“The gospel teaches us that relief from torment and guilt can be earned through repentance.”
Boyd K. Packer, The Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness, General Conference, October 1995
Boyd K. Packer, The Savior’s Selfless and Sacred Sacrifice, Ensign, April 2015
"Each of us has been sent to earth by our Heavenly Father to merit eternal life."
Robert D. Hales, "Personal Revelation: The Teachings and Examples of the Prophets", October 2007 General Conference
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6.) He said, “… no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” This is the Lord’s way, and coming unto the Father is a divine and sacred gift that must be merited.
Bernard P. Brockbank, “Entrance into the Kingdom of God,” Ensign, Jan 1973, 44
Immortality connotes life without end. Eternal life, on the other hand, connotes quality of life — exaltation, the highest type of immortality, the kind of life enjoyed by God himself. It is in the attainment of eternal life, which man must earn in mortality, that he reaches his full potentiality.
- Marion G. Romney, of the First Presidency, at General Conference, October 1978, Ensign, November, 1978, p. 14
Individual salvation is "...that which man merits through his own acts
through life and by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel."
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1 p. 134
“There will be a wise and just God to sit in judgment on all men. … The wicked may prosper for a time, the rebellious may seem to profit by their
transgressions, but the time is coming when, at the bar of justice, all men will be judged, ‘every man according to their works’ (Rev. 20:13). No one will ‘get by’ with anything. On that day no one will escape the penalty of his deeds, no one will fail to receive the blessings he has earned. Again, the parable of the sheep and the goats gives us assurance that there will be total justice.”
Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 304–5
"Let us make our homes sanctuaries of righteousness, places of prayer, and abodes of love that we might merit the blessings that can come only from our Heavenly Father... How might we merit this promise [spoken of in Ezekiel 36]? What will qualify us to receive this blessing?"
Thomas S. Monson, "To Learn, to Do, to Be", General Conference, October 2008
It is the celestial glory which we seek. It is in the presence of God we desire to dwell. It is a forever family in which we want membership. Such blessings are earned through a lifetime of striving, seeking, repenting, and finally succeeding.
Thomas S. Monson, The Race of Life, General Conference, April 2012
(cf. “To Learn, To Do, To Be,” Ensign, May 1992, 47)
“Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed. All must be saved on the same principles. If a man gets a fullness of the Priesthood of God he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord …” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 308)
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LDS Scriptures:
D&C 25: 15.
15 Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. And except thou do this, where I am you cannot come.
D&C 76: 112 (51-112)
112 And they shall be servants of the Most High; but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end.