Other Related Articles:
The Living Christ
The Sons and Daughters of God
What Do Mormons Believe about the Atonement of Jesus Christ?
Jesus the Christ
What do Mormons Believe? — Faith
Is Jesus the only son of God?
The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
How Do You Pray?

Thanks for your question.  I will preface by saying that this is a common question that we receive on this website.   I understand that there are different opinions and beliefs about this topic  and we needn’t proceed to a large debate about how Mormon beliefs don’t fit in perfectly with other Christian denominations beliefs.

Mormons believe that all people can be  saved  through the Atonement of Jesus Christ by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Article of Faith 3 ).  And the basic laws  and ordinances that bring about salvation through Jesus Christ are:  first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Second, repentance of our sins.  Third, baptism by immersion in water.  Fourth, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands (Article of Faith 4).

So, we are saved by the Atonement of Jesus Christ and we gain access to it by faith in Him and by obedience to his commandments.

Here are some other articles dealing with this topic.

The Saved Little Toaster

Works and Grace

Salvation (There is a pretty in-depth conversation on this post  in the comments)

Answer: Of course there is! With Christ all things are possible! While membership in the church is technically a requirement, if you find yourself unable to attend for a time you can still be faithful. You can continue to live the standards, read the scriptures, gain knowledge and live as Christ would have you. Live your life worthily so that you can be rebaptized promptly (since you had your records removed). In the future, when you find yourself independent and able to return to church, do it! Everyone is welcome in Christ’s Church!

“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Rev. 3:5).

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Rev. 21:7).

There are numerous other references to those great people who were clothed in white, who praised God and who were blessed by Him.  What stuck out to me, however, was the statement, “and he shall be my son.”  In a previous article titled, “Is Jesus the only son of God?” on this site, the nature of our relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ was explained.  Our opportunity to become sons and daughters of God was listed as the third point.  This is the entire reason behind our beliefs and the purpose of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  As the apostle John wrote, “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).  To become a son of God, in this sense, is to be like our Savior.  This is our ultimate goal for this life and all that we do ought to progress us further in pursuing that goal.

That goal, however, is impossible to achieve alone. In and of ourselves, we do not merit anything remotely approaching a return to our Father in Heaven or to be called sons of God. In spite of everything we could ever do, our mistakes and imperfections prevent us from ever returning to our God. He did not send us out from His presence for the purpose of losing us though. His perfect plan accounted for our weakness by including the infinite sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

It is through Christ’s suffering in Gesthemene and His death on the cross that He became our advocate to the Father.  Without Christ, we would have to accept all the consequences of our actions, that includes being forever separated from God.  Christ paid the price of justice on our behalf, making us debtors to Him and no longer to sin.  Sin would condemn us forever, but Christ has set His own conditions that allow us to obtain mercy.  Those conditions that He gave us are simple enough. He wants us to give Him our will, the only thing we really have of ourselves to give Him. He asked us to believe in His name, love Him, keep His commandments, enter into covenants, and to repent.

To fulfill those requirements He has given us, it first requires faith on our part.  Faith in His name and in His word causes us to follow His teachings, repenting when necessary.  Repentance leads to baptism which prepares an individual to receive the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost provides the guidance we need to further emulate Christ, particularly in serving our fellow man.

When baptized, an individual makes certain covenants or agreements with the Lord.  We agree to take His name upon ourselves and to always remember Him.  Taking His name upon us is a major step in becoming a son or daughter of God.  It means to act in His behalf and do as He would do.  If we are true and faithful to His name throughout our lives, we will become like He is.  We will be like our Father, just as we are commanded to be (Matt 5:48).

This is a great truth that has sustained me in this life.  We have infinite potential!  Even the lowest, meanest person on earth is spiritually a son of God and can become like Him.  We should all take strength in this knowledge and be faithful to it.  The greatest blessings of Heaven and Earth are available to the faithful.

Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.  For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed? -Abinadi (Mosiah 15:11-12)

First and foremost, God has a standard.  He has a way of living that He wants for us.  He has revealed, and continues to reveal, that way of living to prophets throughout the ages.  Through Moses, He instructed the children of Israel to obey a strict set of laws.  Jesus Christ instructed the Jews a different (and better) way of living that relied more on developing a good heart that dictates good actions.  I don’t doubt that that same Being inspired Buddha, Mohammad or Confucius to teach their respective peoples a better way of living.

Here’s the important part:  God does this so that His own children might be happy.  That’s right; God gives rules for you to be happy.  If He can persuade His children to lift their way of living to a higher level, even on just a single point, it brings Him joy because they are living up to a standard that is naturally better.  It isn’t so much that God will punish those who break commandments; the commandments are there to prevent actions that cause damage.  If I do action “A” then “B” will be a result.  If “B” is good, then God wishes us to do “A,” otherwise He must forbid it.

There are several problems people see with this standard.  First, they don’t see beneficial results from supposedly good actions, nor do they see bad results from bad actions.  Then they wonder why the standards are there in the first place.  Patience.  That’s why we believe in personal revelation.  We can ask our Heavenly Father if such a thing is for us.  After receiving an answer, we trust in that answer and believe that someday, somehow, that trust will be for our good.

Second, many people find themselves not living in harmony with their beliefs.  That is, everybody eventually finds themselves where their actions don’t line up with what they know they should be doing.  They then have a choice.  They could change their actions, or change their beliefs.  Either will relieve the situation and not doing either will always result in misery.  You would be the most wretched person if you constantly wish to be unchaste while acting in celibacy.  Or you could be miserable believing that you ought not to drink alcohol while sitting at the bar getting drunk.  The key is to alter the action that is keeping us from God instead giving up His standard.

Third, when we make a poor decision, we naturally are loathe to accept the consequences for that action.  We would like to get the benefit of something we didn’t do and avoid the penalty for something we did do.  It is true that Christ’s atonement allows us to repent and avoid the dire consequences of our actions, most especially being separated from God, but it is definitely easier to prevent making a mess of our lives than to work through the repentance process.  The time spent destroying spirituality could be spent building it up instead.  God’s standard helps us reap blessings with the time we have and not to spend it in trials and pain.

So in light of all this, it is imperative that each of us keep to the standard of God and stick to it.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ is there for us in our moments of weakness and to pick us up at our worst moments, if we are just willing to accept help.  It will be uncomfortable, there is no doubt there, but growth means growing pains.  The path of least resistance is quite comfortable, but doesn’t lead to the desired end.  We desire a better end, a more excellent way and one that brings a life of real joy and satisfaction.  That is why we do the things we do and try our best to live according to God’s standard.

You’ll often hear phrases like, “I know that God lives,” and “I know Jesus died for my sins,” and “I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.”  Sometimes visitors come away from these meetings non-plussed by our uber-confident ‘knowledge’ of things.  It got me thinking.

Whenever someone says they know something, they are saying they have high confidence that their belief coincides with objective truth.  We do this all the time.  You say, “I just know the dentist is going to lecture me on flossing” because 1) he’s done it before and 2) you still haven’t been flossing.  Your previous experience and the evidence of your behavior lead you to this prediction.  There are many ways we gather knowledge; I’ll list a few here for illustration:

• Personal experience (five physical senses,  sense of balance, pain, hunger, etc.)
• Emotion and intuition (love, fear, instinct, etc.)
• Experiences of others (advice, anecdotes, biographies, etc.)
• Logical and mathematical proofs (a priori)
• Found evidence (archeology, historical documents, paleontology, forensics, etc.)
• Robust scientific experimentation that controls for all variables (physics, chemistry, etc.)
• Scientific experimentation/observation that controls for variables where possible (sociology, political science, economics, etc.)

