By KIMBER KAY
kimber@du2.byu.edu
Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints don't know how to answer to the question 'Have you been saved?' said Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Sunday morning session of General Conference.
Elder Oaks said members answers should be either ''yes' or 'yes, but with conditions.'
He said 'good christian people' have different definitions of being saved.
Elder Oaks said by his understanding of other Christians, being saved means declaring that someone has 'accepted Jesus Christ as (their) personal Lord and Savior.'
Latter-day Saints have six different meanings of being saved or salvation, Elder Oaks said. 'But in all of these kinds or meanings, salvation is in and through Jesus Christ.'
He said the first definition is everyone is saved from death through the resurrection of the Savior. Second, God's children are saved from sin only by grace, obeying the commandments and enduring to the end.
By baptism Latter-day Saints are saved from sin on certain conditions, said Elder Oaks. Baptism is also a rebirth, and 'our answer to whether we have been born again is clearly 'yes.''
Elder Oaks said born again individuals are 'spiritually begotten sons and daughters of Jesus Christ,' but still need the grace of God to realize those blessings.
The fourth definition Elder Oaks gave was the gospel saves members from 'the darkness of ignorance,' and the fifth was salvation from the final spiritual death by 'assurance of a kingdom of glory in the world to come.'
The final usage of the word was to 'denote exaltation or eternal life.' Elder Oaks said this included temple covenants and enduring to the end.