Saved by Grace

Once, while teaching a group of Primary children about grace, I challenged them to find the word in a hymn. The books flew open and the search was on. Within a minute, a boy raised his hand and enthusiastically declared, “It’s in hymn number 249, ‘Called to Serve.’”

I quickly reviewed the text in my mind and came up blank. I had sung the hymn countless times and couldn’t remember the mention of grace. “Are you sure?” I asked. The boy confidently held out his book and pointed to the bottom of the page, where we all discovered the text had been written by Sister Grace Gordon!

One teacher quipped, “That puts a new twist on being saved by Grace!” All the adults laughed as we thought of the children picturing Grace Gordon showing up in a superhero costume. Children are not the only ones who can misunderstand what it means to be saved by grace. Knowing a little history about the oft-repeated phrase can be helpful, along with comprehending multiple types of salvation.

Brief History

The Church of Jesus Christ in the meridian of time was made up of members from diverse backgrounds and cultures, just as the Church is today. There were members with Jewish heritage who emphasized strict obedience to the law and judged righteousness by outward performances. Church leaders had to remind these Saints that they were not saved by their deeds but rather by “grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24; see also 3:20).

In ancient America there were also Christians who were so focused on the law that they overlooked the need for a Savior. Abinadi taught them, “Salvation doth not come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses” (Mosiah 13:28).

Within the early New Testament Church there were other members who had come from Greek and Roman backgrounds. They had previously worshipped idols, for which there were no standard requirements. Idols don’t demand much of their followers. Everyone found his or her own way. Some of these converts believed their new God—Christ—would save them no matter what they did or didn’t do. To them Paul wrote, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid” (Romans 6:1–2). Or, in other words, should we just go ahead and sin because we are saved by grace anyway? No.

In ancient America there were similar believers who embraced Nehor’s teachings that “all mankind should be saved at the last day” (Alma 1:4) regardless of their faith or deeds. To them Alma declared, “Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight” (Alma 7:9). Church leaders in both hemispheres were effectively stressing grace or works depending on the backgrounds and needs of their listeners.

After the Apostasy, the Catholic Church focused heavily on ordinances and sacraments while reformers preached scriptures and grace. This conflict set the stage for the Restoration. During the First Vision, Joseph asked which of all the churches was right, and the Savior said, “None of them.” He declared, “They teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof” (Joseph Smith—History 1:19). The Lord was not pleased that His doctrines had been altered by men and that His ordinances were being performed without proper priesthood keys and authority. Through Joseph Smith, Christ’s Church—complete with true doctrine and priesthood keys—was restored.

And what is the doctrine of “grace made known” (Hymns, no. 73)? The Book of Mormon declares, “It is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved” (2 Nephi 10:24). In addition to scripture, consider the teachings of leaders, past and present:

• When Joseph Smith made inspired changes to the Bible, he revised Romans 3:24, which said “justified freely by his grace” to instead say “justified only by his grace” (emphasis in original).

• President Brigham Young taught, “When we obtain a celestial glory we shall have to explain that it is through the grace of God.”1

• Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “Does salvation come by grace, and grace alone, by grace without works? It surely does.”2

• Elder Gene R. Cook taught, “[With] the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that divine enabling power to assist us, we will triumph in this life and be exalted in the life to come.”3

• Elder Gerald N. Lund has written, “There is no need to go to extraordinary lengths to . . . explain away [Paul’s] statements on salvation by grace. We are saved by grace.”4

• Elder M. Russell Ballard confirmed, “No matter how hard we work, no matter how much we obey, no matter how many good things we do in this life, it would not be enough were it not for Jesus Christ and His loving grace.”5

Many Kinds of Salvation

What sets Latter-day Saints apart from other Christians is not a reluctance to acknowledge our full and complete dependence on Christ’s grace but rather the possession of a full and complete understanding of salvation. Even scholars outside the Church have recognized that Latter-day Saints teach the most fully developed understanding of salvation, afterlife, and heaven of any Christian church.6

The word that was translated as salvation in many verses of the Bible could also have been rendered as victory. Latter-day Saints know we need victory on many battlefronts. The Book of Mormon tells of wicked Zeezrom, who ridiculed Alma and Amulek and attempted to publicly humiliate them. Later, that same Zeezrom—now repentant and sick with a burning fever—sent for Alma and Amulek to heal him (see Alma 15:5). Alma took Zeezrom’s hand and asked, “Believest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation?” (Alma 15:6), or we could say, “Do you believe in Christ’s power to offer victory?” Was Zeezrom thinking of being saved physically—victory over illness? Was Alma, who had been reclaimed from a life of sin, thinking of spiritual salvation or victory over sin? Either way, it is clear that “the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people” (Alma 24:27).

