Mormon Reformation - Blood Atonement

Blood Atonement

Several sermons Willard Richards and George A. Smith had given earlier in the history of the LDS Church had touched on the concept of blood atonement, suggesting that apostates and those who committed certain other denounced sins, such as murder, were beyond the saving power of the blood of Christ and could be redeemed only by the voluntary shedding of their own blood. On September 21, 1856, while calling for sincere repentance by church members, Brigham Young took the idea further, and stated:

"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.

Young reiterated the concept in several other sermons during the Reformation period. Although this belief was never widely accepted by church members, it became part of the public image of the church at the time and was pilloried in eastern newspapers along with the practice of polygamy. During the subsequent history of the church, this concept was frequently criticized by church members and was formally repudiated as church doctrine in 1889 and again in 1978.