Goal: eternal life
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In his Saturday afternoon address, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve asked five questions that help identify the "ingredients" necessary for eternal life.
1. What do we know about eternal life?
"We learn from Moses 1:39 that the Lord's work and glory is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life," Elder Perry said. "This teaches us that immortality and eternal life are separate and distinct. The gift of eternal life, which is promised only when certain conditions are met, is so much greater than the gift of immortality."
Those who gain eternal life become joint-heirs with Christ, have all power and receive the Father's fullness.
"If we could create in our minds a clear and true picture of eternal life, we would start behaving differently. We would not need to be prodded to do the many things involved in enduring to the end, like doing our home teaching or visiting teaching, attending our meetings, going to the temple, living moral lives, saying our prayers, or reading the scriptures. We would want to do all these things and more because we realize they will prepare us to go somewhere we yearn to go."
2 . Why does a missionary's purpose need to begin with helping others receive faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement?
In order to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, a person must first embrace Him whose gospel it is.
"A person must trust the Savior and what He has taught us," Elder Perry said. "They must believe that He has the power to keep His promise to us by virtue of the Atonement. When someone has faith in Jesus Christ, they accept and apply His atonement and His teachings."
Faith also leads to action — it leads to the commitments and changes associated with true repentance.
3. Why must individuals repent before they are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost?
The voice of Christ proclaimed to the Nephites that the baptism of fire with the Holy Ghost is for those who come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Repentance involves an attitude of humility. Those who repent must witness before Christ, or a representative of the Church, that they have repented of their sins.
"The gift of the Holy Ghost is only available to those who are cleansed by repentance of the sins of the world," Elder Perry said.
4. Why do we need to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost?
"The ordinance of baptism by water and fire is described as a gate by Nephi," he explained. "Why is baptism a gate? Because it is an ordinance denoting entry into a sacred and binding covenant between God and man."
The Holy Ghost helps all who receive it press forward and endure to the end.
5. How do we endure to the end?
Enduring to the end is not a do-it-yourself project, said Elder Perry. It requires Christ's redemptive power and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. One must also serve in a community of saints, share the gospel with others and always maintain faith and hope in Christ.
