Choosing to be born again through choosing to submit to God

Footnotes

What does it mean to be born again?

It is quite common in Christianity to discuss the necessity of being “born again.” After all, the Lord himself instructed that it was impossible to even see the kingdom of God “except a man be born again...” (John 3:3). What does it really mean to be born again and what are its effects?

To be born again refers to the combination of a choice you make to submit completely to God and the gift of the Holy Ghost that God gives you as a result.

The gift of the Holy Ghost is access to a greater breadth, depth, quantity, and quality of information from God beyond what all people have access to through the Light of Christ.¹ The Light of Christ is a source of information possessed by all people through physical birth.² The Light of Christ actuates our understanding,³ enabling moral judgment and critical thinking.⁴ Factors before birth dictate the quantity of the Light of Christ an individual has to start, and their decisions according to or against that influence determine whether it waxes or wanes during life. The channel of the Light of Christ is limited in bandwidth and content. These limitations are demonstrated when you experience unanswered prayers and unmet requests to God. Each barrier you experience in the information you request from God indicates a limit in the window of what you are willing and able to receive from him.

By fully surrendering how you feel, think, and act in preference to how Jesus would in your place, you gain access to the gift of the Holy Ghost, which makes more information available to you about God, yourself, and the word.

The combination of your complete submission to God and the additional information you receive from him cause you to perceive the world through a different lens than before, providing you with the opportunity to choose to act differently than before. The scriptures describe this change as becoming a “new creature.”⁵

Discussions of spiritual rebirth tend to interchangeably refer to the gift of the Holy Ghost and the choice that precedes it. The choice made by an individual to turn toward God catalyzes what God does in response to that choice. The remainder of this chapter will focus on what a person must do to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, rather than what occurs thereafter.

You are born again when you stop sinning

There are billions of professed Christians on earth today. How many can say that they no longer willingly disobey God—ever? How many people do you know who can say that they are without sin? How many can truly say they no longer desire to do evil? And yet, this is what it means to fully submit to God. This is what it means to be born again.

Sin is the choice to do less than you know is best.⁶ Sin requires that you know what is better⁷ and that you have the power to choose it.⁸ Therefore, sin is always a choice.⁹ Repentance is not a question of willpower. It is a question of value, honesty, and trust in God. Anytime you improve these things, you will move towards repentance.

You will choose to stop sinning when you believe that following God’s example is preferable to anything else. Whenever you are tempted to sin, stop and ask yourself if you really believe in Jesus. Do you really believe that everything he tells you is for your greatest benefit? Do you really believe that he loves you and knows better than you what will lead to the greatest possible joy? If so, how can you desire to do anything contrary to what you believe he would do in your place? The Lord will provide you with a stream of sufficient evidence that his way is preferable to all others. As you continue to live up to what he has already shown you, he will continue to confirm the wisdom of doing so.¹⁰

This change of heart is fundamental. Why should anyone expect to draw nearer to the Lord while in active rebellion against him?¹¹ Should those who have not been born again call themselves Christians?¹² After all, while they continue to willfully disobey God, they do not actually believe in Jesus,¹³ have not been converted,¹⁴ and have not been saved.¹⁵

Those who are born again do not sin.¹⁶ They do not knowingly deviate from their understanding of how Jesus would live in their place.¹⁷ They always think, feel, and do the best they know.¹⁸

You are born again when you decide based on long-term expected benefit, not present feelings

By nature, you make choices based on what feels good right now rather than what benefits the most long-term. This shortcoming affects every choice you make across every domain, distorting the true value of the options of choice available to you, subconsciously filtering out options, and ensuring that the choices that you make will lead to less than the greatest long-term happiness possible.

God’s preference is for what yields the greatest long-term benefit.¹⁹ To think, feel, and act based on the long-term net benefit of the options available to you is the same as governing your life based on your understanding of how Jesus would live in your place.²⁰ Optimizing for long-term value is the only path to the greatest happiness.

