Collective vs. Individual Salvation

I just recently was made aware of this whole idea of collective salvation. The idea was a very new concept to me, it is taking me a while to get my thoughts out. Sorry about the teaser title - it accidentally posted before I had even written my comments!

I heard a couple statements from our current President, Barak Obama that jumped out to me. Here they are with references:

1st Statement:
EOB: All of that, thirty years after Dr. King and the civil rights movement. This seems almost
incredible to me, at times, to think that in thirty years, this is all the progress we’ve been able to make?
Obama: Well, you know, it is frustrating, I think. I talk a lot in the book about my attempts to renew the dream that both of my parents had. I worked as a community organizer in Chicago, [and] was very active in low-income neighborhoods working on issues of crime and education and employment, and seeing that in some ways certain portions of the African-American community are doing as bad, if not worse, and recognizing that my fate remained tied up with their fates. That my individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country. Unfortunately, I think that recognition requires that we make sacrifices, and this country has not always been willing to make the sacrifices necessary to bring about a new day and a new age. (source: Eye's on Books Interview with Barack Obama 8/9/95)

2nd Statement:
"Each of you will have the chance to make your own discovery in the years to come. And I say “chance” because you won’t have to take it. There’s no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should by. You can choose to narrow your concerns and live your life in a way that tries to keep your story separate from America’s.But I hope you don’t. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, though you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get here, though you do have that debt.It’s because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role you’ll play in writing the next great chapter in America’s story." Candidate Obama said this in a 2008 commencement address to Wesleyan University.

Back to my thoughts:
It really bothered me to hear the concept taught that we are not saved individually but collectively. Oh, that is so untrue and wrong, it goes against all church doctrine. This all goes back to the war in heaven where we were presented with God's plan. Christ volunteered to carry out the plan and give the glory to God, which allowed for us individually to make our own choices - thus moral agency. However, Satan's plan was for us to all return to heaven and the Glory would be his not God's. How could we all return to heaven? There would obviously be no choice or accountability (I know this is a lot in a nutshell).

We have been taught the principal of individual salvation by many church leaders, although that terminology isn't usually how it is referenced. I hope you take the time to read the quotes below.

Quote 1:
"The development of faith in the Lord is an individual matter. Repentance is also an individual matter. Only as an individual can one be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. Each of us is born individually; likewise, each of us is “born again” individually. Salvation is an individual matter." (Russell M. Nelson, “Salvation and Exaltation,” Liahona, May 2008, 7–10)

Quote 2:
"Why cannot salvation be entirely an individual matter? It is individual, in one sense, but salvation in its fullest sense involves other people [as families we are here to help each other]. Families, for example, are the essential units of exaltation; and it is only through the covenants received in the temple that the family acquires an eternal nature. Moreover, we receive strength and support and are given opportunities to grow by associating with others who have made the same covenants we have. (Robert J. Matthews, “Our Covenants with the Lord,” Ensign, Dec 1980, 33–34)

Quote 3:
"We have been sent here to work out our individual salvation through the tests and challenges of daily life. We cannot do that by relying heavily upon the borrowed light of someone else’s testimony. As we receive inspiration when we hear prophets, leaders, and peers bear their testimonies, those spiritual feelings should further enhance our desire to strengthen our own convictions." (Donald L. Staheli, “Securing Our Testimonies,” Liahona, Nov 2004, 37–39)

Quote 4:
"While our individual salvation is based on our individual obedience, it is equally important that we understand that we are each an important and integral part of a family and the highest blessings can be received only within an eternal family." (Robert D. Hales, “The Eternal Family,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 64)

This next excerpt comes from a great talk that explains what salvation and exaltation means - one is given to all men through Christ's sacrifice and the other is a gift available to us dependent on our obedience to His laws and the covenants we have made with Him.

Quote 5:

"What does it mean when people say, “I am saved”? Generally it means they are saved from death. This type of general salvation comes to all people by the grace of God alone. General salvation comes regardless of obedience to gospel principles or laws and results solely in resurrection from the dead. In this respect, salvation is synonymous with immortality, in that the resurrected person will live forever. Resurrection comes to every person born into this world through the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, whether one confesses Christ or not. Whether a person is wicked or righteous, each person will receive the gift of immortality through Jesus Christ....

All mankind will thus receive general salvation...The true value of the sacrifice of Christ means much more than this general salvation which comes to all mankind. There is an additional salvation that God has planned for his children. This additional salvation is an individual salvation and is conditioned not only upon grace, but also upon obedience to gospel law." (Theodore M. Burton, “Salvation and Exaltation,” Ensign, Jul 1972, 78)