Recovery to Mormonism

Do Mormons believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ?

Anti-Mormons and ex-Mormons, those “recovering from Mormonism” or encouraging you to, will sometimes assert that Mormons don’t believe that they are saved by Christ.  But this is what Mormons believe:

“We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”  (Third Article of Faith)

Through Adam’s Fall, we were cut off from the presence of God.  We couldn’t come back into God’s presence without a Savior.  And since, being fallen, we were all bound and prone to sin, and also unable to return to God ourselves, the Savior would have to be someone perfect.  Someone who could do what we couldn’t. 

So, before the world began, Jesus Christ was chosen to be our Savior, to bring us back to God, to redeem us from our sins. 

The Fall of Adam brought both the physical and the spiritual death into the world (the definition of spiritual death being cut of from God’s presence).  Christ, as our Savior, saved us from both.  Christ’s resurrection was the first resurrection—His resurrection would give the gift of resurrection to mankind.  Because Christ was resurrected, we all can be resurrected, no matter who we are or what we’ve done.  The Atonement of Christ is the way we may be saved from spiritual death.  Because Christ suffered from our sins, we have the ability to repent and be forgiven, to turn from our sins and return to live with God.  As the Son of God, Jesus Christ was the only perfect person to live on earth, and the only one who could save us from death and sin. 

Christ’s suffering started in the Garden of Gethsemane, in Mormon belief.  The agony He experienced as He took on the weight of our sins was so terrible that He sweat blood.

But the divinity of his parentage gave him power over death—His agony, even if it would have been far too great for any of us to bear, could not kill him.  And His death on the cross was not forced upon Him, but was a voluntary giving up of the ghost.  His atonement was complete upon His resurrection on the third day after His death and burial.  The First Presidency of the Mormon Church have testified that the life of Christ did not begin in Bethlehem, nor did it end on the cross.  Today, He lives on, the Redeemer of the World.

These are the beliefs of Mormonism: the atonement of Christ was for everyone.  As the resurrection was given to all, so is the atonement.  Christ died for everyone—His sacrifice was for all of us, not for some few, or even only for those who lived after Christ.  But Mormons believe, also, that our sins are our responsibility—not Adam’s,  not our parents.  As such, we also have the responsibility to accept the atonement of Christ and repent.  We, further, accept the responsibility to follow Christ—that we will live our lives as He would have us live them, that we will obey His commandments.  In the Book of Mormon, it states that Christ’s Atonement will save us after all we can do—this is how Mormons balance faith and works.  We show our faith through works—we are saved by His grace, but we must follow His commandments. 

Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost—these are the first principles of following Christ, in the Mormon faith.  Also, other promises (covenants) are made with God in sacred Mormon temples to receive the highest blessings.  It’s also true, though, in Mormon beliefs, that these promises can be made after death. 

The Atonement is universal and eternal.  It is not just for us today or for those who lived before Christ—for Christ freed the spirits from prison, from Hell, in those three days between His death and His resurrection.  He preached to even to the wicked who had died in the flood.  Mormons believe that they who didn’t have the opportunity to learn of Christ in their lifetimes will have the chance to accept Him after it.