Mormon blood atonement in light of Jesus’ finished work
Recently, a firestorm of controversy erupted in the United States when an inmate on death row in Utah was granted his request to die by firing squad. Ronnie Lee Gardner, a convicted killer, was given the option of either death by lethal injection or by firing squad, and he told the judge, “I would like the firing squad please.” Why did he choose that? Because he’s already “been shot a bunch of times” and would prefer the devil he knows.
The Huffington Post describes this story with repeated references to an alleged “Old West-style justice” on Utah’s books, and references the practice as a holdover from Utah’s territorial history. The article cites a Catholic opponent as objecting, "The firing squad is archaic, it's violent, and it simply expands on the violence that we already experience from guns as a society."
Utah is the only state still practicing death by firing squad. Reading the HuffPo article, you would be tempted to think that Utah has firing squads because it’s just a backwater district of hillbillies who haven’t yet moved into the modern era. It’s because they’re backward and stuck in their frontier, Old West past.
But the article completely missed the real reason. Utah is the only state practicing firing squads, yes. But what else is Utah known for? I was quite surprised that the reporters missed it. Utah is the home of the Mormons. The seat of the Latter-Day Saints. If someone was seeking to understand why this one out of the fifty states still practices death by firing squad, wouldn’t it be prudent to see if maybe the religious background of the place might shed some light on it?
And in fact, Mormon theology plays a big part in this practice. An influential text on Mormon theology is “Mormon Doctrine,” written by a man named Bruce McConkie who was an apostle in the LDS hierarchy. McConkie writes on this subject: “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. Murder, for instance, is one of these sins; hence we find the Lord commanding capital punishment” (p. 92). He later writes what apologist James White once called a “rather chilling statement”: “This doctrine can only be practiced in its fullness in a day when the civil and ecclesiastical laws are administered in the same hands” (p. 93).
The key idea here in connection with capital punishment is that the blood must be shed – it needs to be spilled out on the ground. Brigham Young, the successor to Joseph Smith, once preached these words: “There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, and if they had their eyes open to see their true condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins, and the smoking incense might atone for their sins…” In Utah, the state government is heavily influenced by Mormonism and so its choice of its method of execution is that one method which does, in fact, spill a person’s blood in the process of execution.
In other words, from a Mormon perspective, death by firing squad would be an act of mercy because it affords the convict the opportunity to atone for his sins by spilling his blood. Young said elsewhere, “I could refer to plenty of instances where men have been righteously slain, in order to atone for their sins…. This is loving our neighbor as ourselves; if he needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood upon the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it…. That is the way to love mankind.”
This doctrine is terrifying in its implications. Certain fundamentalist LDS splinter groups have been alleged to practice this doctrine even up to this day, killing people outside of the bounds of civil justice because their victims were seen to have commited unpardonable sins. More than that, however, the doctrine of blood atonement represents a direct rejection of the sufficiency of the power of the Cross.
The Bible makes plain that Jesus’ blood is sufficient to cover all sin. Not just some. 1 John 1:7 tells us: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” All of it! Paul told the Colossians, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (2:13-14) All our trespasses are forgiven – why? Because the record of them was nailed to the cross – Jesus was counted as sin, and punished for all of our sin!
Mormons may object by pointing to Jesus’ teaching about unpardonable sin in Matthew 12. But Jesus was dealing with men who were so hardened in their unbelief that they attributed the works that signified Jesus’ identity as the Son of God to the work of the devil. The issue is not so much the sin itself as the stubbornness and hardness of heart that produces blasphemy and calls God’s work that of Satan. Such hardness will not be removed, Jesus is teaching. He’s not teaching that blasphemy is unforgiveable – all sin is in a sense blasphemous. It’s not about whether this sin can be covered by Christ’s blood. Rather, he’s teaching about judicial hardening by God, like what Paul describes with Pharaoh in Romans 9. He’s warning that God is under no obligation to regenerate anyone and that a person who is this far gone is clearly under judgment and can expect no more mercy. This text is about hardening and refusal to regenerate, not about atonement.
Utah’s firing squads remind us that there are many who would rather substitute the works of men for the work of Christ. Mormonism teaches that the blood of men is more effectual and more powerful than that of Christ, because it can deal with the most serious of sins. But why, then, was Christ’s death necessary to begin with? Could not our own blood purchase our salvation?
The Bible, though, teaches us that Jesus did it all. It gives us truly good news – that there is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! It reminds us that Jesus, the true and final High Priest, entered the Most Holy Place above with the perfect and sufficient sacrifice of his own blood, and that this sacrifice was offered once for all (Hebrews 10:10, 14) and needs no repetition or addition – it’s complete! It proclaims that “it is finished!”
What good news this is! We don’t need to shed our own blood. Jesus did it for us, and that is enough. Praise God.