Many evangelicals teach that a person gets to heaven by being “saved.” This involves the act of accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. At the same time, they teach that acts cannot get you into Heaven. The Mormons also believe that a person must accept Jesus Christ as His Savior in order to return to God’s presence after death. Both groups agree that at least one act is required of all of us in order to be with God.

The confusion over the number of acts required to be saved comes from the differences in terminology used by Mormons. Mormons believe everyone is saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ, even if they never accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. However, grace and eternal life, to a Mormon, are not the same thing. To understand this complex issue, let’s look at several essential points.

What is grace?

The Bible Dictionary, found in LDS editions of the King James Bible, defines grace for us:

It is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, made possible by his atoning sacrifice, that mankind will be raised in immortality, every person receiving his body from the grave in a condition of everlasting life. It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.  (see Bible Dictionary.)

In other words, grace allows us to rise from the dead, receive our bodies back from the grave in a perfected form, and life forever. This is possible only because Jesus Christ voluntarily gave up His life for us after taking on the sins of the world. No fully  human being was capable of doing this for Himself. Had Christ not made this sacrifice for us, life would end with death because none of us could live a perfect life or satisfy the demands of justice fully. Only Jesus, with a mortal mother and a Heavenly Father could live perfectly and choose to die for us.

Each person then, is resurrected and given a place to spend eternity. However, living forever isn’t the total sum of our goals for eternity if we love God. We who love Him want to live with Him in His home forever. This requires a bit more. Again, it is grace that makes this additional gift possible. Without grace, we could not repent of the sins we commit here on earth.

Why does repentance matter?

For this, we need to search the Bible, where we find the following scriptures:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21, KJV of the Bible)

The Book of James, who is believed to be the brother of Jesus, took this thought even further, and answers the question without any room for doubt:

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2, King James Version of the Bible)

James points out that believing in God is good, but even Satan believes in God. No, more is required that just to believe. He explains, using Abraham and Rahab as examples, that they obeyed the commandments because they had faith, and that faith was made perfect when they chose to not just believe, but to do what God taught them to do. It was the combination of faith and works that made them perfect in the eyes of God. Note especially the inclusion of Rahab. Rahab is a woman who was a harlot, so not a prophet or other person we might normally think to hold up as an example. If we looked only at that one aspect of her life, we’d see her as a lost soul, but God sees her as more and notes that she made courageous choices that helped to progress the work of God. She was, in fact, listed as an ancestor of Jesus Christ. This does not give her the right to sin as she chooses, but it demonstrates that the good works she did mattered and counted in the long run.

We see then, that faith and works must work together as a unified total in order for either of them to “get us into Heaven.”

Can Mormons (or anyone else) work their way into Heaven?

No. An evil person who did good works could not get himself into Heaven. A person who did good works every single day would not be admitted to God’s presence unless he had also accepted Jesus Christ as His Savior and unless His good works were an outward manifestation of the private faith in his heart.

A person who truly loves God will want to do His will. The greater our faith, the easier it becomes to make good choices. A person who says he has faith, who publicly proclaims that he has accepted Jesus Christ as His Savior, but who happily goes about his life robbing banks or hurting others, and who does not bother to repent is not going to be admitted into Heaven, as Jesus made clear, because his faith is not real and because no unclean thing can enter into God’s presence. Faith without works is a dead faith, but so is works without faith dead works. No one will live a perfect life, but we have a responsibility to repent when we do wrong, and to continually strive to keep the commandments.

The Book of Mormon teaches:

23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. …

26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.  (2 Nephi 25)

It is only through Jesus Christ that people can be saved. If we want to live with God, rather than to merely live forever away from His presence, we must have faith, and we must also keep the commandments, as Jesus Christ instructed us to do.

Mormon beliefs differ strongly in this area. Mormons teach that people are accountable only for their own sins, and not for the choices made by Adam or anyone else. Mormons teach God is just, and a just God does not hold people responsible for situations beyond their control.

