The Atoning Blood of Christ
In a recent podcast, Dr. Avram Shannon said this , “The word atone and atonement appears more times in Leviticus than the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine & Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price combined. Atone and atonement, it's a priestly concept. It's what God is doing through sacrifice. When the Book of Mormon often uses atone, it's basically always in temple contexts.” One of the major places that the Book of Mormon teaches about the atonement is in the address of King Benjamin, which was indeed at the temple: “The people gathered themselves together throughout all the land, that they might go up to the temple to hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them” (Mosiah 2:1). This likely was the occasion of a great feast, perhaps even the fifty-year Jubilee feast. But whatever the event, surely there was the sacrifice of animals taking place at that temple. And so it is fitting that the people would learn about the true meaning of sacrifi...