Elder Dallin H. Oaks has taught, “As Latter-day Saints use the words saved and salvation, there are at least six different meanings.”7 Through the Savior’s grace, He offers victory over death, sin, our worst selves, ignorance, and hell. Ultimately, He offers the greatest victory of all in the form of exaltation.

Death

Teaching of the Resurrection, Paul wrote, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, . . . at the last trump: . . . we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52). Resurrection, victory over death, is a gift of grace. We can’t do it for ourselves. The Fall of Adam and Eve brought death to mankind, and Christ came to do what no mortal could ever do—break the bands of death. However, although many Christians see the Fall as disastrous, the plan of salvation allows us to see it as desirable.

In the premortal existence we had progressed as far as we could without a mortal experience, which includes receiving bodies of flesh and bones like those of our Heavenly Parents. We honor Christ, whose unique birth made Him immortal and whose voluntary and selfless choice brought life after death. In like manner, we honor Eve, who was immortal in the Garden of Eden and whose voluntary and selfless choice brought birth after premortality.

Eve was given as a “help meet” for Adam (Genesis 2:18), but that does not mean she was his servant or partner. The term in Hebrew means more than helper. It is derived from the word ezer, which can also be translated as “to rescue” or “to save.” Eve’s righteous choice saved Adam and all of us from stagnation. Thus it is not by chance that there is a tradition of men standing when a woman enters the room.

If we knew the day Adam and Eve fell, we could rightly celebrate it just as we do Christmas and Easter. Maybe choirs of angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest” on that occasion too, for without the Fall and the opposition it brought, we could never fully appreciate the “peace” and “good will toward men” (Luke 2:14) proclaimed at Christ’s birth.

Many religious leaders see our physical bodies as ugly, corrupt, and even evil. They see death as freeing our spirts from the prison of their bodies. Latter-day Saints do not see our bodies as prisons but as sacred, beautiful temples (see 1 Corinthians 6:19) and as absolutely essential to our progression. Through Resurrection, our spirits and bodies will be united eternally, “never to be divided” (Alma 11:45).

After I spoke at a treatment center for troubled teens, some of the young people approached me with questions. One girl asked, “Do you believe everyone will be resurrected?”

I responded, “Yes. I believe that is a gift Christ has given everyone.”

She then shocked me by saying, “Tell Jesus to just keep His stupid gift. I don’t want to be resurrected. I hate my body. It’s ugly and gross. I can’t wait to get rid of it.” Her strong words revealed the same deep issues as her tattoos and body piercings. She had multiple scars where she had cut herself and huge gauges in both earlobes. I said, “One day, I hope you can see the beauty Christ sees in you.”

“Whatever,” she muttered as she turned and walked away. When we abuse or defile our sacred bodies, we disrespect a central purpose of mortality and downplay our eternal destinies. Satan and those who chose to follow him in the premortal ­existence forfeited the opportunity to have bodies. That’s why Education Week presenter Mary Ellen Edmunds humorously calls them nobodies (no bodies!) and Scott Anderson, another favorite Education Week presenter, tells the youth, “When Satan tells you that your body is ugly, just say, ‘Well, at least I have one!’” The spirits who followed Satan have such a strong desire for tabernacles of flesh that they are willing to possess swine for even a brief moment (see Mark 5:6–13). We, on the other hand, will enjoy perfected and glorified bodies forever free from every mutilation, deformity, and scar.

Often the gift of resurrection is called unconditional because everyone will be resurrected regardless of his or her choices. This is accurate at this point in time, but resurrection was conditional upon our choosing to come to earth in the first place. It seems logical that Heavenly Father could have provided immortal bodies for us. Then there would have been no need for the Resurrection. But we had much to learn, so God wisely made mortality and resurrection dependent on our choices. Those who followed Satan chose not to be resurrected when they chose not to come to earth. Our current choices here on earth and later in the spirit world will not affect whether or not we are resurrected, but they will play a part in the order in which we will be resurrected and the type of body we receive—celestial, terrestrial, or telestial (see Alma 42:27; 1 Corinthians 15:40–42; D&C 76). Author Truman G. Madsen wrote, “That we will be resurrected is an exceptionless truth. But the when of the resurrection, the how of it, and the kind of body we receive in the resurrection are conditional. They depend almost entirely on us and the relationship we forge with Him who is the resurrection and the life.”8

Without resurrection not only would our progress be stopped, but we would regress. Joseph Smith taught that “all beings who have bodies have power over those who have not.”9 The prophet Jacob taught that without bodies we would be subject to Satan and ultimately become like him: “O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself” (2 Nephi 9:8–9).

