There is a difference between salvation and exaltation. Salvation from the grave was a free gift of the Savior to all. Had His sacrifice not happened on the cross and in the Garden of Gethsemane, none of us would ever had left the grave after we died. We will all leave the grave, thanks to Him. But what happens after we leave the grave is due in part to our works, overlaid with a huge measure of mercy and grace. There is not just one level of heaven but many. Christ said His Father’s house has many mansions. The “mansion” to which we go will depend on the type of person we became here on earth. We will, to put it in simple terms, go to a place where the people are just like us. If we are good, then our place/mansion will be good. If we are evil, then it will be evil.
My salvation is assured. My exaltation depends on my seeking out the truth and living in accordance with that truth. Our faith has a different understanding of Hell. It is a sparsely-populated place without light of any kind and is also known as Outer Darkness but only those who absolutely know the Savior as in face to face revelation and visitation and then renounce Him will go to Outer Darkness. All others will have different degrees of exaltation, although as I said, you and your similar neighbors will determine whether it is a heavenly or hellish place to dwell forever.
I respect your opinion and I wouldn’t try to convince you otherwise. I know you are concerned for my salvation. I just know what I know beyond a shadow of a doubt and I will trust to the Savior for my salvation and exaltation. He is my Redeemer and my Savior, the Only Begotten of the Father, the Way, the Light, the Life, and the Bread and Water of Eternal Life. And I came to know and appreciate it so much more through the Book of Mormon. I don’t expect you to understand that and I do appreciate your sincerity and zeal for the truth. God bless.
What exactly do you mean by "exaltation"?
Jesus said the following:
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 14:11 KJV)
Joseph Smith was quoted as saying the following:
"A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet . . . " (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 408-409).
Now based on that statement is Joseph Smith worthy of exaltation or abasement?
By exaltation do you mean that you will someday be found worthy to become a god, like God the Father? Is it your desire to become a god and rule as God over your own planet and to bear spirit children in a world such as this? Is that what you mean by exaltation?
So Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, and William Brennan are all going to be exalted in heaven?
Would you be so kind as to point me to the scripture that backs up the above?
I have never read nor found in the Bible (NIV, KJV for example) that there are different "levels" of Heaven, nor many "mansions."
In John 13 to 17 Jesus says: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (Jn.14:1-4 NIV)
If we are truly to be where Jesus is in Heaven, then how would we be so if we are on different "levels?" That simply fails the test of logic and what Jesus actually said.