The Principles of Salvation “In Relation to the Dead and the Living . . . Cannot Be Lightly Passed Over”
Doctrine and Covenants 128:15
15 And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.
Elder David B. Haight said:
“Latter-day Saints are a chosen people, so appointed in the premortal world, to be in partnership with the Lord for the salvation of the living and the dead. The First Presidency has announced that one of the major responsibilities of the Church, and therefore of its members, is to redeem the dead.
“We learn by revelation from the Prophet Joseph Smith that ‘these . . . principles in relation to the dead and the living . . . cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation. . . .
“‘For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect’ (D&C 128:15, 18; see also Hebrews 11:39–40).
“It would be difficult for one to find stronger language on a requirement to receive exaltation in the celestial kingdom.”
(“Temples and Work Therein,” Ensign, Nov. 1990, 59–60.)
