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Critics have created a long list of crimes for which they claim the 19th century church required death through blood atonement. The critics conflate blood atonement with captial punishment in order to promote the idea that the 19th century church was willing to kill anyone who disobeyed the law.
Main article: Blood atonement
Blood atonement is a concept taught by Brigham Young and several other early Church leaders. It states that:
1. There are certain sins of apostacy that may not be covered by Christ's atonement. Such apostacy would involve church members who had already been endowed and made covenants in the temple.
2. That a person willing to repent of such sins might need to be 'willing allow their own blood to be shed to do so.
Critics mine statements from early church leaders to make it appear that "blood atonement" was being applied to others for a variety of crimes against their will. The following table lists the crimes that the critics claim were "worthy of death," and the sources that they use to support this assertion.
Crime the critics claim was "worthy of death" | Critics' use of sources |
---|---|
Murder | History of the Church 5:296; Doctrines of Salvation 1:136; Mormon Doctrine, 1958, p.314" |
Adultery and immorality | Journal of Discourses 7:20; Journal of Discourses 6:38; Journal of Discourses 7:19; Journal of Discourses 1:97 |
Stealing | Times and Seasons, vol. 4, pp.183-84; History of the Church 7:597; Journal of Discourses 1:108-9; Journal of Discourses 1:73" |
Using the name of the Lord in vain | Journal of Hosea Stout, vol. 2, p.71; p.56 of the typed copy at Utah State Historical Society |
Not receiving the Gospel | Journal of Discourses 3:226 |
Marrying an African | Journal of Discourses 10:110; Wilford Woodruff's Journal, January 16,1852; Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Spring 1973, p.26 |
Lying | "Manuscript History of Brigham Young," December 20, 1846 |
Counterfeiting | "Manuscript History of Brigham Young," February 24,1847 |
Condemning Joseph Smith | Quest for Empire—The Political Kingdom of God and the Council of Fifty in Mormon History, p.127; Daily journal of Abraham H. Cannon, December 6, 1889, pp.205-6 |
The critics use the following quote from Brigham Young to conclude that those who do not receive the gospel should be killed:
The critics would like us to believe that Brigham was literally talking about killing those who were opposed to the Gospel. The first thing to note is that the critics have removed a phrase from the quote without indicating it's abscence. The actual quote says:
One wonders why the critics felt they needed to remove the reference to "the old broad sword"—Perhaps it is because this phrase clearly indicated that Brigham was speaking figuratively rather than literally? Consider also, that just prior to the statement shown above, Brigham said:
Brigham is clearly not advocating that anyone who does not receive the gospel should be put to death.
The critics really have to stretch on this one, since if everyone who condemned Joseph Smith were "worthy of death," there would have been few critics left! This was obviously not the case during the 19th century, and the only support that the critics can gather for such a far-fetched idea is a second-hand quote from Brigham Young and a single entry in Apostle Abraham H. Cannon's journal. Cannon's journal says:
The only other evidence offered by the critics is a second hand quote said to have come from Brigham Young. Norton Jacob claims that Brigham said:
The critics take the story about Joseph F.Smith's emotional reaction to hearing of the death of Joseph and Hyrum, along with an alleged quote from Brigham Young from a second hand source, and ridiculously expand this to mean that "blood atonement" requires death for anyone who condemns Joseph Smith. The evidence for such an assertion by the critics is practically non-existent, and one must assume that they added this for the simple reason that they wanted to make the list of "crimes" that they relate to "blood atonement" more impressive.
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