The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a divine institution; it is led by prophets and Apostles, men with seers’ vision. The Church is, however, only a means to an end, the vehicle which administers the saving gospel. The great challenge in life is for men and women to receive the everlasting gospel, participate in the ordinances of salvation, live worthy of the powers of godliness, put off the natural man, and grow in righteousness so that they might enjoy a mature spiritual union with that Lord whose they are.
It is a rich blessing to belong to “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (D&C 1:30). Yet membership in the Church is not enough; we are neither saved nor damned as congregations. Salvation is not found in occupying the right pew. Alma reported the Lord as saying that all citizens of the earthly kingdom “must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; and thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. ” (Mosiah 27:25 -26.) Given the importance of the new birth and the confusion often surrounding its true nature, it will be helpful to a proper understanding of this subject if we here identify at least some of the basic doctrinal concepts associated with it.