Scriptures teach that our resurrected bodies will be incorruptible (see 1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Nephi 9:13). That means we will not age or fall apart, but it also means Satan will not be able to corrupt us. No wonder Joseph Smith taught that happiness and joy are dependent on having a body (see D&C 93:33, 34) and that “no person can have . . . salvation except through a tabernacle.”10 The Resurrection is one of many ways we are saved by grace.

Sin

Christ saved us from death, but He also offered victory over sin. His perfect life was a flawless model, but all along He knew we could not follow Him flawlessly. Paul wrote, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Christ came to take “away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and offer “forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). But “Christ died not to save indiscriminately but to offer repentance” taught Elder D. Todd Christofferson.11 Because Jesus paid our debt to justice by shouldering the penalty for our sins, we can repent (see Helaman 14:18).

Picture the hopelessness of our situation if there were no second chances, no new beginnings, no clean slates, and no do overs. Imagine never being able to rid ourselves of shame and feel peace—never being able to live with God. Without Christ and the “beauties of [His] grace” (Hymns, no. 178), we would live in a world in which unavoidable sins could bring only regret and never reflection—a world where we would be forever tempted and never taught.

In most of the New Testament, the word repentance was translated from a Greek word meaning “to turn,” as in to change course. The gift of forgiveness is correctly labeled as conditional because it is dependent upon our course changes. Nevertheless, the opportunity to repent and engage with Christ in a process of personal refinement is not dependent on anything. It can be labeled as unconditional because it is a gift.12

One of my students at BYU, Sarah Hill, turned in a paper she titled “The Screw-Up Letters” (a clever take on C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters). In it she wrote, “Christ’s Atonement helps me repent and be forgiven but it also enables me to learn, grow, mature, and become throughout the repentance process.” She explained how Christ’s gift allows her to see mistakes as stepping stones in the change process rather than just stones weighing her down. Sarah signed her paper (as we all could), “A Screw-up with Potential.”

Another student wrote in her paper, “In the past I felt reluctant to repent because I saw it as embarrassing and depressing.” She had seen herself starting off at one hundred percent, with each sin making her less and less. But none of us was ever perfect to start with. Repentance is not a punishment for slipping from perfection. It is a step toward that goal. The process does not take us back to one hundred percent but closer to it. She wrote, “Now each time I kneel in prayer and ask forgiveness, and each time I take the sacrament, I’m excited for the chance to start over, change, and become better. . . . I no longer see repentance as a negative thing, but as a gift of hope and love.”

Think of a child in school who has been assigned to write a story. He is not better off by leaving his paper clean with no marks on it. A clean sheet of paper is not the goal. He needs to write his first draft. The teacher then suggests he add in more description and detail. Maybe she suggests that he use a different word here or there and fix some spelling and punctuation errors. The student returns to his desk and makes changes. A perfect first draft is not the goal, and although the child doesn’t usually realize it, a polished, final draft is not the goal either. The teacher knows that improving the writing is only a way of improving the writer. Going through the writing process is how the child learns to discover what is inside him, bring it out, and share it with others. It is how he learns to think more clearly and live more observantly. Learning to write is not just a skill that will help the child make a living one day. It will help him make a life. It is the same for us as we choose to engage with Christ in the repentance process. “Sometimes we forget,” wrote Elder Tad R. Callister, “that repentance is not only the road to forgiveness; it is also the road to perfection.”13

I once asked a young man at BYU to tell me about his conversion. He said, “I don’t know if you really want to hear it. I was a pretty bad kid.” I assured him I did, so he told me how in elementary school he and his buddies thought it was funny to torment dogs and cats. By middle school they had turned their attention to bullying special-needs students.

“Didn’t you feel bad about what you were doing?” I asked.

“Of course I did,” he admitted, “but I was afraid that if I stopped or asked my friends to stop they would attack me. I guess my fear was greater than my guilt.” In high school these young men would drive through town throwing water balloons at homeless people. He said, “You know those people on the roadside who hold signs asking for money? Well, we’d slow down like we were going to give them something and then we would dump buckets of cold water on them and speed off.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The schoolteacher in me wanted to haul this kid right down to the principal’s office!

