In this essay, I will attempt to outline the basic steps we take as we align ourselves with God in order to attain salvation – this is a 50,000 foot view of our walk with God and is no wise comprehensive. In this essay I hope to address the many misconceptions out there regarding the requirements for salvation. Essentially, I believe that many religions take their followers the first few steps closer to Christ but stop just short of the finish line. The primary problems I have seen are the ideas that: A) All we need is faith; B) We are saved predominantly by ordinances; C) Our works are the main way we attain salvation. In truth, these are all partly true, each of these items is necessary but they are all stepping stones towards aligning our hearts with God. Heart alignment with God, in my view, is our ultimate goal, and all the gospel leads up to it.

If you want to skip reading this essay, simply go to my article The Commandments and try to follow them the best you can. Then confess your sins and frequently pray asking for God to change your heart – to purge the darkness and pride within and replace it with light and love.

Before starting, it is essential for the reader to understand that there are varying degrees of glory in heaven. I mention this here: Cosmology. Therefore, if you even complete the first step you likely will have at least a place in heaven, but you likely won’t have the full degree of glory that those who have completed all steps will receive. In other words, there is a difference between merely being saved, and receiving the fullness of glory that we have been promised in the scriptures.

The Steps in Simple Form

1 – Faith in Jesus Christ

First, we must accept Christ as King, meaning: 1) we fear him above all else; 2) we decide to follow him; 3) we ask for forgiveness for our sins.

This of course is necessary because without faith, we have not access to the requisite atoning power and grace of Christ needed to enter heaven. However, to gain a weight of glory in God’s kingdom, we must continue onward seeking to change our hearts to align with God.

2 – Fearing God / Purifying ourselves of Satan’s influence

Next, we must purify ourselves from the influence of Satan. This means ending all addictions – to alcohol, drugs, pornography / premarital sex, even caffeine (scriptural foundation for this here: The Commandments). Other avenues for Satan to influence us (toxic shows / music / technology) must also be cast out. Without removing Satan’s influence, we won’t be able to perform sacred ordinances with the right spirit, and we will be unable to fully align our heart with God.

3 – Rituals / Actions

God gave us rituals as a stepping stone – we cannot become like him unless we are doing things that he wants us to do and are perpetually reminded of him. However, the goal is to change our hearts, not to just enact performances. So, rituals don’t fully save us but are still necessary; here are a few:
Ordinances: Baptism, Laying On of Hands, Sacrament
Service for Church: Going to Church, Performing Church Callings, Tithing
Service for Others: Attending Service Projects, Helping Neighbors

4 – Humility / Aligning Heart With God / Actions

Our goal on earth is to learn and progress to be more like God. This means changing our heart posture to truly be a disciple: being humble, desiring to serve others and God, abhorring wickedness, and desiring that which is pure and virtuous. This involves being humble, teachable, forgiving, charitable, and loving our neighbors and God like unto ourselves.
The evidence of having such traits includes:

• Making an effort every day to worship God through prayer and scripture study.
• Spending time serving others.
• Always forgiving others even when they have wronged you.
• Being polite and respectful towards others even in difficult situations.
• Being humble and willing to be taught by others, even those who are less successful than you.
• Glorifying others over self. Being willing to submit in all things.

Detailing the Steps and Addressing Misconceptions

1 – Faith in Jesus Christ

Many mainstream Christians sadly stop at this step. This is because their preachers seek popularity (to gain money), and therefore don’t want to offend their congregation by telling them they risk not being saved (as mentioned in this article: The Dark Side of Organized Religion).

Moreover, many have misinterpreted the scriptures on this topic. Yes, there are scriptures that say that we don’t earn our salvation but instead gain it through grace (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Galatians 2:16, Isaiah 64:6). We even get the beautiful account of Jesus promising to meet one of those crucified at his side in heaven after that man’s confession of faith (Luke 23:39-43) – which people have used to say that all one needs to do is confess their faith in order to be saved.