We all tend to have some level of confidence in these methods, some more than others, depending on many factors, but each of these can lead a person to say “I know…” if the learning method is compelling enough.  Even so, many would argue that none of the methods I listed above are capable of producing reliable knowledge of things as transcendent as God.  Archeological digs might lend credence to a religious belief, but surely not firm knowledge.  These critics have a point, so I would add one more item to the list:

• Revelation from God

God speaks to His children in various ways.  He gave Joseph prophetic dreams that came true; He spoke to Moses from a burning bush (and also face-to-face).  He sent an angel to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus.  Joseph Smith saw and listened to the Father and the Son in a grove of trees.

To Joseph of Egypt, Moses, Mary, Smith and many others, those experiences were indisputable.  They had every right to declare, “I know” instead of “I believe,” and they did.

For most of us, though, the glorious visions and visitations of heavenly beings haven’t yet happened.  For us, God has promised another form of revelation: a personal witness of spiritual truths through the power of the Holy Spirit.  He is available to bear witness of the Father and the Son.  ”By the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5).  This witness may be less dramatic or conspicuous than an angelic visitor, but its convincing power may be even more sure than a vision (see Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:151; 1 Nephi 17:45-46).  Because of His subtlety, it may take many prompts for you to hear the Holy Ghost and again many more before you trust them enough to say “I know.”  But it can happen.  This is how I know God lives and that Jesus is the Christ.

You can know, too.  Like other modes of learning, it won’t necessarily come in an afternoon of mild curiosity, but it will with dedicated seeking, knocking, and asking over the course of weeks and months and years.  Begin now and you will taste the deliciousness that is the knowledge of God.

While preparing for a class, I came across this talk given by Hugh B. Brown, a member of the First Presidency of our church, who passed away some years ago.  It details a conversation that he had with a member of the British House of Commons and a former justice of the supreme court of Britain regarding our belief in the reality of modern-day prophets.

I will never understand why people reject the doctrine of God still being able to call prophets.  He has always done so and will continue to do so.  I firmly declare that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that there is a prophet today who speaks for God.  Prophets are essential to us knowing who God and Jesus Christ are—their characters and their teachings that will bring salvation.  You too can know of this truth if you will sincerely ask God in prayer with faith to act.

“[This man] called me on the phone one day and asked if I would meet him at his office and explain some phases of my faith. He said, “There is going to be a war [World War II], and you will have to return to America, and we may not meet again.”

When I went to his office, he said he had been intrigued by some things I had told about my church. He asked me if I would prepare a brief on Mormonism and discuss it with him as I would discuss a legal problem. He said, “You have told me that you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that you believe that God the Father and Jesus of Nazareth appeared to him in vision.

“I cannot understand,” he said, “how a barrister and solicitor from Canada, a man trained in logic and evidence and unemotional cold fact, could accept such absurd statements. What you tell me about Joseph Smith seems fantastic, but I wish you would take three days at least to prepare a brief and permit me to examine it and question you on it.”

I suggested that, as I had been working on such a brief for more than 50 years, we proceed at once to have an examination for discovery, which is briefly a meeting of the opposing sides in a lawsuit where the plaintiff and defendant, with their attorneys, meet to examine each other’s claims and see whether they can find some area of agreement and thus save the time of the court later on.

I began by asking, “May I proceed, sir, on the assumption that you are a Christian?”

“I am.”

“I assume that you believe in the Bible—the Old and New Testaments?”

“I do!”

“Do you believe in prayer?”

“I do!”

“You say that my belief that God spoke to a man in this age is fantastic and absurd?”

“To me it is.”

“Do you believe that God ever did speak to anyone?”

“Certainly, all through the Bible we have evidence of that.”

“Did he speak to Adam?”

“Yes.”

“To Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and to others of the prophets?”

“I believe he spoke to each of them.”

“Do you believe that contact between God and man ceased when Jesus appeared on the earth?”

“Certainly not. Such communication reached its climax, its apex at that time.”

“Do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God?”

“He was.”