The fall does have an effect on us. Because of it, we’re all subject to death, both spiritual and physical. Spiritual death is the separation of us from God. Unlike Adam and Eve in the Garden, we do not have direct access to God’s personal presence. Justice requires us to pay a price for the Fall, but justice also requires us to have a way to escape its eternal consequences. For this reason, God sent us a Savior, Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sins. Grace, which occurred through the atonement, allows us to be resurrected and to live forever, regardless of our choices on earth. To access the full blessings of the atonement, we must repent of our sins and work to live the teachings of Christ.

Mormon beliefs do not require infants to suffer any penalty for dying before they can choose baptism. They are completely covered by the atonement of Jesus Christ.

An ancient Book of Mormon prophet, Moroni, spoke out very strongly and passionately about this subject:

And after this manner did the Holy Ghost manifest the word of God unto me; wherefore, my beloved son, I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children. Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach-repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children. And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.

But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism! Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.” (Moroni 8:9-15)

The Bible teaches that baptism is performed for the remission of sin. However, sin requires the sinner to be accountable, meaning he is old enough, and mentally capable of, understanding that he has done something wrong.  An infant cannot sin because he’s incapable of understanding right from wrong. Since he can’t sin, he has no need of baptism and is covered by the Savior’s atonement.

Mormon beliefs state that children are not accountable until the age of eight, and even then, are accountable only for what they know. A parent who knowingly requires a child to do something contrary to God’s teachings will pay the price, not the child if he had no control over the decision or lacked the knowledge to make the right choice.

Mormons do not baptize children until they are eight years old. Since they can’t sin, infant baptism is unnecessary. They have no sins of which to be cleansed. In addition, Mormons follow the example of Jesus Christ, who was baptized by immersion. This means they are taken completely under the water for a moment and then brought back out, in a symbolic remembrance of the death and resurrection of the Savior. Clearly, an infant cannot be immersed. Because baptism is also a time when the person being baptized makes covenants with God, he must be old enough to voluntarily make such covenants and to understand what he covenanted, since he will be held accountable for them.

If a child dies before his eighth birthday, he is admitted to God’s presence, and in time, will grow to adulthood, when he can receive all the ordinances and privileges of every other child of God.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is merciful and just. Only by withholding the need for baptism until one can understand the purpose of it, and by cancelling any penalties for what a person cannot control, can God’s mercy and justice be carried out.

This is a very good and thought-provoking question. I would imagine that many people, at one time or another, have felt that perhaps there is a major conflict between science and religion. The age of the earth, how it was created, evolution, the dinosaurs, and a host of other seemingly knotty questions seem to preclude having faith in God and accepting evidence gleaned from the scientific method of discovering truth.

I just recently read a most fascinating book that for some reason I had missed over the years that helped me make sense out of this supposed science vs. religion conflict. It is Reflections of a Scientist by Henry Eyring. The book was published in 1983 and may be difficult to find but is well worth reading if you can find it.

Henry Eyring was a world renowned chemist who taught for a number of years at Princeton during the late 30s and through World War II. Albert Einstein was also on the faculty and they shared a number of experiences during those years.

Henry Eyring eventually accepted a job offer at the University of Utah to head their fledgling chemistry department and spent the remainder of his life working at that institution.

I have chosen the following statement as a thread that runs throughout his book: “Some have asked me, “Is there any conflict between science and religion?” There is no conflict in the mind of God, but often there is conflict in the minds of men. Through the eternities, we are going to get closer and closer to understanding the mind of God; then the conflicts will disappear…. I have trouble understanding why people drift away from [religion]. I’m sure the reasons are different and varied. I can understand if a person wants to misbehave and has to rationalize to himself. He has to think he’s all right. But I also understand that people who think they have to be as smart as the Lord, understand everything, and have no contradictions in their minds may have trouble. There are all kinds of contradictions that I don’t understand, but I find the same kinds of contradictions in science, and I haven’t decided to apostatize from science. In the long run, the truth is its own most powerful advocate.”

In the autumn of 1957 the Welch Foundation invited the world’s most gifted and famous nuclear physicists and chemists to a special awards dinner in Houston, Texas. Henry Eyring, a scientific adviser to the Foundation, was sitting at a table with 12 of these notable scientists. Also sitting at the table was Mr. Malone, trustee of the foundation, who said, “Dr. Eyring, how many of these gentlemen believe in a Supreme Being?” I answered, “I don’t know, but I’ll ask.”

