Yesterday I was reading in The Holy Temple by Talmadge and I came across a quote that struck me in a way I had never thought of before. In the Chapter called "The Necessity of Obedience" it reads
"While professing belief in the possibility of a universal salvation, the Church affirms that salvation is assured only on condition of individual compliance with the requirements established by the Redeemer, without whose atoning sacrifice none could be saved."
So, in regular human speak (that's what's so cool about Talmadge, we get to read educated speak) I get this:
'We recognize that everyone COULD by saved [by saved we mean exalted/Celestial kingdom] but the church teaches us that in order to be saved we need to keep the commandments that Christ gave us. That same Christ who, incidentally, makes it so we can even be saved in the first place.'
For some reason I started thinking about the recent exhibition of the temple ceremony on HBO (I had temple on the brain since that's the focus of the book) and the people who say you can be saved just by accepting Christ, your actions should be true to who you are (even if they are in direct violation of the commandments.) And, now I'll break those apart.
First, in order to be saved we must keep the commandments - we believe that in order to recieve the knowledge provided in the temple one must also keep the commandments. Following that similarity, presenting the ceremony publicly is like saying salvation should not require obedience either since it negates the requirements of obedience and righteousness to recieve them. But, then again, that statement would be too surprising (see next paragraph). Unfortunately, our world is chocked full of this mentality. Because so much knowledge has become public, we feel we should have the right to know everything on OUR OWN TERMS - all I need is the desire to know about it. Talmadge's statement screamed at me that this simply is not true. Some knowledge must be learned through righteousness and obedience. Hence, the Savior taught in parables - only those with "ears to hear" could hear the deeper meanings. Fortunately, the temple ceremony is the same way. The phrase pearls before swine comes to mind.
Second, if Jesus facilitated our salvation. I mean, he atoned for our sins and rose from the grave - what makes us think that we don't have to do anything in return. But, 'in return' isn't really a good definition of it since it is only a win win action for us to keep the commandments. Win because it improves our own life, and win because it leads to salvation. The concept that we don't have to keep the commandments and God will just 'make everything okay' on the other side is ludicrous and, to a certain degree, contradictory to the concept of an atonement. Then why do so many of us feel this way - that God loves everyone so he will save everyone? It is true that Christ loves us all, no matter what - there is much comfort and peace in that. But "salvation is assured only on condition of individual compliance with the requirements established by the Redeemer, without whose atoning sacrifice none could be saved."