“Do you believe, sir, that after the resurrection of Christ, God ever spoke to any man?”

He thought for a moment and then said, “I remember one Saul of Tarsus who was going down to Damascus to persecute the saints and who had a vision, was stricken blind, in fact, and heard a voice.”

“Whose voice did he hear?”

“Well,” he said, “the voice said `I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.’”

“Do you believe that actually took place?”

“I do.”

“Then, my Lord”—that is the way we address judges in the British commonwealth—”my Lord, I am submitting to you in all seriousness that it was standard procedure in Bible times for God to talk to men.”

“I think I will admit that, but it stopped shortly after the first century of the Christian era.”

“Why do you think it stopped?”

“I can’t say.”

“You think that God hasn’t spoken since then?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“May I suggest some possible reasons why he has not spoken. Perhaps it is because he cannot. He has lost the power.”

He said, “Of course that would be blasphemous.”

“Well, then, if you don’t accept that, perhaps he doesn’t speak to men because he doesn’t love us anymore. He is no longer interested in the affairs of men.”

“No,” he said, “God loves all men, and he is no respecter of persons.”

“Well, then, if you don’t accept that he loves us, then the only other possible answer as I see it is that we don’t need him. We have made such rapid strides in education and science that we don’t need God any more.”

And then he said, and his voice trembled as he thought of impending war, “Mr. Brown, there never was a time in the history of the world when the voice of God was needed as it is needed now. Perhaps you can tell me why he doesn’t speak.”

My answer was, “He does speak, he has spoken; but men need faith to hear him.”

(President Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, October 1967, Third Day—Morning Meeting 118.)

Her instructions were to take the peach pit home and bury it in a small pot.  Give it plenty of water and sunlight.  When the seedling gets to be about 6 inches high, plant it in a bigger pot.  When it reaches 2 feet, transplant it outside where it will receive lots of sunlight and water.  It seems like a lot more work and a lot more time than I originally counted on.  I decide to…

A.    Throw the seed out the car window as I am driving home and resolve to just come by her house occasionally and ask for a bushel of peaches. (Go to {A})
B.    Take it home and plant it outside in the spot where I am eventually going to put it in the yard and save myself a few steps. (Go to {B})
C.    Take it home and plant it in the small pot and water it faithfully for a few days.  At least, as long as it’s still interesting to me. (Go to {C})
D.    Take it home and do exactly as she says.  (Go to {D})

{A} As I throw the seed out of my window, I think—how would I know if this particular peach pit was even going to germinate?  I’m pretty sure it was faulty.  If she asks, I’ll just say it never came up, so would she mind just sharing her peaches once in a while?  I just saved myself a lot of trouble.  Unfortunately, my friend moves away the following year and my peach supply ends.  (Matthew 13: 4, 19).

{B} I take the seed home and wonder if it is even a viable peach pit—will it germinate?  Or did she just get lucky with her peach pit?  Maybe she wasn’t even telling me the truth about growing her pit into a tree!  I talk to a lot of my friends about it, we look stuff up on Wikipedia about peaches and what the likelihood is of them germinating.  I go to cherry growers websites, too (they are also stone fruits), to see if they have hints or facts about growing peaches.  I discuss it with people in the supermarket line.  I’m getting a lot of good information about peaches and I think I’m almost an expert on them.  I guess the time is right for me to have my own.

I decide just to plant it in the yard and see if it comes up.  I’m not going to bother with all the fussy details.  I plant it and, mercifully, the rain and sun cooperate.  One day as I’m out playing with my toddler in the yard, I notice a little seedling unfolding in the sun–the peach tree!  The only problem is that it is surrounded by thick Texas grass and weeds.  I check on it occasionally, but after a few weeks, the grass and weeds have won the battle for water and sun and the seedling is gone.  Hmm, I guess I should have just planted it inside like she said.  Turns out it was a good pit.  Unfortunately, my friend moved away before peach season came again and I didn’t get another chance to try it. (Matthew 13: 7, 22)