Spiritual rebirth occurs when you choose to desire maximizing long-term benefit instead of the default aim of maximizing present pleasure.²¹ This shift occurs when you abandon²² a guidance system based primarily on the emotional direction of carnal impulses and present pleasure-seeking in favor of the rational direction of choosing to think, feel, and act based on the long-term net benefit of the options available to you.

While the natural way of deciding can be practiced without much thought, optimizing for long-term value is always intentional. It requires actively choosing to be governed by reason instead of feelings. Reason gives us the ability to subject our emotions to objective reality, choosing what we expect will be best long-term instead of what feels good right now.²³

Reason is meant to reveal the course of action that transcends your emotional impulses—to guide you in how you should feel and act based on how things really are over time, not based merely on how you feel right now. The shift from emotional to rational direction is so fundamental that it is like becoming a new person, because you become aware of and begin developing a completely new way of interacting with the world.

To become born again is to intentionally reason instead of emotionally react. Reason is the guidance system of the spirit, and by submitting to it,²⁴ you become a child of God.²⁵ As you rationally consider the cost and benefit of options before you, you can identify what option carries the greatest net benefit and, in so doing, decide what God would do in your place.

Your desires change through yielding to the information God provides

The “mighty change of heart” is a scriptural phrase referring to the change that occurs in what you desire. The scriptural meaning of the word “heart” is a combination of what we would call our thoughts and our desires. Change of heart would be better expressed as change of mind and change of desire.

Your desires come from your beliefs,²⁶ what you value, and by how much you value it.²⁷ Though few realize it, every desire is actually just the preferred outcome from a list of possibilities. That list might include impossible outcomes, or it might be missing possible outcomes. For each imaginable outcome, including the one you presently desire, you may have an incorrect idea of the cost or benefit.

Your desires are subject to change. When your beliefs and value appraisals change, so do your desires. Changes to your desires come completely from information about what you desire, what alternatives exist, the cost and benefit of each, and your response to it.²⁸ As you live up to all you presently know, and seek for more, God will:

Provide you with more information²⁹ to persuade you to improve,
Delineate new options that you do not yet know about,
Remove options you think you have but don’t, and 4) Suggest more accurate cost³⁰ and benefit in options of which you are aware.

From this information, those who seek him will find sufficient means and motivation to become more like he is.³¹ As you diligently learn and honestly respond to this information, your desires will change to align more closely with God’s.³²

You can change what you want and by how much you want it without being spiritually reborn. A shift in desire occurs any time an honest person learns something different about the options available to them, the cost they incur, or benefit they provide. The mighty change of heart transcends changes to your specific desires, taking place when you decide to value all things as God does, appraising their value based on the long-term net benefit rather than how they make you feel right now.

Following God requires you to act against your feelings. The path of growing toward God consists of choosing what is best, even when it feels worse than alternatives. What feels good to you will only match what the Lord would do in your place to the extent that you have become like him. You come to want what God desires through submitting to what he desires, even when it doesn’t feel good in the moment. As you yield to your sincere understanding of what he would do in all ways, all the time, he will teach you more about himself, and as you continuously remain reconciled to him, you will find greater and greater joy in doing so.

The mighty change of heart is something you choose, not something that happens to you

God doesn’t take away temptation. He gives us sufficient reasons not to sin,³³ and leaves us free to choose. While God is the source of the information that can catalyze the change to your desires, he does not cause that change,³⁴ except in the power he gives you to make the choice yourself.³⁵ Even God’s punishment serves as a source of information.³⁶ Suffering can be a powerful source of information to persuade us to agree with God,³⁷ and though it requires far less faith to notice and heed than other forms, there are still many who choose to ignore it.³⁸ No matter what information he makes available to you, you still have to choose to perceive, receive, and act upon it.³⁹ It is your response to this information that causes a change of heart.⁴⁰

Many expect God to take away their desire for sin simply because they have asked him to. While some scriptures seem to describe God directly causing the mighty change of heart, they can only be interpreted this way by ignoring their context.⁴¹

Asking God to make you not want to sin anymore is asking him to take your agency from you, because he has already given you power to make that decision for yourself, and you’re not choosing to do it. It’s no different than asking him to help you stand and walk when you already have the ability to do so. God will not force you to find or recognize better ideas, to honestly consider them and compare them to alternatives, or to implement them.