The young man continued, “Then a girl at school invited me to come to a Mormon youth conference at a nearby college campus. I assumed it would be a weekend full of mischief and late-night pranks, so I agreed to go.”

Instead, the teenager discovered a weekend full of workshops and evening devotionals, but he didn’t complain. He actually liked it. He said, “Toward the end of the conference one of the speakers talked about how people had persecuted Christ—how the Roman guards had whipped Him, spat upon Him, and made Him carry His own cross. All at once I realized: that would have been me! It was like a dam broke inside. All the hurt I had caused, all the pain I was responsible for flooded over me, and I felt horrible.”

The young man thought of the animals he had tortured, kids he had bullied, homeless people he had belittled, and he wanted to run and hide. He said, “The speaker then started talking about how the Romans crucified Jesus, and I lost it. I felt like I was swinging the hammer on the nails, and I couldn’t stop crying.”

One of the leaders noticed the tears, motioned for one of the other kids to move, sat next to this young man, and put an arm around his shoulder. The boy recalled, “I was embarrassed but couldn’t speak. I just sobbed. I felt so bad about all the pain I had caused through the years.”

Then the speaker said the words that Christ uttered from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The boy confided, “That’s when peace washed over me and I knew I would be okay. I didn’t know how or why, but hearing those words made me feel like I was getting another chance.” The young man had not yet encountered LDS hymns, but he discovered the truth of the text: “The very foes who slay thee have access to thy grace” (Hymns, no. 197). In the weeks and months that followed, this young man began attending church with his friend, met with the missionaries, and got baptized. The opportunity to repent and be forgiven is one of many ways we are saved by grace.

Our Worst Selves

Along with saving us from death and sin, Jesus offers us victory over our worst selves. Not only can our sins be forgiven, but we can be born again (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ can become the father of our spiritual rebirths (see Mosiah 5:7). “Have ye spiritually been born of God?” asked Alma. “Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?” (Alma 5:14). The opportunity to answer yes to these questions is a gift of grace—­something we cannot do on our own.

Every person born into the world is responsible for his or her own choices because, members of the Church or not, Christian or not, religious or not, we are all given the ability to distinguish between good and evil: “The Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world” (D&C 84:46; see also Moroni 7:16). We call it the light of Christ (see Moroni 7:18).

Despite this gift, we make sinful choices that dull our consciences. We ignore that inborn moral compass and end up lost, confused, and unwilling to admit it was our own fault. Christ came to save us from our prideful and unrepentant selves. Through His Atonement, we can become “submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things” (Mosiah 3:19). “Marvel not,” the Lord said to Alma, “that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness” (Mosiah 27:25).

Some associate being born again with baptism, which is an essential ordinance, but spiritual rebirth is usually a much longer process. In the perspective of the plan of salvation, being born again entails much more than the cleansing of baptism described in the Bible. It also includes the development of the soul associated with the covenants of baptism emphasized in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 7:15). As I renew baptismal covenants by taking the sacrament every week throughout my life, I engage in the process of trading my “broken heart” (3 Nephi 9:20) for “a new heart.” Christ takes away my “stony heart” and replaces it with a “heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

After we make covenants at baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost—a greater endowment of the same feelings associated with the light of Christ and the opportunity to have those feelings with us always.14 As we follow the Spirit’s promptings, He sanctifies us, smooths out our rough edges, and polishes us over time.

During World War II, Elder David B. Haight was flying in a plane over the Pacific when suddenly the engine began spewing flames and smoke. In the terror of that moment, Elder Haight poured out his heart to God. He promised that if he got out of the war alive he would rededicate his life to service in the Church. Elder Haight said, “I pondered that night that I hadn’t given it my all. I didn’t have my priorities in proper order. That night my whole life passed in review before me. I reappraised my life and recommitted myself to the Lord.”15

That sincere prayer was a turning point. However, Elder Haight was not born again the instant he made his commitment but throughout all the subsequent years that he kept it. This event was only part of strengthening a covenant relationship with the Lord that continued throughout Elder Haight’s lifetime.

As an Apostle, Elder Haight visited the mission where I was serving as a young man. It was my first time seeing an Apostle in such an intimate setting. He told us that although he had a testimony of the gospel from a young age, he had not always been as active and dedicated as he should have been. “I’ve stolen a few apples in my time,” he stated.

