Mormons Anonymous

Can a Murderer be Forgiven

Can there be a worse sin that a person may commit than the sin of taking someone’s life? By taking another’s life, the family is robbed of all of the life’s blessings brought by the presence of the person who is no longer here but passed on to the spirit world.

Ask the mother of the deceased person if she can forgive the murderer.
Ask the spouse or children of the deceased person if they can forgive the murderer.
Ask close friends of the person who has passed on if they can forgive the murderer.

There are very few individuals that exist in this world who have the amount of love existing in them that would grant them the ability to forgive the individual who took away from them the life of a close one by means of murder. I would say that such a forgiving heart can only be obtained in conjunction with the true application of the Savior’s atonement being used in the healing process.

John 3:15 - “and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

Joseph Smith touched on the subject of murder in speaking of King David who was guilty of aldultery and the murder of Uriah.

A murderer, for instance, one that sheds innocent blood, cannot have forgiveness. David sought repentance at the hand of God carefully with tears, for the murder of Uriah; but he could only get it through hell: he got a promise that his soul should not be left in hell.

For clarity of the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is taught that individuals who suffer in hell after this life will eventually pay for the price of their own sins and be delivered up at the time of the final judgement. They will then be resurrected and given a place in the Telestial Kingdom, a kingdom of God with the glory of the stars as compared to a kingdom with the glory of the sun or the moon which is given to more righteous individuals.

The Church and the Murderer
Occasionally, people who have murdered have come to the church requesting baptism.

The late President Spencer W. Kimball answers to this request as follows:

Peter referred to the same subject on the day of Pentecost, but the multitude did not get the endowment that Peter had; but several days after the people asked, “What shall we do?” Peter says, “I would ye had done it ignorantly,” speaking of crucifying the Lord, etc. He did not say to them, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins”; but he said, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”

This is the case with murderers. They could not be baptized for the remission of sins, for they had shed innocent blood.”

Even unpardonable sins such as murder should be repented of. The murderer does not have eternal life abiding in him, but a merciful God will grant to every soul adequate rewards for every good deed he does. Even the murderer is justified in repenting and mending his ways and building up a credit balance in his favor.

This post is mostly taken from the book entitled The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball, pages 130 and 131.