I asked if all were willing to answer the question. All agreed. The question was then formulated precisely: “Which best expresses your point of view: that there is a Supreme Being or that there is not a Supreme Being? So I asked these twelve scientists, and every one said, “I believe.” All of these students of the exact sciences saw in the universal order about them evidence for a Supreme Being. Two of the twelve had the Nobel Prize, and the other ten felt they should have the Nobel Prize too, so it was a very distinguished group.”

Henry Eyring loved science and God, never finding any conflict between true science and true religion. His lifetime quest was to discover truth which he did both as a scientist and as a man of faith. The following incident that took place at the University of Utah on one occasion is typical of the thinking of this great man:

“Once when I was speaking at the University of Utah as part of a panel on man in the cosmos, I built my talk around the famous question of Pontius Pilate, “What is truth?” After my talk, a young man in the audience stood up and said, “Well, Dr. Eyring, they tell me that what you do is put religion in one compartment and your science in another. Isn’t that inconvenient? For instance, I want to propound a question to you. In the Young Women’s Journal, Joseph Smith is reported to have said that people are living on the moon.” He continued, “Now, Dr. Eyring, we know there is no oxygen on the moon, so that couldn’t possibly be true. What do you say to this question?”

“I answered about as follows: “I especially appreciate being asked that question, because it is easy to answer, and I like easy questions better than hard ones. As a Latter-day Saint, like any other honest man, I am obliged to accept only the truth. I simply have to investigate whether men live on the moon. I am reasonably certain they don’t, but we’ll soon know by direct exploration. If we don’t find them there, they don’t live there. As a Latter-day Saint, my problem is as simple as that.”

“Now what about the Prophet Joseph Smith? I don’t know whether or not he said men live on the moon. But whether he did or not troubles me not in the least. A prophet is wonderful because he sometimes speaks for the Lord. This occurs on certain occasions when the Lord wills it. On other occasions, he speaks for himself, and one of the wonderful doctrines of this Church is that we don’t believe in the infallibility of any mortal. If in his speculations the Prophet thought there were people on the moon, this has no effect on my belief that on other occasions, when the Lord willed it, he spoke the ideas that the Lord inspired him to say. It is for these moments of penetrating insight that I honor and follow him.”

Truth should be what we are all searching for, and Truth will always and everlastingly be a part of true science and true religion. There is no conflict between the two!

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons or Latter-day Saints) accept the traditional Christian Sabbath, which is held on the first day of the week, Sunday, for worship. Additionally, members of the

Mormon Church gather on other days of the week to study, pray, and participate in church meeting and activities. Because little authoritative information has survived from the past, we cannot say with reasonable certainty when and why early Christians moved from a weekly gathering on the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, to the first day of the week. However, most scholars do agree that early Christians did gather together one day a week to worship and commemorate Jesus’ resurrection. Eventually, without question, Sunday became the official Christian Sabbath between the fourth and fifth centuries. Mormons naturally chose to worship on Sunday from the very beginning in 1830, when the Mormon Church was organized in New York, because it was the traditional day for such activities in the United States. However, for Latter-day Saints, the day was officially sanctioned by the Lord when Joseph Smith, the first president and prophet of the Mormon Church, received a revelation approving the day: “For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:10). The day was Sunday, August 7, 1831. Since then, Mormon congregations have gathered together for their weekly worship service on Sunday, except where local tradition provides another day for such meetings. For example, Latter-day Saints meet on Saturday (Jewish Sabbath) in Israel and on Friday in some Muslim countries. Today, Latter-day Saints rest from their weekday labors and gather together on one day a week to work in the Lord’s vineyard to minister to each other and to worship the Lord in prayer, song, and scripture study. Additional Resources: Craig Harline, Sunday: A History of the First Day from Babylonia to the Supper Bowl (New York: Doubleday, 2007).

The lights aren’t always green. The bread isn’t always fresh. Tires go flat. Bills mound. People take ill and die at every stage of life. People struggle. Others starve. Wars go on.