The problem with this line of thinking is it invalidates all of the commandments, and contradicts a truly vast amount of scriptures (discussed here: The Commandments). What is the point of all the commandments if all we need to do is have faith? However, when one views these scriptures in light of the heterogeneity of glory, then they make more sense: Yes, you technically can be saved and get to heaven purely through faith, but to have the full glory promised to us, one must become an overcomer against sin (Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 3:12, Revelation 3:21, Revelation 21:7, 1 John 5:4-5).

My discourse here would be incomplete without noting (very strongly) that: We are indeed saved by the grace of God through the atonement – we do not earn salvation. But we do have to be worthy to receive the highest degree of glory in heaven, and that worthiness only comes by overcoming sin.

Finally, on the topic of deathbed confessions, it is my belief that: 1) they will work to get us into the doors of heaven; 2) God sees the direction we are going in life – if we were on the trajectory to fully overcome sin, though we died early, God will take that into account;  3) If we lived full lives with ample opportunities to accept Christ, but waited until a moment of desperation at the end to do so, God will be happy that we finally accepted him but will wish that we had accepted him earlier out of love for him rather than fear of death.

Here are a few pertinent scriptures on this topic:
James 2:18
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Matthew 7:21-27
21 ¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 ¶ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Matthew 25:34-46
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

2 – Fearing God / Purifying ourselves of Satan’s influence

Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, many preachers no longer teach the commandments because they seek popularity. This has left followers in a state of disobedience and open to the influence of Satan. If you don’t believe that these items are against the commandments (alcohol, drugs, pornography / premarital sex), I urge you to read my article The Commandments. This whole situation is very tragic, since if Satan still has significant influence over us, he can use it to prevent us from fully turning our hearts to God.

Now, there is a view among some that if you are a true believer, then you will be immune from the buffetings of Satan. This is not true – even Paul was buffeted by the messenger of Satan despite his praying against it (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Likewise, at one point Christ rebuked Peter for delivering the words of Satan (Matthew 16:22-23). If even Paul and Peter were on occasion subject to the influence of Satan, then we as believers will be as well. Therefore, we must redouble our efforts to cleans ourselves of all avenues by which Satan can influence us.

3 – Rituals / Actions

This is probably the most important section and why I wrote this entire article:
You see, many in my religion (Mormonism) believe they are saved because of the great amount of time they have spent serving their Church. They think their time/money/service has earned them salvation, which of course is not true and is specifically refuted by the scriptures (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Galatians 2:16, Isaiah 64:6).

Why is this so troubling to me? Firstly, because it breads an attitude of pride and arrogance. Instead of giving glory to God, these end up looking down on their neighbors for not doing enough for God. They think they are better than others, and it is plain to tell in their contemptuous and self-righteous attitude. This is more apparent in those who have received leadership positions in the Church and have used their positions of authority to bludgeon those below them. Which is a tragedy, because such toxic thinking invalidates all of their good works to a point where it may have been better for them if they never had known the gospel in the first place. The truth is, our works are but filthy rags to god (Isaiah 64:6), and we are even told not to boast of our works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Everyone is on their own personal journey with God, and it is not our place to judge their position with God.

And the second reason this troubles me is: it distracts people from the last step: to change your heart to align with God. Sadly, I have seen many a latter day saint who is extremely cruel towards loved ones and unforgiving because he is complacent and thinks he is already saved due to his great efforts serving the Church. The truth is, if you regularly say truly terrible things to family members, or in general treat those around you with scorn / disdain, then your service to the gospel was in vain. Instead, we should be kind and respectful towards others, always quick to glorify our neighbor over ourselves.

