“The Atonement and the Resurrection accomplish many things. The Atonement cleanses us of sin on condition of our repentance. Repentance is the condition on which mercy is extended.
James E. Faust, The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope, General Conference, October 2001
Without agency, we cannot develop the skills and attributes that are essential to the growth we must experience to return to God’s presence. It is simply impossible.
Bruce C. Hafen, “The Value of the Veil,” Liahona, Dec 1991, 27
But to be resurrected and immortal is not all that is required for entrance into eternal life in the kingdom of God. Eternal life in the kingdom of God is far beyond his universal gift of immortality and is God’s greatest gift to all mankind; it can only be brought about through obedience to the doctrines and commandments taught by Jesus Christ.
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 is assured to all of us through the atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But eternal life is a personal responsibility we must earn and be worthy of.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley, The Path to Eternal Glory, Ensign, July 1973
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
Immortality has been accomplished by the Savior's sacrifice. Eternal life hangs in the balance awaiting the works of men. This progress toward eternal life is a matter of achieving perfection. Living all the commandments guarantees complying with the formula the Lord gave us.
- one of exaltation through that perfection which comes by complying with the formula the Lord gave us.
- Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 208
“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)
_________________________
Explain that these verses teach that we are the children of God and we are his heirs. We can inherit eternal life, which is the kind of life that God lives. God will allow us to share the same knowledge and glory that he possesses. But God has established conditions we must meet if we are to inherit eternal life.
• Where can we find the conditions we must meet? (In the scriptures, the teachings of the modern prophets, the teachings of our parents, our Church meetings.)
Explain that these conditions are the commandments God gives to us. These commandments show us the way to be as happy as possible in this life and to inherit eternal life in the life to come.
Help the young women understand that there is nothing greater or more wonderful than the kind of life God lives. We cannot even imagine the joy and beauty of that life. Keeping the commandments is worth all the effort it requires because only by doing so can we become like our Father and inherit eternal life.
“Lesson 1: God the Father,” Young Women Manual 3, p. 2
“Most scriptures that speak of God or of the Lord do not even bother to distinguish the Father from the Son, simply because it doesn’t make any difference which God is involved. They are one. The words or deeds of either of them would be the words and deeds of the other in the same circumstance.
“Further, if a revelation comes from, or by the power of the Holy Ghost, ordinarily the words will be those of the Son, though what the Son says will be what the Father would say, and the words may thus be considered as the Father’s” (Bruce R. McConkie, “Our Relationship with the Lord,” in Brigham Young University 1981–82 Fireside and Devotional Speeches [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1982], p. 101).
“Lesson 1: God the Father,” Young Women Manual 3, p. 2
Don’t you see that if we are going to spend eternity with the Lord, we have to earn that privilege by doing what he asks of us? If we are going to spend eternity with him, we must become like him and so must our wives and our children. But we only become like him by keeping his commandments, by being in his church and following his program. Don’t you see that the program of the Church is really the plan of salvation, the way by which we develop those Christlike traits that make us like him?
If we were not like him and if it were possible under those circumstances to be in his presence, we would feel completely out of place, wouldn’t we? But, of course, to come to him in that way is impossible.
To develop traits of character like his is not without effort. We must realize that it is a process of growth and comes only by making his gospel a way of life.
We cannot be halfhearted about it either. We must serve him with all our heart, might, mind, and soul. And we must remember too that being active in the Church is a part of his gospel. The Lord said emphatically: “Every person who belongeth to this church of Christ, shall observe to keep all the commandments and covenants of the church.” (D&C 42:78.)
Mark E. Petersen, “Eternal Togetherness,” Ensign, Nov. 1974, p. 48
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
112 And they shall be servants of the Most High; but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end.
“We cannot keep all the commandments without first knowing them, and we cannot expect to know all, or more than we now know unless we comply with or keep those we have already received.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 256.)
Delbert L. Stapley, “The Blessings of Righteous Obedience,” Ensign, Nov. 1977, p. 18