Grief is part of the human experience. Opposition is necessary for growth, according to the Mormon view of our mortal experience, revealed by the Lord through modern prophets. It can, however, be lifted through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Mormons believe that the Savior not only died to pay for our sins but also to take upon Himself our sorrow, grief, and infirmities (Alma 7:11-12).

Patricia Pinegar, former President of the Primary, or children’s organization of the Mormon Church, speaks of her own encounter with grief and the Savior’s intercession:

The difficult experience of my son’s death helped me identify and rejoice in the blessings of peace, hope, and direction-blessings that all who truly accept and live the gospel of Jesus Christ may enjoy. I can bear witness to the words of Elder Richard G. Scott: “Please learn that as you wrestle with a challenge and feel sadness because of it, you can simultaneously have peace and rejoicing” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 20; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 17). (“Peace, Hope and Direction,” Ensign, Nov. 1999).

The Savior Himself was a man of sorrow and grief, yet He must have had the supreme joy of knowing He was in tune with His Father and solace in that unique relationship with Him. We, too, can find that peace and assurance that we are not abandoned when death of a loved one strikes or when someone’s agency tragically colludes with the plans for our own life.

Elder Bateman, a contemporary Mormon leader, speaks as well to the healing balm that can come when we ask the Lord for that special soul salve that only He can truly provide:

Death teaches that we do not experience a fulness of joy in mortality and that everlasting joy can be achieved only with the assistance of the Master (see D&C 93:33-34). Just as the lame man at the pool of Bethesda needed someone stronger than himself to be healed (see John 5:1-9), so we are dependent on the miracles of Christ’s atonement if our souls are to be made whole from grief, sorrow, and sin…. Through Christ, broken hearts are mended and peace replaces anxiety and sorrow.

Grief isn’t always caused by death or sickness. There are as many life burdens as there are blessings. Of the lesser-visible crosses, modern apostle, Marvin J. Ashton remarks:

One type of cross is that of violated trust by a parent, a family member, a teacher, a bishop, a member of the stake presidency, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a co-worker, or a classmate.

Another cross that isn’t always visible but that on occasion can be very heavy and worrisome is the lack of self-respect-a feeling of unwillingness to accept oneself. Can you find it in your heart to once in a while compliment yourself on your behavior? Or do you think poorly of yourself no matter what you do? Having feelings like these can be a heavy cross to bear. Such a cross may slow down your eternal progression. (“Carry Your Cross,” Liahona, Sep. 1988.)

My own crosses have taught me, more than anything, about who Jesus Christ really is and who I really am. I’ve felt deeply His knowledge of me exceeding my own, and His awareness and recognition of my every need. I’ve seen Him anticipate circumstances and prepare me; walk with me, converse with me in ways that registered completely and undeniably, and I learned that I want more than anything His closeness forever. Regardless of their source, there is solace to be found through drawing near to the Lord, who descended below all of the things we endure, so He could lift us up out of them. I testify that His power is real, that His knowledge of our struggles is intimate, and that His ability to help us is unparalleled. If you would like to know more about how to access His power, please visit www.mormon.org or chat with the missionaries.

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In an interview with LDS practitioners discussing “spouse abuse,” John Nelson describes what is deemed inappropriate behavior:

Spouse abuse involves inappropriate acts of one spouse over the other. It may involve coercive acts in which an abuser forces a person to do something that he or she normally would not do, with no particular concern for the victim. Abuse may also include the use of threats, name calling, yelling, and intimidation.

Mormons believe in equality of gender and while the husband is said to preside in righteousness within the family, “presiding” implies love and inclusion rather than force and exclusion. Mr. Nelson goes on to clarify this principle:

In some cases abusers misunderstand or misapply the concept of leadership in the home. I want to make it very clear that it’s not the concept of a presiding leader in the home that is wrong; it’s the misapplication of it. The 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants speaks of that specifically: “The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, … but when we … exercise control or dominion or compulsion … in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves” (D&C 121:36-37). (“A Conversation about Spouse Abuse, ” Ensign October 1999.)

Mormons believe in healing from this and other types of abuse, both for the victim and the inflicter of the injury.