A request for God to take away your desire for sin is a confession that you desire sin more than you desire him. Not only are you asking him to reward your ongoing rebellion against him with better outcomes than you deserve, you are also proving to him that you don’t really want what you are asking for, as you continue to choose contrary to it when you have the ability to do otherwise. God has never given anyone a reason to believe that he would answer such prayers.⁴²

Even if God could magically change your heart to no longer desire evil, why would he not do so for everyone? If the requirement for God to magically free you from the desire to do evil is simply to ask for it, why are there so many who have asked and yet not received, and why are there so many who have chosen to sin again after being born again?

If God could magically change your desires, of what worth would it be to use the desire of our hearts as a criterion for eternal judgment, as God does?⁴³ Why did God pay so high a price to gift us with agency if all he expects us to do with it is beg him to take it away by forcing us to desire what is good? Instead, we are told repeatedly that he has given us moral knowledge and left us free to choose.⁴⁴

The atonement is not a magic trick where you get something for nothing. It’s a system where he has made a way for you to be forgiven —something you could not do yourself—while giving you the power to choose to live up to what you know about him.

No one who is waiting for God to “give” them a “mighty change of heart” will ever find what they seek. Full submission to God is a choice.⁴⁵ God doesn’t forcefully change what you think or how you feel about anything. Doing so would be counter to his purpose in maximizing the joy of all people. Joy can only be found in what you desire and choose of your own free will. Removing your power of choice removes your potential for joy.

Spiritual rebirth does not magically remove your desire to sin; rather, your desire to sin abates through a conscious choice to fully reconcile your ideas, desires, and actions with your understanding of how God is, based on the reasons he provides. It is faith and repentance that bring the change of heart.⁴⁶

You are born again when you surrender unconditionally to God

In order to be born again, you must completely and constantly prefer the desires of God above your own and completely submit to him in all things and at all times. You can’t enter the kingdom of God until you are born again,⁴⁷ as you can’t be the subject of a king to whom you do not subject yourself.

You can’t ignore sections of your life or specific areas of improvement and still experience spiritual rebirth. Often, people fool themselves into thinking they have submitted to God by sacrificing more than is appropriate in some aspect of their lives, hoping to compensate for other aspects of their lives where they have not given what God has asked.⁴⁸ Any limits in what you are willing to do for God, or when you are willing to do it, or how long you are willing to do it, show you that your submission to God is still conditional.

Unconditional submission to God is sometimes referred to in the scriptures as having a “broken heart and contrite spirit.”⁴⁹ You have a broken heart and contrite spirit when you decide to fully obey God and desire his will exclusively above all other things, adopting the purpose of God as your own. To achieve a broken heart and contrite spirit is to make your life a sacrifice to God through living in the same way Jesus would at all times and in all places.⁵⁰

You cannot be saved without a broken heart and a contrite spirit.⁵¹ Just as you cannot gather grapes from thistles,⁵² your works cannot be holy⁵³ while your heart is still unholy.⁵⁴ If you are not fully submitted to God, you will not draw any nearer to him with substitute religious activity.⁵⁵ The sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit is what makes religious activity effective instead of vain. Without it, all worship is an abomination to God,⁵⁶ an affront to his purpose, and a mockery of his sacrifice.

You can and should be born again before being baptized

You don’t need to be baptized to be born again. You can and should fully submit to God before baptism, and if you do, you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, whether you are baptized or not. The gift of the Holy Ghost comes to those who are as aligned with God as they know how to be, whether they have had the opportunity to be baptized or not. Full submission to God is required in order for your baptism to be valid, and your spiritual rebirth is evidence of whether it is or isn’t.

