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Why is baptism a gate? Because it is an ordinance denoting entry into a sacred and binding covenant between God and man. Men promise to forsake the world, love and serve their fellowmen, visit the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions, proclaim peace, preach the gospel, serve the Lord, and keep His commandments.

L. Tom Perry

The gate of baptism leads to the strait and narrow path and to the destination of putting off the natural man and becoming a saint through the Atonement of Christ the Lord.

David A. Bednar

Dear Tommy,

I have just heard that you were baptized this month, on your birthday. It made me happy indeed, because your baptism will mean so much to you all the rest of your life.

When we are baptized, when we reach eight years of age, we enter the Church of Jesus Christ, and we receive the many blessings of the Church. We must be baptized to fill the Lord’s commandment.

Baptism is not just a custom in our Church. It is something we do because the Lord commands it. Baptism is as old as the gospel. Adam was baptized, and by immersion, just as you were. And millions of people since that time have also been baptized.

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Several years ago, while I was serving as a bishop, a sister came to me for a temple recommend interview. She was an adult convert to the Church who had been a faithful member since her baptism more than a decade earlier. She qualified for the temple recommend, but I sensed she was somewhat dispirited. When I asked what was troubling her, she said, “Bishop, is there any way a person can be baptized again?” Surprised, I asked her why she thought a second baptism would ever be needed. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, “I just wish I could somehow feel as clean and pure as the day I was baptized.”

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Baptism is the critical priesthood ordinance which opens the door to eternal life for each one of us. It is the benchmark from which we count our many blessings, because this is when our accountability to follow Jesus Christ and live his gospel begins. And then, each week as we partake of the sacrament we are reminded to “always remember him” (D&C 20:79). What a blessing this visual reminder is.

Elaine L. Jack, ““Partakers of the Glories””, Ensign, Nov. 1996, 76

My dear young friends, how we love you. What a blessing it is to be here with you tonight. Not too long ago Elder Robert D. Hales, one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve, asked the question, “Do our young women know what their baptismal covenants mean?” And then he said, “I wish you would teach them.” I remember thinking to myself, Do I fully understand the importance of my own baptismal covenants? So tonight, let’s talk for a few minutes about what it really means to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how our baptism can bless our lives.

The Savior has likened our baptism to being reborn. I want you to think about two of the greatest moments in your life: the day you were born and the day of your baptism, two very essential births in this lifetime. None of us can remember the day we were born. You can only imagine that your mother held you close in her arms and dreamed of what you would become.

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“Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, by one having authority, is a true principle, because Christ taught it; Christ obeyed it, and would not fail, for anything, to fulfil it—not that He was sinful and needed to be baptized for the remission of sins, but He only needed to do it to fulfill all righteousness, that is, to fulfil the law.”

Joseph F. Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 63

And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.

But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me.

And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.

For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism.

And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins;

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:

And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Elder David B. Haight served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for 28 years. In this October 1976 general conference address, he encourages Latter-day Saints to share the gospel so that others can enjoy the blessings of a “forever family.”

The family home evening manual … has a most inspiring first lesson. The theme is “Families Are Forever.” Families are instructed to place a number of items on a table, among which are a marriage certificate, a temple recommend, a picture of a temple, and a baptismal certificate. …

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After recovering from three major surgeries which have prevented me from speaking in the past two general conferences, what a joy it is to be able to stand in this beautiful Conference Center today to teach and bear testimony to those who desire to hear the word of the Lord.

In the past two years, I have waited upon the Lord for mortal lessons to be taught me through periods of physical pain, mental anguish, and pondering. I learned that constant, intense pain is a great consecrating purifier that humbles us and draws us closer to God’s Spirit. If we listen and obey, we will be guided by His Spirit and do His will in our daily endeavors.

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Today, I speak by way of reminder and admonition to those of us who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I pray for and invite the Holy Ghost to now assist me and you as we learn together.

Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins “is the introductory ordinance of the gospel” of Jesus Christ and must be preceded by faith in the Savior and by sincere and complete repentance. “Baptism in water … must be followed by baptism of the Spirit in order to be complete” (see Bible Dictionary, “Baptism,” 618). As the Savior taught Nicodemus, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). My message this afternoon focuses on the baptism of the Spirit and the blessings that flow from the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

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My dear brothers, sisters, and friends, the responsibility of speaking to all of you is a matter of great concern to me. I pray for your understanding.

My baptism into this Church was one of the highlights of my life. I was eight years of age. My parents taught me and my brothers the significance of this great ordinance. My mother told me that after my baptism I would be held accountable for the things I did that were not right. I remember the day of my baptism very vividly. I was baptized in the baptismal font in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Those who were being baptized put on white coveralls and one by one were gently taken down the steps into the water. One of the children baptized that day was not totally immersed, and so the ordinance was repeated. This was necessary because, as the scriptures indicate, “baptism symbolizes death, burial, and resurrection, and can only be done by immersion.” It also follows the pattern set by the Savior, who was baptized in the river Jordan, where there was much water. As Matthew records, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water.”

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“Those who seek to follow the Savior will understand the importance of the ordinance of baptism. The Lamb without Blemish saw fit to submit himself to baptism by one holding the authority of the priesthood in order to ‘fulfill all righteousness.’ How much more each of us has need of the cleansing and saving power of this ordinance and the other ordinances of the gospel.”

Dallin H. Oaks, “Always Remember Him,” General Conference, April 1988