Salvation vs Exaltation - A Doctrinal Analysis

       Salvation is the focus of nearly all of Christianity. Christ's Atonement offers Salvation to all who will accept it, "Without money and without price." Grace is His gift, and it frees us of the burden of guilt we accumulate through sin. Being "Saved" in this sense truly is as easy as accepting Jesus Christ as your savior.

So, if that is salvation, then what of principles and ordinances? Why would man be forced to follow a strict path if accepting a freely offered gift is all that is required to achieve this salvation?

In truth, man is not forced to follow a path; he is "free to choose liberty and eternal life, ... or captivity and death." What we do in this life, what we ultimately achieve, is in our own hands. In this, Salvation is but the beginning of an eternal journey. Exaltation is, or at least should be, the true purpose of life. "This is [God's] Work and ... Glory; To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." As Salvation, and thus immortality, are freely given, He has already completed his first goal. His second, granting us eternal life, depends much more on our own choices.

If we are to understand why eternal life is so important that God has made it his goal to grant it unto us, we must first understand what it truly is. Eternal Life is more than merely living forever - that is immortality, already covered through the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ. But what is merely living? What more could there be? It is how you fill this life, how you "fulfill the measure of [your] creation," which leads to joy.

Fulfilling the measure of our creation is our ultimate purpose. For what were we created? Adam and Eve were created in God's own image to "Multiply and replenish the Earth." Raising posterity is certainly a large measure of our creation, and one of the greatest blessings of eternal life.

What else is the measure of our creation? To learn, grow and even create by ourselves. We are commanded to "Be ... Perfect, even as [Jesus and our Heavenly Father are] perfect," but how are we to attain this perfection? "Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little." Certainly that implies the acquisition of knowledge is at least a part of our purpose for living, and the use of said knowledge is just as important, if not more so. If wisdom is the correct application and use of knowledge, then the Proverb-writer was right to proclaim its worth as "far above rubies." How we use our knowledge will ultimately determine if we are becoming perfect, and thus if we are filling the measure of our creation.

Eternal life is to fill the measure of our creation endlessly, both in this world and the world to come. This blessing can only come about if we earn it, and God has declared that it will only be available to those who achieve exaltation, the highest degree of glory in the Celestial Kingdom. To enter this kingdom, we must be able to pass its gates, and that can only come about by providing the proper signs and tokens, just as passing an earthly gate comes through providing proper identification or authority. God's kingdom is just and perfectly ordered, and thus nothing can enter in except by the way He has declared. This way is Christ, as he declared when he said "I am the way; ... No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." We need to follow Christ to get back to God, and that means far more than accepting Him as our savior - it means becoming like Him, following His example, taking upon us His name and attaining the attributes he displayed.

If Eternal Progression is reserved for those who achieve Exaltation, then what of those who do not achieve Exaltation? They who merely accept Salvation, or who do not accept Christ at all? What is the fate of these, given every chance to change both in this life and in the next, who refuse? Now, I do not claim to know their fate, but by my understanding, they are "consigned to that gulf of misery and endless woe." The "pains of a damned soul" may not be literal fire, it may not be punishment as we understand it, but in the eternal scale, it is a far worse punishment than mere pain.

Those who are unchanged by the Atonement of Christ will remain unchanged. They will not be worthy to inherit "All that [God] hath," and more than that, they will not even want to. The responsibility, the pressure, the power will be more than they can accept. They will WANT to flee God's presence, to reject the great gift He has laid before them, to find their own place of happiness. They do not progress - as such, they are damned. In fact, rather than progress, they will regress, becoming beings capable of finding happiness in their endless lives devoid of growth and change. Such a fate is unfathomable, and is true suffering to anyone with the Godly desire to grow and create.

The separation of these other groups, those not achieving exaltation, is a simple delineation.

        Those who rejected the Plan of Salvation in the pre-mortal life, who never were given the opportunity to progress because they "kept not their first estate," are cast out of heaven. These are joined by those few who in this life had gained a sure witness of the Holy Ghost, but denied its truth. These are they who openly rebelled against God, despite having a true knowledge of His character. They inherit no glory, and are called the Sons of Perdition, dwelling forever in Outer Darkness, devoid of light and life.

        Those who do not accept Salvation exist under a burden of all their guilt, suffering even as "angels to a devil," those followers of Perdition, save it be they have still "kept their first estate," attaining a physical body, and not denying a sure witness of the Holy Ghost. They are still immortal, they still have some power in a physical sense, but their progress is stopped, and they are burdened by chains of their own design. These are they who inherit the Telestial glory.

Those who accept Salvation, but refuse the signs and tokens God requires, enter a kingdom of their own. They are free of the guilt of their sins according to the Atonement, but their progression is still halted, and they do not have power and glory given to them from on high. They do not live in God's presence, and do not feel worthy to approach His throne, so they stay where they are, content with what they have achieved. These are they who inherit the Terrestrial glory.

There are those who inherit lesser degrees of the Celestial glory. These are they who follow Christ, accept Salvation, and even present the signs and tokens to enter God's presence. They have followed Him and His Son, but have fallen short of true eternal progression, as they have not entered into "The New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage," which is required to have and maintain posterity throughout the eternities. They are servants of God, His angels and loyal children, and know incredible joy. They progress to an extent, but they cannot inherit "worlds without end," as they do not have posterity unto themselves. These are they in the first and/or second degree of the Celestial Kingdom.

Those who accept Salvation, follow Christ, present all the signs and tokens, have entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant, and are truly changed, will enter into the Third Degree of the Celestial Kingdom, the Glory of Exaltation. They will continue to progress throughout the eternities, they will have an endless posterity, inheriting "worlds without end," and ultimately know complete joy. "All that [God] hath shall be given unto them," and they will receive it with gladness.

With this greater understanding of the doctrine of Salvation and Exaltation, I hope that some confusion has been cleared up over what the difference between them is, and why Exaltation is so much more than Salvation. This document does not in any way represent the official views of the Church as a whole; it is merely the theories of my own study and personal revelation, written down in a manner suitable for presentation and future personal study.