His heartfelt words on that occasion touched me deeply. I figured that since God could still use Elder Haight despite his less-than-perfect past, maybe He could also use me. Just as God sanctified Elder Haight, maybe He was willing to polish and refine me as well. My encounter with that Apostle so impressed me that years later I named my youngest son David after him. The chance to be born again and become our best selves is one of many ways we are saved by grace.

Ignorance

In Doctrine and Covenants 131:6 we read, “It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.” Impossible means ­impossible—something we can’t do by ourselves. Along with saving us from death, sin, and our worst selves, Christ’s grace also gives us victory over ignorance (see 2 Nephi 4:23). He does not leave us in darkness. He said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).

When young Joseph Smith felt confused, there came into his life a pillar of light. When we are unsure, we can also seek a pillar of light—a clear picture of God, our relationship to Him, and the knowledge that what we are doing is in accordance with His will and plan for us. This knowledge can save us as it saved Joseph.

I had a difficult time in middle school. A boy with no basket-­shooting or football-throwing skills often suffers during early adolescence. The seventh-graders in my school came together from all over the city, so there were many new students I did not know. To make matters worse, my best friend from sixth grade moved away. I felt very alone.

Some kids attempted to mask their own insecurities by picking on others, and somehow in the shuffle I ended up at the bottom of the pecking order. Each day I faced bullying, threats, and rejection from peers. Once I was in that position, nothing I did was right. If I tried to talk and be friendly, I was mocked. If I didn’t, others made fun of me for staying to myself. I hated the hurt, but—and this is the point—through it all I did not hate myself.

My parents and Church teachers had helped me connect with the true source of all self-esteem—God. Because of that, I liked myself. Because I knew I was valuable in God’s eyes, I valued myself. The fact that peers at school didn’t like me did not seem to be evidence that I was a bad person. It was simply evidence that they did not yet know me.

As my classmates and I grew and matured, we came to know each other better. I reached out in service, and my efforts over time brought acceptance. In fact, when awards were passed out at my senior-class dinner dance in high school, I was not voted best looking or most likely to succeed. Instead I was given an award that meant much more to me than any other ever could. I was named the most-loved senior. This award came from some of the same students who literally spat on me in the halls of our middle school.

My self-esteem was tested, but Christ saved me from ignorance. I received a knowledge of my true self-worth. With this knowledge I was able to weather the storm. That doesn’t mean that it has been smooth sailing ever since. Sadly, many adults act as though they are still in middle school. Moments of self-doubt come at every age and every stage, and we all must be reminded over and over of our eternal value. Then, in a small way, we can feel the same sense of strength that the Prophet Joseph Smith felt during his life. Once when he was served a groundless warrant even after accusations against him had already been dismissed, he wrote, “The constable who served this second warrant upon me had no sooner arrested me than he began to abuse and insult me, and so unfeeling was he with me, that although I had been kept all the day in court without anything to eat since the morning, yet he hurried me off to Broome county, a distance of about fifteen miles, before he allowed me any kind of food whatever. He took me to a tavern, and gathered in a number of men who used every means to abuse, ridicule, and insult me. They spit upon me, pointed their fingers at me, saying, ‘Prophesy, prophesy’ and thus did they imitate those who crucified the Savior of mankind, not knowing what they did.”16

These ignorant men did not know who the Prophet was. They did not esteem him. Nevertheless, Joseph knew exactly who he was. He knew his relationship to God, and he knew his worth in God’s eyes. This knowledge allowed him to act accordingly and to weather storm after storm throughout his life.

Cult leaders like to keep their followers in ignorance. They encourage people to simply believe them and follow blindly. By contrast, Joseph Smith said, “God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what He will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least Saint . . . as fast as he is able to bear them.”17 Joseph did not want others to just believe his testimony; he encouraged them to find out the truth for themselves. He did not want others to just feel God’s grace secondhand; he wanted them to receive it firsthand.

Hell

Christ offers us victory over death, sin, our worst selves, and ignorance, but also over hell. Many Christians face a dilemma. They believe God gives common grace (what we would call the light of Christ) to all people, but saving grace only to Christians. So, if everyone has to accept Jesus to be saved, what happens to those who never hear about the Savior? Years ago people taught that these souls went straight to hell, but what does that say about God’s mercy? Today people teach that they will go to heaven regardless of their actions or choices. What does that say about God’s justice? Only in the restored gospel do we find the answer that satisfies both mercy and justice: between death and the Resurrection all spirits will have the chance to learn of Christ and accept saving ordinances performed on their behalf. The Bible Dictionary states, “Knowledge of divine and spiritual things is absolutely essential for one’s salvation; hence the gospel is to be taught to every soul” (“Knowledge,” 721).