Finally, I have a word of warning on this topic: Unfortunately, some preachers have used this step to strike fear into their congregations; they want their flock to be truly paranoid about their salvation status in order to incentivize people to give donations. Indeed, we should fear God  (Proverbs 1:7, Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 14:26-27, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Psalm 33:8, Deuteronomy 10:12). However, this should be a healthy fear that motivates us to become better, not a fear that motivates us into slavish obedience towards questionable religious leaders. The problem with inordinate fear towards God is it leads us to forget the mercy of God. This disincentivizes us from loving God because it is hard to praise an entity that you perceive to be harsh and cruel. The other problem is that it prevents us from feeling the peace of Christ (Philippians 4:7), which is tragic because our happiness is one of God’s central priorities (2 Nephi 2:25, Alma 41:10, Moses 1:39). The peace of God also is important because it is a tool that we can use to overcome temptation and improve. The final problem is that Satan can use excessive fear to make us feel like our situation is hopeless – we never are going to be able to get right with God – so we might as well entirely give up our spiritual journey. Instead, we should feel conviction, not condemnation (Romans 8:1, 2 Corinthians 7:10, John 3:17, 1 John 3:20).

4 – Humility / Aligning Heart With God / Actions

Firstly, we must be careful to not prematurely decide our hearts are already good. Sadly, I have seen saints claim to be humble when to me it is clear that they are the opposite; Likewise, I have seen saints say they love certain people when it is very obvious that they don’t. Pride leads to glorying in how loving and humble oneself is. It requires no evidence to claim that you are humble and loving, therefore you can see why many a narcissist would fall for self-glorifying in this area.

Additionally, I have observed that humans have an intrinsic desire to correct others when they are wrong, and ensure those people understand that they were wrong. This instinct (in my view) is the start of cruelty. Almost all cruel lectures are motivated by the desire to make other people know how wrong they are and understand their place in society. This instinct should therefore be suppressed – as followers of Christ we should be humble / teachable / forgiving – not desirous to bring others down. Yet unfortunately many (delusional) people instead claim that this cruel instinct to bring others down is just them trying to help others improve by correction – a manifestation of their “love”. Of course, when we love others, we should correct them (Ezekiel 3:17-19, Ezekiel 33:8-9, Acts 20:26-27, Jacob 1:19, Mosiah 2:27-28, Proverbs 27:5-6)! But this correction must be delivered in a Christlike manner and come truly out of love (if corrections are not delivered lovingly they will have no effect, see 1 Corinthians 13:1). And we should not be dishonest – pretending to love those corrected when we really don’t – which unfortunately I have seen many a time. Also, hint, if you are not respectful towards someone, I highly doubt you love them.

Most of these last two paragraphs have been written towards men, who have a greater instinct towards pride and cruelty (I am male obviously). My understanding is that women often have the opposite problem: they struggle with feeling insufficient to the point of debilitation. So, don’t get down on yourself! Some people really are humble and love others, but don’t recognize it and still somehow feel depressed for not being righteous enough! If you are feeling depression because you are not good enough, I can almost guarantee that you don’t have the aforementioned problems – it is highly unlikely that you struggle with pride and cruelty. Ultimately, God is the only one who truly knows your heart, so if you don’t know where you are at, all I can do is advise you to pray – ask God what your problems are and petition him to change your heart.

Conclusions

* I definitely don’t claim to be perfect myself in an of the steps I have outlined. In fact, the opposite: the reason why I have even thought so much about this topic is because of my great personal difficulty in following Christ’s teachings.

My hope in this essay was to show that aligning our heart with God should be our number one priority, and that all else (overly focusing works / having faith without works / etc.) ends up falling short. The first step is fearing God and therefore adhering to the commandments with awe and trembling. This is the start of our journey – those who do not start with Godly fear will remain complacent and not continue further in faith. As we proceed, we should eliminate addictions, unrepented sins, and start developing habits of daily prayer and scripture study. In the end, instead of fearing God, we should be motivated by love for God and our desire to feel the light and peace that his teachings bring. At this point, we should be purged of pride, so that we can truly be called meek, humble, teachable, and contrite. Likewise, we should be full of love for God and man – a love that should be evident in our works – though we work not for the praise of man, but because we have a heart after Christ.

Philippians 4:6-8
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.