...many years ago I came into contact with a woman who was, initially at least, one of the roughest persons I have ever known. Abused as a child, she had run away from home and lived on the streets for years...[and] traveled around the country with a morotcycle gang. In late middle age, her beauty gone, she spent most of her time in a pub, where some missionaries met her when they went in to get change for a pay phone outside. When she was baptized, many of the members worried that her conversion wouldn't last, and there were good reasons to suspect that it might not.
For a long time after her baptism, this sister still swore...[and] never quite lived the word of wisdom one hundred percent. On one occasion during her first year in the Church, she lost her temper during a relief society meeting and punched out one of the other sisters...
Now the question before us is whether someone like this can seriously expect to be saved....
'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow'...God does not lie. Whoever will come, may come. All are invited, none is excluded. Though this sister had further to travel than most, the same covenant was offered to her: "Do all you can. I will do the rest while you learn how" ...Finally, after she'd been in the Church for many years, she was ready to go to the temple.
Can such a person really expect to inherit the kingdom of God? Of course.
But now the harder question. At what point did this sister become a candidate for the kingdom? What is when she finally gave up cigarettes, or when she got her language and temper under control? Or was it when she finally qualified for a temple recommend? No. It was none of these, though they were all important landmarks in her progress. She was justified through her faith in Jesus Christ on the day that she repented of her sins, was baptized, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, for she entered into that covenant in good faith and with all sincerity.
For a long time after her baptism, this sister still swore...[and] never quite lived the word of wisdom one hundred percent. On one occasion during her first year in the Church, she lost her temper during a relief society meeting and punched out one of the other sisters...
Now the question before us is whether someone like this can seriously expect to be saved....
'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow'...God does not lie. Whoever will come, may come. All are invited, none is excluded. Though this sister had further to travel than most, the same covenant was offered to her: "Do all you can. I will do the rest while you learn how" ...Finally, after she'd been in the Church for many years, she was ready to go to the temple.
Can such a person really expect to inherit the kingdom of God? Of course.
But now the harder question. At what point did this sister become a candidate for the kingdom? What is when she finally gave up cigarettes, or when she got her language and temper under control? Or was it when she finally qualified for a temple recommend? No. It was none of these, though they were all important landmarks in her progress. She was justified through her faith in Jesus Christ on the day that she repented of her sins, was baptized, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, for she entered into that covenant in good faith and with all sincerity.
I love that question: "At what point [do we] become a candidate for the kingdom?" And the answer is as soon as we enter the covenant of baptism and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost! From then on, as long as we "are willing", as long as we continue to repent and try to be better we can have absolute confidence that we are covered by the covenant and will be saved, for truly "God does not lie". To sum it up with one more line from the book "[God] does not measure height - he measures growth."
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