There are multiple examples of people in the scriptures who were spiritually reborn independent of baptism. The Lamanite king was born again in the instant he proclaimed his willingness to give away all his sins to know Jesus.⁵⁷ Alma was “redeemed of the Lord” and “born of the Spirit” after he “repented of [his] sins.” (Mosiah 27:24) King Benjamin’s people were born again as they responded to his sermon, independent of baptism.⁵⁸ The Lamanite prisoners who witnessed angels ministering to Lehi and Nephi were born again as they cried to Jesus to save them.⁵⁹ The disciples of the Lord in Jerusalem received the gift of the Holy Ghost after his resurrection when they repented, long after they were baptized.

Spiritual rebirth happens instantaneously in the moment you fully submit to God. If you have not experienced it, the only reason is that you have not yet fully submitted to God.

Born again and again through extended awareness

One of the qualities of being born again is that you prefer submission to God over sin, scripturally described as “having no desire to do evil.” It is important to realize that having no desire to do evil at your present level of understanding does not imply that you will have no desire to do evil at a greater level of understanding.

Total submission to God is a binary condition—you either are or aren’t—with differences in degree, depending on how well you know Jesus and what kind of opposition you have faced. When one submits to God, it is a one-time choice meant to be forever binding and unconditional. However, getting to know God is a never-ending process. While deciding to submit to God is meant to be a one-time event, you can’t be sure of your commitment to God beyond the limits of your understanding of him. Similarly, it is not possible to know against what level of opposition you would remain faithful to God beyond the maximum opposition you have experienced.

It is not infrequent that a person who has been born again will decide, after exposure to new challenges, to once again prefer sin to God.⁶⁰ Remember, being born again is not an effect, but a description. The sinlessness of one who is born again is what defines their state,⁶¹ and when they choose to change through sin, they relinquish their state.

Being born again does not suspend your ability to sin, but it does increase the consequences for doing so.⁶²

You can be born again as many times as you dedicate yourself to God while in this life, though it will be harder to achieve the level of repentance required each time you willingly disobey God. One who has surrendered to God will do more damage to their conscience and find it harder to return to God after sinning again than one who has not. In any case, becoming reborn again is the same process as becoming born again in the first place, through forsaking sin and unconditional future submission to God.

