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"Just as each individual is accountable for his choices
and actions in spiritual matters, so also is he accountable in temporal
matters. It is through our own
efforts and decisions that we earn
our way in this life. While the Lord will magnify us in both subtle and
dramatic ways, he can only guide our footsteps when we move our feet.
Ultimately, our own actions determine our blessings or lack of them. It is a
direct consequence of both agency and accountability" (Marion G. Romney, "The
Basic Principles of Church Welfare," Ensign,
May 1981, 91).
"Let us work for what we need. Let us be self-reliant
and independent. Salvation can be obtained on no other principle. Salvation is
an individual matter, and we must work out our own salvation, in temporal as
well as in spiritual things" (Marion G. Romney, "In Mine Own
Way," Ensign, Nov. 1976, 124).
"There is no distinction between spiritual salvation—of
course, with some qualifications—and temporal salvation. Our bodies are as dear
in the sight of God as our spirits. Our spirits cannot be separated from our
bodies to have us perfect. The body and the spirit are the soul of man—not the
spirit alone, not the body alone, but the body and the spirit. And God gives
revelations for the temporal salvation of His children—that is, for the
salvation of their bodies—and they are as important in their place as His
revelations concerning their spirits" (George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth [1987], 518).
"A religious system is of but little account, when it
possesses no virtue nor power to better the condition of people, spiritually,
intellectually, morally and physically. Enoch's order of the Gospel, did for
his people all this, and it has done the same in every instance when preached
in its purity, and obeyed in sincerity" (Lorenzo Snow, Deseret Evening News, Mar. 6, 1886).
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