So, I happened to say something to my husband recently about the Atonement and he asked if I believed in the "Blood Atonement". I told him I didn't know what that was. But I looked it up and essentially, it says that some sins are too great that they can only be forgiven by the shedding of the sinner's blood. Meaning, if I committed some awful sin, that I can be forgiven if I am killed in a type of sacrifice. I realized that I do not agree with this, but I understand now how my husband thought that I might.
My views of the Atonement are in line with scriptural phrases of an "infinite atonement" (one reference for infinite atonement is in 2 Nephi 9:7). Here is my thing: the Savior was perfect. Everything He did was perfect. His Atonement was infinite. And when I think of the word infinite I think of "no end". So I believe I shouldn't put any limits on what the Atonement CAN or CANNOT cover. I believe there is nothing we can do that cannot be covered by the Atonement. With that said, we have to turn to Him in order for the Atonement to work.
To me, the Sons of Perdition are those who fully know what the Atonement can do for them, yet refuse to let it work in them. To me, this fits. The Sons of Perdition are the most evil people you could imagine, so I imagine Satan, with no veil, willfully choosing that he wanted no part in this life, or chance at salvation. He knows He will never gain heaven, but only seeks to make others miserable, he is not misguided in his evil designs, just evil. So, a Son of Perdition is someone who fully knowing, refuses the Atonement. To put it another way, the Sons of Perdition are those who receive a full light and knowledge and deny the Holy Ghost. From things I have read, the Holy Ghost is the member of the Godhead that allows us to be cleansed from sins through the Atonement- we call it the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost, and to deny the Holy Ghost the ability to sanctify and cleanse you, to me is to deny the Atonement.
Then there are the sins of murder and chastity sins which the scriptures say are VERY serious. They both concern the giving and taking of life- which is a power of God. To take that into our hands without God's permission is a mockery of His power and very serious. Now here is where my husband thought I might believe in the Blood Atonement. I was taught that there are "ABC's" of repentance. In order to repent and be cleansed through the Atonement we have to first Admit we have done something wrong. Let's take murder as an example, because this will lead to the matter at hand. I have to admit that murdering someone was wrong. B- Be Sorry. I'd have to be sorry for what I did and feel remorse. C- Confess AND Correct. We also say to make amends where possible. If I murdered someone, I can confess easily and go to jail (or at least I assume the person would go to jail) but correct it? How can I make any attempts to correct it? Now to compare it with chastity sins- it's hard to correct those too, but at least you can go to the person with whom you sinned with and apologize. Maybe help them feel better about themselves, even if you can't give them back their virginity if you stole it. But you can make amends with the person you wronged. With murder, sure, you could go to the family and try to be supportive, but what about the actual person? You stole their life. And you can't even ask their forgiveness because they are no longer here. I don't believe that by being killed, a murderer's blood helps them atone from their sin, but once they are dead, I believe it is then possible to go to the spirit of the person you harmed and ask their forgiveness. But the actual shedding of blood part of the Blood Atonement, I don't agree with at all. I simply believe that cold-blooded murder cannot be forgiven in this life. I don't think I believe that the person should kill themselves just to go talk to the person either. I believe they should do everything in their power to serve out a just sentence in prison and make the most of their life in doing good. Then when they do die, however they die, then they can work on asking the person's forgiveness on the other side. Maybe some will be forgiven, I do not know. Here is where I come back to- I am not going to put a limit on the Atonement.
Christ's love is perfect. His life was perfect. His Atonement was perfect. And with that perfect love I can't see Him not being able to love someone, no matter what their sin. The difference to me is, does the sinner love Jesus? Does the sinner turn to Jesus? Do we turn to Jesus and allow the infinite Atonement to work in our lives? Do we put limits on Jesus' perfect love and perfect and infinite Atonement? Everyone sins, great or small- let us turn to Christ and be perfected in Him.
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