Articles of Faith: What Do Latter-day Saints Believe About the Atonement of Jesus Christ? 7

Article of Faith 3

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved,

by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

This is the seventh essay about the Atonement of Jesus Christ as stated in the third Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first week, I discussed the importance of understanding how the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as the third pillar of eternity, is essential to Heavenly Father’s plan for the eternal happiness of His children. The second week, the discussion was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the nature of the atonement. The third week, the discussion concerned the Atonement of Jesus Christ as a vicarious sacrifice. The fourth week, the discussion was about Christ’s sacrifice being voluntary and love inspired. The fifth week, the discussion was about the Atonement being foreordained and foretold. The discussion for the sixth week was about extent of the Atonement of Christ. This week, the essay will use the words of Elder James E. Talmage to discuss the general effect of the Atonement of Jesus Christ (Articles of Faith [1913], 87-89).

The General Effect of the Atonement, so far as it applies to all who have arrived at years of accountability and judgment, has been demonstrated by the scriptures already quoted. Its application to children may properly receive attention. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches as a doctrine founded on reason, justice, and scripture, that all children are innocent in the sight of God, and that, until they reach an age of personal responsibility, baptism is neither requisite nor proper in their behalf; that, in short, they are saved through the atonement of Christ. To a degree, children are born heirs to the good or evil natures of their parents; the effects of heredity are admitted. Good and evil tendencies, blessings and curses, are transmitted from generation to generation. Through this divinely-appointed order, the justice of which is plain in the revealed light of knowledge concerning the antemortal state of the spirits of mankind, the children of Adam are natural heirs to the ills of mortality; but through Christ’s atonement they are all redeemed from the curse of this fallen state. The debt, which comes to them as a legacy, is paid for them and thus are they left free. Children who die before reaching the state of accountability for their acts are innocent in the eyes of God, even though they be the offspring of transgressors. We read in the Book of Mormon: “Little children cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy…. For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law” (Moroni 8:19-22).

The prophet Mormon, writing to his son Moroni, expressed in the following manner his conviction of the innocence of children: “Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them…. Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach – repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children. And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins. But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world” (Moroni 8:8-12).

In a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith in this dispensation, the Lord has said: “But behold, I say unto you, that little children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through mine Only Begotten; Wherefore, they cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me” (D&C 29:46, 47). President John Taylor, after citing instances of Christ’s affection for little children, and proofs of the innocent condition in which they are regarded in heaven, says: “Without Adam’s transgression those children could not have existed; through the atonement they are placed in a state of salvation without any act of their own. These would embrace, according to the opinion of statisticians, more than one-half of the human family who can attribute their salvation only to the mediation and atonement of the Savior” (Mediation and Atonement, p. 148).