MANNER OF HAPPINESS

 

“They (those in the great and spacious building of Lehi’s dream) look happy and free, but don’t mistake telestial pleasure for celestial happiness and joy. Don’t mistake lack of self-control for freedom. Complete freedom without appropriate restraint makes us slaves to our appetites.

Don’t envy a lesser and lower life….the people in that building have absolutely nothing to offer except instant, short-term gratification inescapably connected to long-term sorrow and suffering. The commandments you observe were not given by a dis-passionate God to prevent you from having fun, but by a loving Father in Heaven who wants you to be happy while you are living on this earth as well as in the hereafter.”

-          Bishop Glen L. Pace, Ensign November 1987, p 39

Some years ago I heard a mother in the Church say she just wanted her teenage son to come out of the closet so he can be ‘happy’. That son eventually did come out of the closet but to this day he is not happy. He is an alcoholic with a ruined liver who was told by the medical profession he will not live a long life. It always amazes me how intent some people are to be happy in this life.

The greatest outline of mortal happiness can be found in 2 Nephi Chapter 5. This was the early  period of time in ancient America when Nephi separated himself and his followers from his brothers who sought to take away his life (v 4).

The story begins with Nephi following the Lord’s warning to alienate themselves from those seeking their destruction and thereafter following the path to spiritual prosperity. Nephi begins his account of their new life on the American continent with the most significant pattern for ‘mortal happiness’: “And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statues, and the commandments of the Lord in all things….” (v 10).

Thereafter the story unfolds with blessings of physical abundance of food (v 11); possession of scriptures (v12); building of a temple (v 16); industry of the people ( v 17); and then comes: “And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.” (v 27).

Happiness in this life is a huge subject to tackle. I get it, this life is hard and it is hard for everyone, even those in the Church who are being obedient. I guess the importance lies in your definition of happiness and which happiness you want. Notice that Nephi said "manner" of happiness......insinuating it's not a permanent, complete and iron clad happiness. This kind of happiness can only be found in the eternal presence of God. 

In this life of lack of permanency, the only real 'sense' of happiness comes from being close to God. Nephi accentuates this truth. Whereas Nephi and his people had achieved that happiness, his brothers and their followers were cut off from the presence of the Lord (v 20). Being cut off from God and His influence would have to be the most detrimental and miserable state of being.

When I think of living after ‘the manner of happiness’ I think of Zion. I think this is why Nephi called it so because His people were one and united in obedience and striving for the same outcome. Being in a community such as Zion alienates you from worldly values of destruction and unites you with people who are on the same path of righteousness, with the same goals and the love of God which binds you together. I think this is what Nephi identified as happiness. This is what should be our goal as we prepare ourselves for the return of our God.

He will come and reveal Himself to those who love Him and then we will know what true happiness is…..it is worth waiting for and striving for.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Love and Faithfulness by Chris Brazelton)

MERCIFUL REDEMPTION

 

“I once heard a child tell the parable of the lost sheep in a way that stirred fresh thoughts about who the lost sheep is. A little girl so tiny that we could barely see the top of her ponytails over the pulpit told the story in a sacrament meeting….She said:

“There was once a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. He loved his sheep, so he counted them every day. One day he counted: ‘……ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine.’ A little sheep was lost. The shepherd went to find him. The little sheep was far off in the rocks and bushes. He was frightened and lonely. The shepherd went to find him. The little sheep heard him and was glad. He said: ‘Baa-aa’. The shepherd came and found the little sheep. He picked him up and carried him on his shoulder back to his mommy. Then he counted again: ‘…..ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred.’ All the sheep were safely home.” (Bruce C.  Hafen, “The Broken Heart”, p 37-8)

Elder Hafen said that it dawned on him as he listened, that he was the lost sheep, that those he knew and loved were the lost sheep, that the people in the Church were the lost sheep, indeed he said we are all lost sheep…..because of our first parents, Adam and Eve who “were cast out of their garden of innocence into the lone and dreary world, and ‘out in the desert they wandered, hungry and helpless and cold’ (p 38).

The Atonement has so many facets that it is difficult at times to grasp it all. Perhaps the most important  would have to be Christ’s power to redeem us from The Fall. Having been removed from the Father’s presence, we are born strangers and pilgrims on this earth (D&C 45:13) but the Saviour’s Redemption means we can one day be restored to our former home.

