Who can be saved? Anyone who believes

Sometimes there's a question about who can be saved. Does God care about everyone? Can everyone receive salvation?

The answer is yes. The rules for salvation are generally the same for everyone, and at some point every person will be allowed to choose to follow those rules.

Paul speaks to this idea in Romans 10. Every person who accepts Christ will be saved.

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the ^aheart man ^bbelieveth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto ^csalvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

12 For there is no ^adifference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is ^brich unto all that ^ccall upon him.

13 For whosoever shall ^acall upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not^abelieved? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a ^bpreacher?

15 And how shall they ^apreach, except they be ^bsent? as it is written, How beautiful are the ^cfeet of them that preach the^dgospel of ^epeace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

16 But they have not all ^aobeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath ^bbelieved our report?

Note that this emphasizes 2 things in verse 10: believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. One fair question is, does this mean that works are not involved in salvation? It depends what believing with the heart means. Does it mean a feeling of belief (which is then confessed with the mouth) or does it mean your belief is deeply ingrained within you (like a heart is core to the life of the body) and affects everything you are and do?

I lean towards the latter explanation based on other scriptures, but also because it seems a more complete answer even in this chapter. Consider what calling on the Lord entails? It entails taking the time to think about what to say to him and what to ask for and why you want to confess belief in him. That's work. Also, consider the word believe. It would be helpful to know the initial word used when Paul wrote, and I have read some commentary on this (in the footnotes to the Articles of Faith by James Talmage). Briefly though, the word believe has at its root, "be" and "live". To believe is to "live" and "be" according to something an individual supposes to be true. What's assumed to be true affects the life of the individual. How can the life of the individual be affected without affecting works as well? Wouldn't the works expose what the individual believes? Thus, how can works, words, and belief be separated? Eventually they can't because they all contribute to the same thing, what a person is. They are all so highly correlated that it can be hard to distinguish one from the other over the long run (i.e., if you know all of someone's words and all of their works, it becomes obvious who they are and what they believe; it's true that people can hide portions of their words and works depending on the situation, but you can't fake everything always).

Therefore, I think to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth is to say and act in all ways, even to the deepest center of a person, that Jesus is the Savior. I want to live like that.

Paul also comments on the need to "obey the gospel" in verse 16. That speaks to following rules, which is an action. Also, on a side note, there's a need not only to hear the word of God, but to have a preacher who is sent to preach that word correctly. Who sends the preacher? Authorized servants send authorized preachers. What's the authority? The priesthood - See Hebrews 5 and 7.

Have a great day.

Recognizing God - Where is He and how to recognize Him

I had a discussion with a colleague I really like a few weeks ago. It turned to religion (not a shocker with me) and I explained what we believe and why I believe it. One key question he asked include, "are there artifacts in key geographic locations showing this may have taken place?" I said that there are remains of people, one of which likely included the Book of Mormon people, but this is evidence that is secondary compared to other evidence I have such as reading and praying and living it and seeing the effects it has on my life.

Then he said, "I believe in taking a very scientific approach towards all things in life."

The interesting thing is I do too. The scientific method is about trial and error. For instance, when someone is doing a basic scientific experiment, they often try a couple of things, repeat them a bunch of times with a couple of differences and see what the outcome is. If a scientist is mixing to compounds together in hopes of a reaction, and then a reaction occurs, he will say that he's learned something. Interestingly enough, it's not like the scientist knows what atoms or molecules or even quarks interacted or how they interacted in order to cause the reaction. He basically accepts the outcome as evidence of something happening and calls that "science".

I similarly, do my best to live the gospel, and when things happen as a result of my living, I trust that the outcome is related to my action and believe that those who told me to do the actions, Apostles, Prophets, and/or God, are in fact correct and exist. It's a pretty similar process frankly.

So, speaking of God - he talks about what he influences in D.C. 88:

45The earth ^arolls upon her wings, and the ^bsun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the ^cpower of God.

46Unto what shall I liken these kingdoms, that ye may understand?

47Behold, all these are ^akingdoms, and any man who hath ^bseen any or the least of these hath ^cseen God ^dmoving in his majesty and power.

48I say unto you, he hath seen him; nevertheless, he who came unto his ^aown was not comprehended.

49The ^alight shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall ^bcomprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him.

50Then shall ye know that ye have ^aseen me, that I am, and that I am the true ^blight that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound.

Apparently God is in all things. At some point it will be very clear to us what that means. My experience is that this is correct. I have come to know that he is involved in a few things that it isn't hard for me to believe that he can be involved in some way in all things.

Essentially these verses are saying that all kingdoms (groups of things, including the sun, the stars, different groups of plants, animals, etc.) have rules and consequences for following or not following these rules. Also, they have order.

I think that's the manifestation of God in the world; he provides order/organization to things. Without him, things degrade to chaos/darkness.

Have a great week.

LaDon