The recipe for eternal life

I was thinking I should identify scriptures in the Book of Mormon that go something like this: "If ye [description of actions], ye shall have eternal life/be saved/lifted up". In Alma 41:8 we read that "the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved". Jesus Christ has done the work. Without him it would all be impossible. So it is up to us now. What do we need to do? How do we find and walk on this way that has been prepared? Let's look for some answers in the Book of Mormon.

I will write the relevant contents from the verses in the form of a list. Not everyone likes the checklist approach to the gospel but this is just to get a better overview of the conditions that are stated. It's not possible to find or list all of those scriptures here but we will include several here and perhaps more in later posts.

2 Nephi 31:20

Conditions:

• Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ
• Have a perfect brightness of hope
• Have a love of God and of all men
• Feast upon the word of Christ
• Endure to the end

Reward:

• Ye shall have eternal life

Alma 7:15-16

Conditions:

• Come and fear not, and lay aside every sin
• Show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins...
• ...and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments
• Witness it unto him by going into the waters of baptism
• Keep the commandments of God from thenceforth (after baptism)

Reward:

• Eternal life

Alma 37:36-37

Conditions:

• Cry unto God for all thy support
• Let all thy doings be unto the Lord
• Whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord
• Let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord
• Let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever
• Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings
• When thou liest down at night, lie down unto the Lord
• When thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God

Reward:

• Ye shall be lifted up at the last day

Mosiah 15:22-23

Conditions:

• Believe in the words of the prophets
• Keep the commandments of God

Reward:

• Have eternal life through Christ

2 Nephi 9:18

Conditions:

• Be righteous
• Believe in the Holy One of Israel
• Endure the crosses of the world and despise the shame of it

Reward:

• Inherit the kingdom of God

Moroni 8:10

Conditions:

• Repent
• Be baptized
• Humble yourselves as little children

Reward:

• Shall be saved

Jacob 6:11

Conditions:

• Repent
• Enter in at the strait gate
• Continue in the way which is narrow

Reward:

• Obtain eternal life

Mosiah 2:41

Conditions:

• Keep the commandments of God
• Hold out faithful to the end

Reward:

• Dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness

Conclusions

There are obviously many ways to describe the conditions for eternal life. For instance, "humble yourselves" will enable you to "continue in the way which is narrow". Trying to see a pattern here, I would say it looks something like this

Covenant preparation / find the way and enter through the gate	Faith Repentance Baptism
Covenant keeping / "walk therein"	Keep the commandments Endure to the end

This is the essence, but there are different ways to describe it and sometimes it depends on the audience. For instance, when Alma speaks to Helaman, who has already entered into a covenant, focus is on covenant keeping, and the advice he gives is what will help to do just that. Notice also that although the first example from 2 Nephi 31 is focusing on the covenant keeping part only, the preceding part (basically the rest of the chapter) is all about covenant preparation.