Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, concerning the promise of immortality offered through the Atonement of Jesus Christ:
“I wonder if we fully appreciate the enormous significance of our belief in a literal, universal resurrection. The assurance of immortality is fundamental to our faith. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared:
“‘The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it’ (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 121).
“Of all things in that glorious ministry, why did the Prophet Joseph Smith use the testimony of the Savior’s death, burial, and Resurrection as the fundamental principle of our religion, saying that ‘all other things … are only appendages to it’? The answer is found in the fact that the Savior’s Resurrection is central to what the prophets have called ‘the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death’ (2 Nephi 11:5)” (in Conference Report, Apr. 2000, 17; or Ensign, May 2000, 15).