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I think this might be helpful for those who want to understand this topic more fully:
In fulfillment of his intended purpose, God expelled Adam and Eve from Eden into a world that was subject to the forces of life and death, good and evil. Yet He soon taught them that “the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt”; therefore, Adam’s children were neither evil nor good but were “whole from the foundation of the world.” (Moses 6:54; emphasis added.) Thus, “every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.” (D&C 93:38; emphasis added.)
As Adam’s and Eve’s descendants become accountable for their own sins at age eight, they all taste sin to one degree or another because of their experiences in a free environment. Those who come to love “Satan more than God” (Moses 5:28) will to that degree become “carnal, sensual, and devilish” (Moses 5:13; Moses 6:49) by nature—“natural men.” On the other hand, those who accept Christ’s grace by their faith, repentance, baptism, and continued striving will ultimately put off “the natural man” and become “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.” (Mosiah 3:19.) They will then be good by nature.
In LDS theology, then, grace is the absolutely indispensable source of three categories of blessings. First are the unconditional blessings—gifts requiring no individual action on our part. God’s grace in this sense includes the very Creation, as well as making the plan of salvation known to us. It also includes resurrection for all from physical death and forgiveness for Adam and Eve’s original transgression.
Second, the Savior has atoned for our personal sins on the condition of our repentance. Personal repentance is a necessary condition of salvation but is not by itself sufficient to assure salvation. Without the Atonement, our repentance will not save us. One must also accept the ordinances of baptism and receive the Holy Ghost, by which one is born again as a spiritual child of Christ.
Third comes the bestowal of grace after baptism along the path toward a Christlike nature. Once we have repented and are baptized unto forgiveness of sin, we have only “entered in by the gate” to the “strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life.” (2 Ne. 31:17–20.) This postbaptism stage of spiritual development does not require perfection in mortality, but it does require our good-faith effort to “endure to the end” (2 Ne. 31:20) and to become perfect, “even as [our] Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). This effort includes the ordinances of the temple and an ongoing repentance process as needed to retain a remission of our sins from day to day. (See Mosiah 4:12, 26.)
Bruce C. Hafen, “The Restored Doctrine of the Atonement,” Ensign, Dec. 1993, p. 7
LDS Atonement phrases:
"utilizing the Atonement"
"accessing the Atonement"
"the power of the Atonement in our lives"
In fulfillment of his intended purpose, God expelled Adam and Eve from Eden into a world that was subject to the forces of life and death, good and evil. Yet He soon taught them that “the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt”; therefore, Adam’s children were neither evil nor good but were “whole from the foundation of the world.” (Moses 6:54; emphasis added.) Thus, “every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.” (D&C 93:38; emphasis added.)
As Adam’s and Eve’s descendants become accountable for their own sins at age eight, they all taste sin to one degree or another because of their experiences in a free environment. Those who come to love “Satan more than God” (Moses 5:28) will to that degree become “carnal, sensual, and devilish” (Moses 5:13; Moses 6:49) by nature—“natural men.” On the other hand, those who accept Christ’s grace by their faith, repentance, baptism, and continued striving will ultimately put off “the natural man” and become “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.” (Mosiah 3:19.) They will then be good by nature.
In LDS theology, then, grace is the absolutely indispensable source of three categories of blessings. First are the unconditional blessings—gifts requiring no individual action on our part. God’s grace in this sense includes the very Creation, as well as making the plan of salvation known to us. It also includes resurrection for all from physical death and forgiveness for Adam and Eve’s original transgression.
Second, the Savior has atoned for our personal sins on the condition of our repentance. Personal repentance is a necessary condition of salvation but is not by itself sufficient to assure salvation. Without the Atonement, our repentance will not save us. One must also accept the ordinances of baptism and receive the Holy Ghost, by which one is born again as a spiritual child of Christ.
Third comes the bestowal of grace after baptism along the path toward a Christlike nature. Once we have repented and are baptized unto forgiveness of sin, we have only “entered in by the gate” to the “strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life.” (2 Ne. 31:17–20.) This postbaptism stage of spiritual development does not require perfection in mortality, but it does require our good-faith effort to “endure to the end” (2 Ne. 31:20) and to become perfect, “even as [our] Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). This effort includes the ordinances of the temple and an ongoing repentance process as needed to retain a remission of our sins from day to day. (See Mosiah 4:12, 26.)
Bruce C. Hafen, “The Restored Doctrine of the Atonement,” Ensign, Dec. 1993, p. 7
LDS Atonement phrases:
"utilizing the Atonement"
"accessing the Atonement"
"the power of the Atonement in our lives"
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