For Latter-day Saints, hell is not a pit of fire where the wicked are tormented forever. Rather, the word hell is used to describe a part of the Spirit world—a place of rehabilitation rather than punishment. It is a temporary state in which individuals can choose to be taught, repent, come to Christ, and progress. Ultimately, hell can also describe outer darkness, a permanent place reserved for the devil and his followers, including those who, even after receiving a body, being taught, and having every imaginable opportunity to change, deny the truth staring them in the face and choose to defect to perdition. Those who choose to join Satan in outer darkness will feel ­anguish—not just because they have chosen to reject repentance and suffer for their own sins but because their progress will be forever blocked and they will have no one to blame but themselves (see Helaman 14:29–31).

Thankfully, these souls will not constitute the majority. I once participated in a symposium held at Brigham Young University on the topic of heaven and hell. LDS, Islamic, Catholic, and Evangelical perspectives were presented by representatives of the various faiths. A colleague and I then facilitated a question-and-answer session. One listener asked, “When all is said and done, will your heaven be larger than hell or vice versa?” Each representative responded, but it was the Mormon who described the smallest hell and the largest heaven.

We believe God is a successful parent! We believe Christ is a successful Savior! They will successfully rescue all who choose to be rescued. Because of Christ’s Atonement, the vast majority of God’s children will dwell in a kingdom of glory (see 1 Corinthians 15:40–42; John 14:2). In Doctrine and Covenants 76:43 we read that Christ “glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands.” No wonder my daughter Wendee, when once asked how we escape hell and get to heaven, responded, “Grace-fully!” The ability to leave spirit prison and enter paradise and the opportunity to choose to be in a kingdom of glory rather than outer darkness are ways we are saved by grace.

Alma questioned the suffering Zeezrom, “Believest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation?” (Alma 15:6). We don’t know what type of salvation Alma and Zeezrom were thinking about, but we know that every victory is because of Christ—our Savior in every sense of the word. Zeezrom believed, and Alma “cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ. And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet” (Alma 15:10–11).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “There is no salvation of any kind, nature, or degree that is not bound to Christ and his atonement.”18 Through His grace we can be victorious over death and sin. We can be victorious over our worst selves and ignorance. Because of Him we can be victorious over hell and, through it all, we can be changed. Heaven will be large enough to welcome all who choose to enter—“even as many as will” (Moses 5:9).

Notes

1. Brigham Young, The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, 5 vols., ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner (Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2009), 1:276.

2. Bruce R. McConkie, “What Think Ye of Salvation by Grace?” BYU Devotional Address, 10 January 1984, 4.

3. Gene R. Cook, “The Grace of the Lord,” Ensign, May 1993, 80.

4. Gerald N. Lund, “Salvation: By Grace or Works?” Ensign, April 1981, 23; emphasis in original.

5. M. Russell Ballard, “Building Bridges of Understanding,” Ensign, June 1998, 65.

6. See Colleen McDannel and Bernhard Lang, Heaven: A History (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1988).

7. Dallin H. Oaks, “Have You Been Saved?” Ensign, May 1998, 55.

8. Barnard N. Madsen, The Truman G. Madsen Story: A Life of Study and Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016), 479.

9. Joseph Smith, in The Joseph Smith Papers, Discourse, 5 January 1841, as reported by unknown scribe A, ID #7837, available online at http://www.josephsmithpapers.org, 1.

10. Joseph Smith, in The Joseph Smith Papers, History 1838–1856, vol. D-1, 1 August 1842–1 July 1843, ID #7624, available online at http://www
.josephsmithpapers.org, 1549.

11. D. Todd Christofferson, “Free Forever, to Act for Themselves,” Ensign, November 2014, 18.

12. See Thomas S. Monson, “Choices,” Ensign, May 2016, 86.

13. Tad R. Callister, “Repentance: The Pathway to Perfection,” in Between God and Us: How Covenants Connect Us to Heaven (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016), 89.

14. See James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1971), 5:4.

15. Lucile C. Tate, David B. Haight: The Life Story of a Disciple (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1987), 130.

16. Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen, eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844 (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 402–4.

17. Joseph Smith, in The Joseph Smith Papers, History 1838–1856, vol. C-1, 2 November 1838–31 July 1842, ID #7513, available online at http://www.josephsmithpapers.org, 8.

18. Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1981), 347.