Modern apostle of the Lord, Elder Richard G. Scott, speaks of the need to trust in the love and help available through Jesus Christ for the abused.

Unless healed by the Lord, mental, physical, or sexual abuse can cause you serious, enduring consequences. As a victim you have experienced some of them. They include fear, depression, guilt, self-hatred, destruction of self-esteem, and alienation from normal human relationships. When aggravated by continued abuse, powerful emotions of rebellion, anger, and hatred are generated. These feelings often are focused against oneself, others, life itself, and even Heavenly Father. Frustrated efforts to fight back can degenerate into drug abuse, immorality, abandonment of home, and, tragically in extreme cases, suicide. Unless corrected, these feelings lead to despondent lives, discordant marriages, and even the transition from victim to abuser. One awful result is a deepening lack of trust in others which becomes a barrier to healing (Elder Scott, “Healing the Tragic Scars of Abuse,” Ensign, May 1992).  See also Elder Scott’s recent General Conference address titled “To Heal the Shattering Consequences of Abuse”.

Praying for help, seeking counsel from trusted Mormon Church leaders, and allowing the Spirit of the Lord to work in incremental ways, helps the abused one heal through the atonement of Jesus Christ. And, in addition to healing for the victim, there is forgiveness for the abuser who seeks it wholeheartedly.

And for those who have not been touched by the cycle of abuse, let us help free others who have been. Let us help the innocent children, as called upon to do by President Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th Prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often errantly called “The Mormon Church”):

How great is our responsibility, how serious the responsibility of Christian people…to reach out to ease the plight of suffering children, to lift them from the rut of despair in which they walk.

Surely after all of the history we have read, after all of the suffering of which we have been told, after all of the exploitation of which we are aware, we can do more than we are now doing to lift the blight that condemns millions of children to lives that know little of happiness, that are tragically brief, and that are filled with pain (“Save the Children,” Ensign, November, 1994)

Mormons partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s supper–initiated by Jesus Christ–every Sunday, as Catholics partake of Communion. We have in common our love of the Lord, and our belief that He would have us partake of this emblem of His love, sacrifice and atonement.

In addition to partaking of the Sacrament as the emblem of Christ’s sacrifice and as an ordinance through which members of the Church renew their baptismal covenants, Mormons do so in a prescribed manner, which was revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith, and is recorded in a book of revelations known as The Doctrine and Covenants–a scriptural record of the Lord’s instructions to Joseph as the Lord’s Church was restored to the earth.

For Mormons, the prescribed manner of administering the blessing of the bread is set forth as follows:

And the elder or priest shall administer it; and after this manner shall he administer it-he shall kneel with the church and call upon the Father in solemn prayer, saying:

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.
The manner of administering the wine or water is set forth as follows:

He shall take the cup also, and say:

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this [water] to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen. (D&C 20:76-79)

In Mormon Sacrament services, deacons (12-year-olds) and teachers (14-year olds), holding the Aaronic priesthood, pass the Sacrament to individual members of the congregation. Mormons stay seated in their pews as the Sacrament is passed to them by the priesthood bearers while Catholics stand and go to the front of the chapel to partake of Communion. The actual blessing of the Sacrament is performed by priests (16-year olds) or elders, holding the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood.

For both Mormons and Catholics, the Sacrament offers Mormons a chance to reflect on the atonement, on their lives, and the Savior’s love.   While there is music and spiritual instruction in each Mormon Sacrament Meeting, the ordinance of the Sacrament supercedes all of those in importance. It’s the reason we attend:  come to the Savior with a broken heart and contrite spirit, to ask for forgiveness, to witness to Him our willingness to obey and serve Him, to renew our baptismal covenants with Him, to show our faith in His atoning sacrifice and enabling grace, and to worship Him.

While we do share some of the same approaches to the Sacrament with the Catholic community, we also differ in some respects. Mormons do not believe, for example,  in the literal transubstantiation of the Sacrament emblems as do our Catholic friends. While we understand that the Lord referenced the Sacrament as a type of his body and blood bruised and broken for our sins, we do not believe that the bread and water are actually transformed miraculously into those elements. We see the reference symbolically.

