Another Aspect of the Atonement

We know the atonement is infinite-

"It must needs be an infinite atonement--save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. (2 Nephi 9:7)"

There is specific purpose for an infinite atonement-

"But the law requireth the life of him who hath murdered; therefore there can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins of the world. (Alma 34:12)"

Yet, despite my baptized-since-eight expansive knowledge of the gospel, I found a most interesting, new, aspect of the atonement and it's infinite reach. It concerns those mortals, unattainable lamsters, persons who suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome (D&C 76:31), those branded as 'sons of perdition.'

Concerning the suffering of the sons of perdition it has been said (D&C 76:38-45),

...They are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity;
...There is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come—
...They shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment—And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows;

Essentially, their torment exceeds the capacity of finite minds. Next, most interestingly, is the status of their eternal consequence. They are absolutely not redeemed. See below:

...Yea, verily, [the sons of perdition are] the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath.

...[Christ] glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him. Wherefore, he saves all except them.

Now, the crux of a thick argument. If the sons of perdition are not redeemed, need they be atoned? Theoretically, if there is no redemption given to the sons of perdition, and God is omniscient to the point of understanding our forthcoming use of agency, then there was no need to atone for their sins. Yet, to exclude a class of people, based on their capacity to "den(y) the Holy Spirit after having received it, and den(y) the Only Begotten Son of the Father, and crucif(y) him unto themselves and put him [Christ] to an open shame (D&C 76:35)," would bound the effect of the atonement.

Because we are told the atonement IS infinite, Christ must have atoned for the sins of the sons of perdition, given that slight chance that they would deter from entering such a status*. Knowing this, the sacrifice of the atonement seems all the more majestic when we realize that Christ suffered a torment which the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows. The sacrifice, I am learning, deepens. And per the definition of scriptures, really is infinite.

Could it be for these, the followers of the son the the morning, that Christ extended his suffering to a state that "caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink— (D&C 19:18)"?


*I believe God is merciful beyond our understanding; His mercy, like the atonement, is infinite.