What do Latter-day Saints believe a person must do to
be saved?
Joseph Smith wrote in 1842: "We
believe that through the Atonement of Christ,
all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel" (Articles of Faith 1:3).
The
Afterlife
"Latter-day Saints believe that life continues after the death of the
mortal body and that death is but a separation of the physical body and the spirit." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Heaven
and the Degrees of Glory
"In the resurrection of the body, [the redeemed] are assigned to
different degrees of glory commensurate with the law they have obeyed." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Death and Dying
"Although it brings grief to those left behind, death is part of 'the
merciful plan of the great Creator (2 Ne. 9:6)', it is 'a mechanism of rescue' (Packer, p.
21)—an essential step in the Lord's 'great plan of happiness' (Alma 42:8)." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
The
Spirit World
"The spirit world is the habitation of spirits." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Paradise
"The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants teach that paradise
is the part of the spirit world where the righteous, those who in mortality obeyed God's
commandments and were faithful to their covenants, await the resurrection." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Spirit
Body
"At death the spirit and the body separate until they reunite in the resurrection. Spirits are capable of
intellectual advancement, love, hate, happiness, sorrow, obedience, disobedience, memory,
and other personal characteristics." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Salvation
of Children
"In Latter-day Saint doctrine children are to be instructed in the
principles of the gospel and baptized when eight years
of age (D&C 68:25-27). They are then responsible to adhere to the teachings of the
Church relative to obtaining salvation. Before that time they are considered
"infants" or "little children" and are not required to be baptized.
They are considered "alive in Christ" and are "whole" (Moro. 8:8-12;
JST, Matt. 18:10-11)." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Salvation
for the Dead
"A distinctive doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints is that the dead as well as the living may receive the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Every man, woman, and child who has ever lived or who ever will live on this earth will
have full opportunity, if not in this life then in the next, to embrace or reject the
gospel in its purity and fulness." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Second Chance
Theory
"There is no such thing as a second chance to gain salvation by
accepting the gospel in the spirit world after spurning, declining, or refusing to accept
it in this life. It is true that there may be a second chance to hear and accept the
gospel, but those who have thus procrastinated their acceptance of the saving truths will
not gain salvation in the celestial kingdom of God." Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Spiritual
Life and Death
"Unlike physical life and death, over which individuals have little
control, spiritual life and death are opposite poles between which a choice is
required." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Final Judgment
"A purpose of the final judgment is to judge every person, to provide
a separation of the faithful from the wicked, and to make available the promised blessings
of eternal reward to God's faithful children. Jesus Christ is the judge." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Judgment
"All humankind shall stand before Jesus, "and he
shall separate them from one another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats" (Matt. 25:32). The verb "separate" reflects the Lord's determination
of exact boundaries between good and evil, since he "cannot look upon sin with the
least degree of allowance" (D&C 1:31)." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Spiritual
Death
"Spiritual death is the condition of one who is
spiritually cut off, temporarily or permanently, from the presence of God. LDS scriptures
speak of two spiritual deaths, and the concept manifests itself in many ways." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Resurrection
"Resurrection is the reunion of the spirit with an immortal physical
body. The body laid in the grave is mortal; the resurrected physical body is immortal. The
whole of man, the united spirit and body, is defined in modern scripture as the "soul" of man. Resurrection from the dead
constitutes the redemption of the soul." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Exaltation
"To Latter-day Saints, exaltation is a state that a person can attain
in becoming like God—salvation in the
ultimate sense." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Church of the
Firstborn
"The Church of the Firstborn is Christ's heavenly church, and its
members are exalted beings who gain an inheritance in the highest heaven of the celestial world and for whom the family continues in
eternity." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
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Eternal Life
"The scriptures clearly state that eternal life comes from God
through his son Jesus Christ (John 3:16; 14:6; Heb. 5:9; 2 Ne. 31:20-21; Alma 11:40; Ether
3:14; D&C 45:8), and is the "greatest of all the gifts of God" (D&C
14:7; see also Exaltation; Godhood)." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Heirs of God and
Joint-Heirs with Christ
"This entry consists of two parts: Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with
Christ. The first part explains that by obedience to the commandments of God a person can
become an heir of God. The second part emphasizes that the gospel of Jesus Christ also
provides the way for one to become a joint-heir with Jesus Christ, and obtain the special
inheritance of the Church of the Firstborn." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Immortality
and Eternal Life
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the
work and glory of God is to bring to pass both the immortality and the eternal life of men
and women (Moses 1:39; 2 Ne. 10:23-25). These two conditions in the afterlife are not
necessarily synonymous, though each is given as a consequence of the Atonement of Jesus Christ." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Eternal
Lives, Eternal Increase
"'Eternal lives' is a term that refers to the right and power to
beget children after the resurrection, granted to those
who are exalted in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Hell
"Latter-day scriptures describe at least three senses of hell: (1)
that condition of misery which may attend a person in mortality due to disobedience to
divine law; (2) the miserable, but temporary, state of disobedient spirits in the spirit
world awaiting the resurrection; (3) the permanent habitation of the sons of perdition,
who suffer the second spiritual death and remain in hell even after the
resurrection." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Spirit
Prison
"In Latter-day Saint doctrine the "spirit prison" is both a
condition and a place within the postearthly spirit world. One "imprisons"
himself or herself through unbelief or through willful disobedience of God." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Eternal
Progression
"At the Resurrection and Judgment, people will be assigned a degree of glory. Further progress is believed possible
within each degree." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Everlasting
Burnings
"The Prophet Joseph Smith explained, 'God Almighty Himself dwells in
eternal fire; flesh and blood cannot go there, for all corruption is devoured by the
fire,' but a resurrected being, 'flesh and bones quickened by the Spirit of God,'
can." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Translated Beings
"Latter-day Saint scriptures speak of a unique class of beings,
persons whom the Lord has "translated" or changed from a mortal state to one in
which they are temporarily not subject to death, and in which they experience neither pain
nor sorrow except for the sins of the world." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Sons of Perdition
"Sons of perdition are not merely wicked; they are incorrigibly
evil.." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Book of
Life
"In a figurative sense, the book of life is the complete record of
one's life, the sum total of thoughts, words, and deeds written in the soul, of which the
Lord will take account in the day of judgment." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Buffetings
of Satan
"An individual who receives extensive spiritual knowledge, enters
into sacred covenants, and then turns away
from those promises to the Lord may be left to the buffetings of Satan until complete repentance has occurred." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism
Damnation
"In LDS doctrine, to be damned means to be stopped, blocked, or
limited in one's progress. Individuals are damned whenever they are prevented from
reaching their full potential as children of God." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Unpardonable
Sin
"The gravest of all sins is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. One may
speak even against Jesus Christ in ignorance and, upon repentance, be forgiven, but
knowingly to sin against the Holy Ghost by denying its influence after having received it
is unpardonable (Matt. 12:31-32; Jacob 7:19; Alma 39:6), and the consequences are
inescapable." Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Will
a Miscarried Child Be Resurrected?
"...it would appear that the only ones to
know if a particular miscarried child will be resurrected are the child's mother and her
Heavenly Father." W. John Walsh
Stillborn
Children
Bruce R. McConkie states,
"we can look forward with hope and anticipation
for the resurrection of stillborn children."
Reincarnation
This theory of reincarnation is that a persons spirit can return to live on the earth multiple times. This theory is rejected by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
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