"All have sinned. Each person is therefore unclean to the extent to which he has sinned, and because of that uncleanness is banished from the presence of the Lord so long as the effect of his own wrongdoing is upon him. Doctrines of the Gospel, Student Manual, p.23

"Since we suffer this spiritual death as a result of our own transgressions, we cannot claim deliverance therefrom as a matter of justice. Neither has any man the power within himself alone to make restitution so complete that he can be wholly cleansed from the effect of his own wrongdoing. If men are to be freed from the results of their own transgressions and brought back into the presence of God, they must be the beneficiaries of some expedient beyond themselves which will free them from the effect of their own sins. For this purpose was the atonement of Jesus Christ conceived and executed. Doctrines of the Gospel, Student Manual, p.23

"This was the world's supreme act of charity, performed by Jesus out of his great love for us. He not only thereby met the demands of the law of justice -- which would have left us forever marred by the effects of our own transgressions -- but made effective the law of mercy, through which all men may be cleansed from their own sins."

(Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1982, p. 9; or Ensign, May 1982, pp. 8-9.)