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The Atonement is a significant and central event within the Church:
In teaching about Jesus Christ and His Atonement, President Boyd K. Packer stated:
“I seldom use the word absolutely. It seldom fits. I use it now—twice:
“Because of the fall, the Atonement was absolutely essential for resurrection to proceed and overcome mortal death. The Atonement was absolutely essential for men to cleanse themselves from sin and overcome the second death, spiritual death, which is separation from our Father in Heaven; for the scriptures tell us … that no unclean thing may enter the presence of God.”

But I confess that I'm not clear on it and listening to talks of others, I'm not sure they are either.

Did the Atonement take place in the Garden of Gethsemane? In the Church this is the main focus when talking about the Atonement. People use the passage in Luke extensively but, in my opinion, incorrectly.
Luke is a plagiarised version of Mark and so is susceptible to embellishments. For example:
From Mark 14:
32And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
33And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
34And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
35And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

From Luke 22:
41And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
42Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
43And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

(Note: When speakers use the Luke passage they say he bled from every pore. But careful reading shows that he didn’t bleed, he sweated profusely as if he were bleeding)

Being brought up in the Church I was always told that ‘we’ didn’t focus on the crucifixion because the Garden of Gethsemane was more important. That was why we don’t have crosses on our buildings and why we don’t wear crosses.

And so I come to my question in a roundabout way – where did the Atonement take place?

The atonement took place both in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, and bled from every pore. It was not sweat. I understand how you're interpreting that verse, but the correct interpretation is that he was bleeding as though it was sweat. In other words, his sweat was blood.

"And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people"
Mosiah 3:7

But essentially, the pains in the Garden happened and then subsided. Then they recurred on the cross. After they ended the second time, He said "it is finished" and let Himself die.

Aside from that, the atonement encompasses more than the physical pain He felt. It is the pain, His death, and His resurrection. So the whole of the atonement took place in several places.

hungrytrash wrote:The atonement took place both in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, and bled from every pore. It was not sweat. I understand how you're interpreting that verse, but the correct interpretation is that he was bleeding as though it was sweat. In other words, his sweat was blood.

Nah, I think the statement was being poetic when mentioning sweat as blood. There is a very rare disease called porphyria that causes blood to emit through the pores, but this is a genetically linked condition and would have been evident all through his life. Way too much aspirin can cause that too, but there was not much aspirin available in the first century. One last causality would be exposure to very high levels of radiation. Not much chance of that, though.

As a rule, people don't sweat blood when they are stressed or nervous.

jon wrote:And so I come to my question in a roundabout way – where did the Atonement take place?

In Gethsemane it began with him suffering when he was most physically, mentally, and emotionally fit to deal with it. It continued on the Cross when he was at his weakest.

Interestingly, I just discovered that verses 43 and 44 of Luke 22 are not in many of the ancient manuscripts. And Luke is the only one who mentions the sweat like drops of blood.

Seriously, if Jesus was covered in a coating of blood the rest of the night it would have been mentioned a lot more. Ewww!

hungrytrash wrote:The atonement took place both in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, and bled from every pore. It was not sweat. I understand how you're interpreting that verse, but the correct interpretation is that he was bleeding as though it was sweat. In other words, his sweat was blood.

That verse about the bleeding from every pore is a later edition to the Luke text. Oops.

just me wrote:Interestingly, I just discovered that verses 43 and 44 of Luke 22 are not in many of the ancient manuscripts. And Luke is the only one who mentions the sweat like drops of blood.

Seriously, if Jesus was covered in a coating of blood the rest of the night it would have been mentioned a lot more. Ewww!

Beat me to it.

Buffalo wrote:

hungrytrash wrote:The atonement took place both in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, and bled from every pore. It was not sweat. I understand how you're interpreting that verse, but the correct interpretation is that he was bleeding as though it was sweat. In other words, his sweat was blood.

That verse about the bleeding from every pore is a later edition to the Luke text. Oops.

Well, I guess LDS have to believe it since Jesus tells the story again in the D&C. Seems like bleeding from every pore would cause death as well as horrify everyone around you.

D&C 19:18 Which suffering 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—

just me wrote:
Well, I guess LDS have to believe it since Jesus tells the story again in the D&C. Seems like bleeding from every pore would cause death as well as horrify everyone around you.

D&C 19:18 Which suffering 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—

Yes, it's also mentioned in Mosiah, I believe. Another "whoops!" moment for Joseph.