{C} As I leave her house, I am so excited and empowered by the idea that I could grow my very own peach tree!  I’m going to start a blog about it!  I’m going to take pictures every day to show the progress!  And maybe I will be able to find a little ruler that I can plant right along with the pit and then I can tell how much it is growing every day.  What should I name it?  Tabitha.  Definitely Tabitha.  Full of adrenaline, I rush right in and find a small pot (my first attempt at ceramics in 9th grade), fill it with potting soil and plant the seed.  I faithfully water it for a week.  Then less faithfully the next week.  Then we go on vacation for three days.  When I get home, I have kind of forgotten about it and it never really gets to be part of my daily schedule, besides, now I am too busy teaching myself Tae Kwon Do from YouTube tutorials.  Two months later, as I do the dishes, I look up and see it there.  Brown and lying in the dirt. The sun and drought has fried it.  Poor Tabitha.  I just got really busy.  (Matthew 13: 5, 20-21; Alma 32: 38-40)

{D} As I leave her house, I am excited about the possibility of having my own peach tree, growing right out my back door.  I already have a pot on my window sill with some dirt in it from another plant that didn’t survive the winter.  Maybe this tree will be luckier.  I decide to empty the old dirt out and put in some fresh, moist potting soil.  The kind with MiracleGro right in it.  This little pit needs all the help it can get.  Then I put it back up on the windowsill and remind myself that every time I make dinner, I will give it a little drink.  As soon as it is part of my schedule, it is easy to take care of.  My kids and I watch the little sprout grow and grow with fascination.

After a few months, we put it in a bigger pot and it continues to grow.  It only takes a year and a half to be hardy enough to plant outside.  A year and a half!  And now we’ll have fresh peaches each summer for the rest of our lives, if I continue to care for it.  I’d say it was a solid investment of time.  Good thing I did, too, because my friend moves away the next year and her peach tree is razed when the new owners take over the house.  We still talk about gardening stuff on the phone though.  It’s so great to have that in common.  As soon as my tree starts producing, I plan to send her a peach pit so she can grow her own again.  This particular variety is sweeter than any other I’ve tasted.  (Matthew 13: 8,23; Alma 32: 28-37).

If you are wondering what in the world I am talking about, read Alma 32: 28-43 and Matthew 13.  A gospel-centered life is a lot sweeter than peaches.  I know that it is viable and will germinate if you give it a sincere chance with diligent effort.  You can know the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true fairly quickly (a sprout), but to be able to stand on your own testimony takes a little time (say, a year and a half of dedicated effort) and finally receiving the fruit (a life changed through Jesus Christ) can take even longer, though I promise that it is worth the effort.

“And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.  Then, my friends, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you.” (Alma 32: 42-43)

President Thomas S. Monson, The Call to Serve

The atonement of Jesus Christ is the single most important event that has or ever will occur in the existence of the earth.  Through this incomprehensible act of self-sacrifice, mercy satisfies the absolute demands of justice required by broken commandments of God (Alma 34:15-16).  Atonement literally means to set at one. The atonement of Jesus Christ reconciles all things that have estranged us from the Father. Thus, only through the atonement of Jesus Christ can we be brought back into full favor with the Father (John 14:6).  When we come before God to be judged, Christ will plead our case before Him and if we have been true and faithful, the Father will accept his Son’s sacrifice in our behalf (D&C 45:3-5).  By being set at one with the Father we are granted innumerable blessings — we become perfect in every way, just as Christ and the Father are perfect (John 17:20-23; D&C 35:2; Hebrews 2:10-11; Revelation 21:6-7).

