes, but from the use of criminal means.”
- R.N. Baskin, Reminiscences of Early Utah, 1914, pp. 154-155
“It was one of the
hot-beds of fanaticism, and I expect that more men
were killed there, in proportion to population, than in any other part
of Utah. In that settlement it was certain death to say a word against
the authorities, high or low.”
- DaniteWilliam
Hickman, Brigham
Young’s Destroying Angel,
1964, p. 284
Concerning two captured
Confederate commissioners in Utah, Brigham
Young said he:
“would put them where they would never peep.
He [Brigham Young] uttered this sentiment with such a wicked wording of
the lower jaw and lip, and such an almost demon spirit in his whole
face, that quite disposed to be incredulous on those matters...”
- New York Tribune, July 15, 1865
“In the past decade,
potential jurors in every Utah capital homicide
were asked whether they believed in the Mormon concept of ‘blood
atonement.’”
- Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 5, 1994, p. D1
“Just last month,
attorneys for condemned child-killer James Edward
Wood in Pocatello, Idaho, argued that his defense was undermined by a
visit from local [Mormon] church leaders who talked to him about
shedding his own blood....
“His [Wood’s]
attorneys contend Wood is a victim of a Mormon belief in
‘blood atonement.’ ... Judge Lynn Winmill... heard hours of testimony
during the past week about Mormon doctrine on apostasy and forgiveness
of sin. Wood’s lawyers even asked the bishop who presided over
the church court that excommunicated Wood about secret temple rituals
involving symbolic throat and slashing or disembowelment, but Winmill
did not require him to respond.”
- Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 5, 1994, p. D1, D5
“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: A Journal of
Mormon Thought, v.
15, no. 3, p. 93
“To whatever extent
the preaching on blood atonement may have
influenced action, it would have been in relation to Mormon
disciplinary action among its own members. In point would be a
verbally reported case of a Mr. Johnson in Cedar City who was found
guilty of adultery with his step-daughter by a bishop’s court and
sentenced to death for atonement of his sin. According to the
report of reputable eyewitnesses, judgment was executed with consent of
the offender who went to his unconsecrated grave in full confidence of
salvation through the shedding of his blood. Such a case, however
primitive, is understandable within the means of this doctrine and the
emotional extremes of the [Mormon] reformation.”
-
Dr. Gustive O. Larson, BYU Professor, Utah
Historical Quarterly,
Jan. 1958, p. 62, note 39
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Blood Atonement and Apostle
Bruce R. McConkie (1915 - 1985)
“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....
“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.”
-
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine,
p. 92
“Well, if I understand
Elder McConkie [in the above quote], he was
saying that, although earlier Church leader’s 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
thought we didn’t when Brigham Young presided over the theocratic
territory of Deseret.)”
-
Keith Norman, Mormon scholar, Sunstone,
Aug. 1990, p. 11
