Today I will give my thoughts on Article of Faith #4:

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This Article of Faith tells us what the first 4 things are that we need to have and do in order to be saved.

The first 2 things are principles: Things we need to believe and do.

First is that we need to have faith.  And not just faith--It must be faith in Jesus Christ.  For without Him, and his sacrifice on the cross and in the Garden of Gethsemane, we would all be completely lost.  As none of us is perfect, we all sin, and are far from being able to return to God on our own.

That brings us to the second principle: Repentance.  Christ has overcome sin, through a process we call the atonement, and has promised to take away the "second death" caused by sin from each of us--but we must repent to take advantage of His atonement.  To repent, we must take the following steps:

1. Recognize that we have sinned
2. Feel remorse for what we have done
3. Ask those we have harmed for forgiveness
4. Make amends (i.e. do our best to repair the problem, or return what has been taken)
5. Don't sin in that way again

We must continue to have faith, and repent throughout our lives.

After we have faith and repent, we are then able to have the first ordinance that is required for us all to return to God's presence: Baptism

We must be ready to be baptized, because when we are, we are making important promises to the Lord.  For that reason, we must understand what we are doing.  That is why in our church we do not baptize infants.  We wait until they are old enough to know what they are promising, and are able to make their own choices.  In our church the minimum age for baptism is 8 years old.

We must also be baptized in the way that Jesus was baptized, i.e. by immersion (completely being covered in water.)  It must also be performed by someone who has the authority to baptize others (that authority is called the priesthood.)  Everybody who has ever lived, or who will live on the earth will need to be baptized--even Jesus Christ himself was baptized (though He didn't need it to be forgiven of his sins--He was perfect.  He did it to "fulfill all righteousness," or in other words to obey the commandment, and to show us the perfect example)

Following our baptism, we can have the next required ordinance performed--that of "Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."  This is a wonderful gift that is given to those who have been baptized.  With this gift of the Holy Ghost, we have the promise that the Holy Ghost will be with us always to help us and guide us--if we don't drive him away by making bad choices against his promptings.  He also comforts us in times of distress and trouble.

Again, even though we have been baptized, and have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, we are not perfect.  We must continue to have faith in Jesus Christ.  We must continue to repent when we make mistakes.  This is what is known as "enduring to the end"