Footnotes

1. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. (1 Corinthians 12:7) For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. (Moroni 7:16) ↩
2. And that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (D&C 93:2) That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9) ↩
3. Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me. (D&C 9:7-9) ↩
4. And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged. (Moroni 7:18) ↩
5. And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, 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 2:25-26) ↩
6. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17) ↩
7. ...where there is no law given there is no punishment....For the atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice upon all those who have not the law given to them.... (2 Nephi 9:25-26) ↩
8. And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free. (Helaman 14:30) ↩
9. Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. (2 Nephi 10:23) ↩
10. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (John 7:17) ↩
11. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:18) ↩
12. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10:38-39) ↩
13. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do; ( 3 Nephi 27:21) ↩
14. And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3) ↩
15. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. (2 Nephi 10:24) ↩
16. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:8-9) ↩
17. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (1 John 3:5-6) ↩
18. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. (1 John 2:29) ↩
19. He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation (2 Nephi 26:24) ↩
20. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24) ↩
21. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. (Psalms 119:59) ↩
22. Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: (1 Corinthians 15:36) ↩
23. Don’t conform yourself to the present world, but be transformed by changing your mind, by proving the will of God through searching and learning what is of the greatest worth and benefit. Not to think or feel independent of your reasoning, but to reconcile your thoughts and feelings through sound judgment to the reasons God has graciously provided you through me and my presence. (Romans 12:2-3, Author’s Reflection) ↩
24. For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19) ↩
25. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14) ↩
26. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he... (Proverbs 23:7) ↩
27. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21) ↩
28. Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. (Helaman 3:35) ↩
29. No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost.... (D&C 121:41-43) ↩
30. Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them. (Alma 5:7) ↩
31. Don’t conform yourself to the present world, but be transformed by completing the process by which you obtain the mind of God; improving your idea of what is good, from your present understanding of what aligns with him unto the fullness of who he is. Judge wisely... (Romans 11:2-3, Author’s Reflection) ↩
32. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. (Psalms 119:34) ↩
33. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18) ↩
34. Even in cases where credit is given to God for the change of desire, the context always includes a description of it being the choice of the people in response to information from God rather than a direct action by God. For example, in Ezekiel 36:26 God figuratively explains that he will give “a new heart” and “a new spirit” to Israel, having previously described in greater detail that it is the individual who makes a new heart and a new spirit through choosing to forsake their sins in response to information from God: “Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 18:31) ↩
35. See Helaman 14:30, previously cited. ↩
36. For example, Alma’s choice to submit to God came in response to tremendous pain: “And it came to pass that I was three days and three nights in the most bitter pain and anguish of soul; and never, until I did cry out unto the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, did I receive a remission of my sins. But behold, I did cry unto him and I did find peace to my soul.” (Alma 38:8) ↩
37. Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (Hebrews 5:8) ↩
38. Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. (Proverbs 27:22) A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. (Proverbs 17:10) ↩
39. You should not expect Christ to lift you into heaven while your heart remains in the manner of and fixed on the things of this world—this isn’t how faith or righteousness work. Nor should you expect Christ to raise you from the dead while you still do and desire what only leads to death. But, as it is written, the word is not just something you say or do, but also something you sincerely and deeply feel. This is the word of faith, which we proclaim: Even if you proclaim by your external works that Jesus is the Lord, and that God raised him from the dead, you will only be saved if you have also fully conformed your internal desire and decisions to him, just as he conformed his internal desire and decisions to the Father. (Romans 10:6-9, Author’s Reflection) ↩
40. And behold, ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth, and to know of the wicked and abominable traditions of their fathers, and are led to believe the holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, which are written, which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them— (Helaman 15:7) ↩
41. For example, Paul wrote that the Lord said that he would “put [his] laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10) after seven prior chapters of explaining that the manner of doing so was to send Jesus Christ to live, preach, and die among them. In another example, the Lord tells Israel: “...After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33) Here, “those days” refer to prolonged, intense suffering described at length by Jeremiah, through which any of the recipients of this promise must remain faithful in order to receive. These examples, like all others, support rather than refute the doctrine that God changes your heart through providing information that you still must choose of your own free will to believe and live up to. ↩
42. And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such. (Moroni 7:9) ↩
43. The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh. (Alma 41:5) ↩
44. And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free. (Helaman 14:30) ↩
45. Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds. (Alma 42:27) ↩
46. See Helaman 15:7, previously cited. ↩
47. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.(John 3:5) ↩
48. Saul famously committed this error in offering sacrifices after disobeying God’s instructions for battle: “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22) ↩
49. Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me. (D&C 97:8) ↩
50. Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1) ↩
51. Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered. (2 Nephi 2:6-7) ↩
52. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 7:15-21) ↩
53. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. (Isaiah 59:2-3) ↩
54. And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Mark 7:20-23) ↩
55. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17) And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:14-23) ↩
56. ...I have regard for those who are of a humble and contrite spirit and who are vigilant for my word. But whoever slaughters an ox is as one who kills a man, and whoever sacrifices a lamb, as one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is as one who offers swine’s blood, and whoever burns incense, as one who venerates idols. Just as they have preferred to go their own ways, their souls delighting in their abominations, so will I prescribe intrigues for them and bring upon them the thing they dread. For when I called, no one responded; when I spoke, none gave heed. They did what was evil in my eyes; they chose to do what was not my will. (Isaiah 66:2-4, Gileadi Translation) ↩
57. O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead. (Alma 22:18) ↩
58. And now, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had made an end of speaking the words which had been delivered unto him by the angel of the Lord, that he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them. And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men. And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them. (Mosiah 4:1-3) ↩
59. And behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, and they could speak forth marvelous words. (Helaman 5:45) ↩
60. But there is a possibility that man may fall from grace and depart from the living God; (D&C 20:32) ↩
61. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9, NASB) ↩
62. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. (2 Peter 2:20-22) ↩

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