Mormons also assert and believe that the authority to administer ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ  has been restored to the earth by God the Father and Jesus Christ themselves, through a modern appearance of  His resurrected apostles to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery,  commissioned to confer that authority on His modern servants. Mormons believe that the authority to act in God’s name ceased after the martrydom and death of the apostles in His day, and needed to be restored.  Catholics affirm that Peter held the keys and that they were actually unbroken.

Friends of all faiths are invited to join Mormons for sacrament meetings. If you are interested in finding one close to you, please feel free to visit www.mormon.org to find a meetinghouse close to you.

Personal Response by James Faulconer

One of the scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“the Mormon church”) is the Book of Mormon, from which the Church’s nickname is derived. In that book of scripture we are taught “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and of the flesh; and remember that after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved” (2 Nephi 10:24). The same scriptural writer later says more briefly, “We know that it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).

As do other Christians, Mormons believe that grace is central to the Christian message. Indeed, the Book of Mormon teaches the necessity of grace more often and more openly than does the New Testament (also accepted as scripture by Mormons).

Grace, the free gift of Jesus Christ, unconditionally assures all human beings that they will be redeemed from the effects of the Fall: they will be resurrected. However, if we are to receive the freedom from personal sin that Christ offers in grace, we must repent of those sins with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We must be reconciled to the will of God. As the Book of Mormon puts it, “He offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (2 Nephi 2:7). This is a grace, a gift, offered to every human being if he or she will receive it.

And what does it take to receive that gift? That we be reconciled to the will of God through repentance and submission to his will: “He commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 9:23). We find a similar understanding in the New Testament, where Peter tells those listening to his preaching on the Day of Pentecost: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). We must exercise the faith and will to accept the grace which Christ offers through his Atonement, namely reconciliation with God. We must reconcile our will to his, both in obedience to his commandments and through the ordinances (the sacraments) of the Church.

Thus, with other Christians, Mormons believe that each person must be “born again.” However, being born again is the beginning of life in Jeseus Christ, not its fulfilment, just as earthly birth is the beginning of our life, not its fulfilment. The person who has received new life through the Atonement of Jesus Christ must continue in the life that he or she has been given, and to continue in that life means doing that which Jesus Christ expects of us. “To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness” (Romans 6:16). If we have been reconciled to the Father through Jesus Christ’s Atonement, then we will become his servants. Like him, we will obey the will of the Father, continuing to live the kind of life he commands.

We cannot be saved without faith, faith in Jesus Christ and trust in his grace, and once having entered into that grace through our faith, we must continue in it. We must endure to the end. As the New Testament teaches: “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). In other words, to profess faith without showing that faith in works is not to have faith. The Book of Mormon urges us to live a faithful life: “Ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.” And the verse continues by telling us what we happens to those who live a faithful life: “Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:20). Those who endure to the end will continue in the life that they were given at their rebirth, even after death; they will live with God after death, in the fruition and fulness of that life they lived before. Reconciliation with God is on-going, even eternal, as our faith is on-going.

The Apostle Paul has described our relation to the Father in terms of adoption (Romans 8:17): Those who obtain the Holy Spirit are adopted into the family of God. With Jesus Christ, they become the sons and daughters of God. We begin our reconciliation as servants of God, recognizing him as our Lord and doing what he commands. However, we end by becoming his children. Both servants and children obey, the former because they must, the latter because they love. To disobey is to reject the Lordship of Jesus and the Fatherhood of the Father, so salvation requires our obedience, not because it earns us something more than what Jesus Christ has offered in his grace, but because it signifies who we are. Grace is not incompatible with works. Rather, works are required by grace.

No eternal blessings are available to human beings except through the grace of Jesus Christ, by which we will be resurrected and through which we may receive forgiveness and salvation. Obedience is not work we do to earn a reward. It is part of the way we receive-accept-forgiveness and salvation. It is the way we continue to live in Jesus Christ’s grace by imitating him, by submitting will to the Father as his children, as members of his family. It is how we continue to be reconciled to him.

Further reading:

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:6-13.

Bruce C. Hafen, “Grace,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pages 560-563.