At least, until recently, that is the way I have thought about the gospel, and often it is the way I have heard it taught. We talk that way in regard to testimonies too, don’t we – you cannot survive on “borrowed light”; everyone must have a testimony of his or her own.
Well, that much is, I think, absolutely true; but, in fact, I have
ceased to believe in the absolute truth of sole salvation.
Salvation, in our faith, is the obtaining of Eternal Life.
Eternal Life, Jesus said in his great intercessory prayer recorded in the Gospel of John, Chapter 17, verse 3, is to “know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
And what happens to us as we get to know God? Well, amongst other things, we get to know,
(a) that He is the father of the spirits of the whole human race;
(b) that He loves each and every one of His children;
(c) that He desires the salvation of each and every one of
His children;
and
(d) that it is incumbent upon us – that is, it is our duty – to share
what we know with others and to serve them so that the blessings of salvation can be theirs.
The Apostle John also wrote, in the First Epistle General of John, the following telling comments:
Chapter 1, Verse 7: | if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin… |
Chapter 4, Verses 11 and 20: | Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another…if a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. |
And in Chapter 4, Verse 21: | And this commandment we have from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also... |
Which goes along with Chapter 2, Verse 4: | And hereby we do know that we know him [remembering that knowing him is the evidence of Eternal Life\, if we keep his commandments. |
§ Salvation, or Eternal Life, is to know God and Jesus Christ.
§ If we know God and Jesus Christ, we will keep their commandments.
§ They command us to love one another.
§ Therefore, we know that we are not yet saved –
we do not yet possess Eternal Life –
if we do not have and express love for one another.
Joseph Smith said something else along these lines.
A man filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race. |
In short, if we have come to God in the spirit of humility to receive His grace and be saved, we will receive the gift of His love and will seek to express that love in fellowship and service toward others.
Most Christian believers are blessed to have membership in a church community that provides significant opportunities to manifest such love in service. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these opportunities include home and visiting teaching, accepting and fulfilling callings, and the giving of tithes and offerings. In addition, and for all people in all circumstances and communities of any kind, there are endless opportunities for expressing love through kind deeds and encouraging words; and we can and should all share the reasons for our faith in God and the principles of love that bind us to one another.
I testify that Jesus Christ lives and that he is our Saviour, that He suffered and died so that each of us could be cleansed from all sin, and that acceptance of this gift is as simple as the injunction to “look to God and live.”* I testify that when we do this in truth, putting aside our disbelief, our worries and our fears, when we cease to put ourselves in the way of our own salvation, we will receive the fullness of His grace which causes us to be open to the fullness of His love, increasing in us the desire to serve one another and the whole human race. It is my belief and hope that each person can know and experience this salvation, and that each and every person is entitled to do so.
*Also see, here, here and here.