The Act of the Atonement

The pinnacle and defining event of Christ’s ministry on this earth was when He bowed beneath all of the sins and imperfections that we as God’s children have experienced or will experience.  From the time that He knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane to the time that He said “it is finished” on the cross, the entire world hung in the balance.  Our very souls, billions if not trillions of souls were at stake; He knew it and yet, He came off victorious.  He drank from the bitterest of cups, not necessarily because He wanted to, but because He was willing to submit Himself to the will of the Father in all things.  In order for us to be spared from destruction and eternal torment, it HAD to be done (Luke 22:41-42; Isaiah 51:22). What Christ did in those blood and tear-stained hours allows us and this world to exist (D&C 88:6-13, 50).  It even gives Christ power over death and sin and allows the resurrection to happen (D&C 88:14; Alma 42:23).  To contemplate the weight of this burden He bore is overpowering and yet to know that He personally atoned for my imperfections (Mosiah 15:10) causes “[my] heart to swell as wide as eternity” (Moses 7:41) in love and gratitude for Him.

In addition, when one considers exactly who Christ is, a God himself (Alma 34:9-14), and that he would condescend from his throne on high to submit himself to all of the suffering, torture, beating, and humiliation associated with the atonement, descending below all, just to save you and me is confounding to say the least.  If even He who had all power over both heaven and hell could control himself in every way as He bowed beneath the rod of his own creations, then I too should be able to bite my tongue when I want to say something mean, or when I want to do something contrary to His commandments.

Our Part in the Atonement

All people who have lived on this earth are given the free gift of resurrection (Revelation 20:12-13), but for the atonement to have full power in our lives we must satisfy specific requirements (1 John 2:1-6). We need to believe that Christ’s atonement can cleanse us from our imperfections (Mosiah 15:10-13), and have a broken heart and contrite spirit before Christ (3 Nephi 9:19-20).  In essence we need to “[become] as [children], submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things” (Mosiah 3:19).  Furthermore, we must be baptized by immersion and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by one who holds proper authority from God to perform ordinances in His behalf (St. John 3:5; Hebrews 5:1-4).  All of these things show that we are willing to submit our will to the Father and that we want to follow Christ’s commandments (John 14:15). Our will is the only thing that we have that we can give to God.  Everything else is already His.  If we will completely submit our will to God just as Christ did, then the atonement of Jesus Christ can make us white as wool by washing our garments in the blood of the Lamb.

Although it may seem hard at times to live the way Christ asks us to live, he has promised us that if we yoke ourselves to Him, that it will be easy (Matthew 11:28-30).  I can say from personal experience that this promise is true.  Our part is to believe and live such that our lives are a manifestation of our belief that Christ can set us at one with the Father.  While at times this may seem a heavy burden, Christ and his Atonement are there to help us in our journey.  In addition, we have the Holy Ghost to provide comfort and encouragement that we are on the correct path.

More importantly though is whether or not we will accept this infinitely priceless gift into our lives by believing in the power that Christ gained over sin and death.  If we do we will be spared suffering and be granted glory in the mansions of the Father (St. John 14:2, Enos 1:27). The mercy of this doctrine is profound — that “God so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should never perish, but have everlasting life” (St. John 3:16).

The Atonement in Salvation

With regard to salvation, the atonement provides mercy or justice for all people who will fall into one of three categories.  First, little children and those that do not know the law are redeemed (Mosiah 3:16, Moroni 8:12-13, D&C 29:46-47, 2^nd Nephi 9:25-26, Mosiah 3:11).  Second, those who do know the law and repent are saved from suffering for their sins (Mosiah 3:12; Alma 34:15-16; D&C 19:16).  Third, those who do know the law of God and choose not to repent receive just punishment (Alma 34:16; Alma 42: 24; D&C 19:17-18; Isaiah 51:22-23).

I invite you:  come unto Christ; come drink from a Fountain that is springing up unto everlasting life (St. John 4:14) and eat Living Bread (St. John 6:47-58).   You will never hunger or thirst again. There is nothing, nothing, but peace, joy, and happiness to be found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know this, because I have experienced it in my own life and continue to do so — I know the promises of God are sure and true.

See “The Plan of Salvation“