What is the better way to express what LDS believe is necessary for salvation?
faith + grace = salvation + works = exaltation
OR
faith + grace + works = salvation + more works (worthiness) = exaltation
For evangelicals the “equation” would go like this:
faith + grace = salvation + works = sanctification and eternal rewards
LDS & Evangelical Conversations 
Good luck getting an answer on that one. Or more precisely, good luck getting one answer on that one. This was one of my big problems as a Mormon: Mormons do not all agree on how this equation works!
Do we do all we can and then God takes care of the rest, like it says in the Book of Mormon? If so, then what does that mean? Is it split up, like he takes a certain percentage and we take another percentage? What?
Does it work like the bicycle analogy from the book Believing Christ?
Does “works” mean obeying the commandments or just necessary ordinances (ordinances belong in the equation somewhere, but where?)?
Does grace mean what it does to Evangelicals (and to Paul), or does it mean what LeGrand Richards says it means in A MArvelous Work And A Wonder, i.e., that JEsus created us and gave us free will, etc., and that’s his “grace?”
I’m sure some Mormon will disagree with me, but after a decade of debating the finer points of the Atonement in Sunday School, Elders’ Quorum, and with missionaries, I honestly am concerned that there is absolutely no real consensus about this stuff in Mormonism. The only authoritative statements are vague enough that all viewpoints can interpet them to support their viewpoint.
And yet Mromons are thankful for how much they understand the atonement thanks to the Restoration.
This is an interesting question and I believe you will get a lot of comments.
Here is the basic Christian position:
Salvation by grace
Rom 3:24 “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;” The Bible is thoroughly consistent in the teaching that we are saved by grace through faith, and that by our good works we do not earn our place in heaven. Salvation is based on the belief of each individual: Rom 1:16; Heb 9:28; Eph 2:8,9
Here is the basic Mormon position:
Salvation by grace
Salvation by grace refers to your resurrection which was assured by Christ when He was resurrected. You are given that and do no have to work for it. But you do work for your eternal well being. Men can also become angels, if they aren’t good enough to be gods.
Entrance into one of the three degrees of heaven is by worthiness. The highest, the Celestial Kingdom (where one becomes a god), requires the highest degree of worthiness.
This is the doctrine taught in the Mormon scripture: Doctrine & Covenants 132:37
Okay, Gene, maybe that is “what is taught in the Mormon scripture,” but that’s just not what every Mormon believes.
As far as ordinances . . I left them out because a man does not have to be present for his own baptism or receive the temple endowments himself. They can both be done via proxy. So I am granting that in the millenium all of these things will be done for people.
I’m just saying- I’ve heard it taught that the “works” that we have to do for our salvation/exaltation are simply the necessary ordinances.
Whoops!
That was me, accidentally posting as my lovely wife.