LDS SCHOLARSHIP

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I Am Saved, Hallelujah, I Am Saved 

Recently, a soldier on the JBLM military installation approached us and gave Mom and I a small pamphlet entitled, “Save Yourself Some PAIN.” It is a publication made available through the Living Waters religious organization. We are grateful that this person would be bold enough to take an interest in our lives and to 

help us be “saved.” So, this DOPE Manual submission is not to belittle anyone or to diminish anyone’s desire to bless his/her fellow men. It is my attempt to discredit the false thinking many have in “Christianity” about the whole topic of salvation. 

According to our new booklet, I am so happy to report that I am now “Saved.” Here are the four criterion one needs to consider to determine if they are truly saved: 

1. Are you aware that God became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and that He died for the sins of the world? 

2. Did you come to the Savior because you knew that you had sinned against God? 3. Are you convinced that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for your sins, and that He rose again on the third day? 

4. Did you truly repent and put your faith in Jesus? 

Based on that test of salvation, I am saved! In my church I have taken each one of those steps. However in addition to those basic steps, I happen to believe a few other things: 

● The Son of God became flesh and is our Savior, Jesus Christ 

● Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind will be resurrected and all will have equal opportunity to accept or reject His gospel. (Hence, the billions of people who have come to this world and died without ever even hearing the name of Jesus Christ will have the opportunity for eternal life with God.) 

● In addition to believing (I assume that means faith in Jesus Christ), repenting, we also need to follow the example and injunction of the Savior to be baptized by immersion and by one having authority. Then, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. 

● We have the Book of Mormon and modern-day scripture to help solidify our understanding of the gospel. 

● God continues to follow His pattern of establishing His word and direction for His children through living prophets. 

● God operates through chosen servants who have His priesthood keys and authority. ● There is a plan of salvation that reinforces the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and helps us know where we came from, what our purpose is in life and what awaits us on the other side of mortality. 

● The ancient church established by the Savior was taken from the earth and restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. 

● Family existed in the pre-earth life, families are the Lord’s way of blessing His children here on earth and families can be an eternal unit in the hereafter. 

As members of the Lord’s Church we are blessed with such an abundance of knowledge with more revelation yet to come. Our responsibility remains to stay on the covenant path, care for the needy, take the gospel message to the entire world, and assist in the work of helping our kindred dead with family history and temple work. We believe the day will come when we will be judged out of the Book of Life (Revelation 20:12) and that according to the Book of Mormon, only through the Savior, Jesus Christ, we are saved after all that we can do (2 Nephi 25:23).