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In Alma 33:16 it says, “Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son”.

Jesus was able to atone for our sins because He was falsely accused, convicted, and punished for sins which He did not commit. Therefore, He is able to say, in effect, “All those who take upon themselves my name by partaking of covenants to serve me will not be damned and thrust down to hell”. Because Jesus led a perfect life He could pay for our sins, otherwise His punishment would have been deserved and His crucifixion would not have resulted in atonement. It is that simple.

Now some of our general authorities are teaching that Jesus atoned for our sicknesses and mental and physical stresses. It was not explained just why it would be necessary for Jesus to atone for our sicknesses and mental and physical stresses. Since Jesus was guilty of suffering sicknesses and having mental and physical stresses, He could not atone for those things. If Jesus had been accused, convicted, and punished for suffering sickness and having physical and mental stresses his crucifixion would have only paid for his sicknesses and mental and physical stresses. It would have destroyed the atonement.

For many decades we believed that the atonement Jesus accomplished was not sufficient to make a black man of African descent worthy to obtain the priesthood. In the 1950s and 60s President David O. McKay had proclaimed that withholding the priesthood from worthy blacks was not doctrine, but merely a practice which would change. He tried many times, without success, to obtain a revelation allowing him to ordain worthy blacks. One of his counselors told him that his efforts had been unsuccessful because the Latter-day Saints were not ready for that.