The greatest scriptural symbol of Redemption is Ruth, a lowly woman of Moab who married an Israelite. She was a convert to the Lord, God of Israel ‘under whose wings she had come to trust’ (Ruth 2:12). When her Israelite husband died and left her with no children, Ruth became one of the lowliest of the earth, devoid of security or livelihood. When she returned to Bethlehem with her mother Naomi, she consented to a ‘levirate’ marriage with Naomi’s next of kin, as was the custom in Israel.

Through a levirate marriage, the woman was provided with children and restored to security and society and brought back to the family home. Here is where things become interesting. The Hebrew word for a man who would step up to this responsibility was GO’EL. The King James Version of the Bible translates it as simply ‘kinsman’ but the proper and literal meaning of GO’EL is ‘redeemer’ (Rasmussen, “Introduction to the Old Testament”, 1:157)

Ruth’s GO’EL was Boaz. Boaz became Ruth’s redeemer and restorer of all she had lost. Boaz and Ruth had a son whose name was Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David, who was the progenitor of Mary, who was the mother of Christ.

Consider for a moment how Christ redeems us from our fallen state and restores us to the presence of the Father and our eternal home. The Saviour himself affirms His role as the GO’EL when He refers to himself as the bridegroom and us, Israel, as the bride (Matthew 25:1-13; D&C 33:17; 65:3; 88:92; 133:10). He is the greatest GO’EL of all….. the Redeemer, the Restorer, the Hope of Israel, the Shepherd who leads home all that are lost.

Elder Hafen tried to imagine how he would feel if he was found unworthy on Judgment Day to return to Father’s presence. He said he didn’t think he could stand a longing for eternity that could not be fulfilled (p 88). I am of certainty that I would feel like Cain of old who said when he was banished from God’s presence to be a vagabond on this earth: “My punishment is greater than I can bear.”  (Genesis 4:13)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Guiding Them Home by Yongsung Kim)

THE SONG OF REDEEMING LOVE

 

“One Sunday morning our teenaged son stood with two other priests to administer the sacrament, as they had done on many prior occasions. They pulled back the white cloth, but to their dismay there was no bread. One of them slipped out to the preparation room in hopes some could be found. There was none. Finally our troubled son made his way to the bishop and shared the concern with him. A wise bishop then stood, explained the situation to the congregation, and asked, “How would it be if the sacrament table were empty today because there were no Atonement?”

-       Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p 57

 

Doctrinally, if there was no Atonement: there would be no resurrection (2 Nephi 9:7); we would become subject to the devil forever and would even become ‘angels to the devil’ (2 Nephi 9:9); and we would ‘endure a never ending torment’ (Mosiah 2:39). A life with the devil for all eternity is a harrowing prospect none of us would rush to but there is one thing even worse and that is being shut out from God’s presence forever (2 Nephi 9:9).

 

When Adam fell, the Earth physically fell away from God and His habitation. In a way, we became lost. Have you ever felt lost? Either physically or spiritually? Have you ever felt the crushing absence of belonging? Have you ever felt that you were all alone in a world full of people, not belonging to anyone or anything? If so, try to imagine this feeling at its’ most intense level. Imagine feeling totally and utterly alone, and devoid of any human contact. If you can, you can comprehend the feeling of being lost. This is the fate that would be ours if the Atonement never took place. We would be lost forever.

 

After Alma tasted his exquisite pains and looked into the jaws of hell, he beheld God sitting on his throne surrounded by countless angels singing His praises and he longed to be in the presence of God again (Alma 36:22). Even Cain who chose to worship Satan rather than God considered his banishment from God’s presence ‘a punishment greater than he could bear’ (Genesis 4:13,14; Moses 5:38,39). 

 

How can we relate to a tragedy such as being cut off from God’s presence forever if we cannot remember what it was like to live with Him? Ours is a path of faith. When I studied the Fall one year, I came to understood the inexpressible horror of being endlessly lost and I wept as the comprehension of the Atonement flooded my heart feeling the witness of the Spirit in the very marrow of my bones. I think this is something I understood in my pre-existence, before this world was even made. This therefore is our key. We do not need to remember what it was like then. The Holy Ghost can give us understanding and can bear witness to our hearts here and now of the hope that the Atonement gives us; that we can be redeemed from the grasp of hell and the absence of a loving Father and be once again encircled in the arms of His love (2 Nephi 1:15). Does this not make you want to sing the song of redeeming love? (Alma 5:26)

 

This Easter as we contemplate, with gratitude, the absolution of our sins the Atonement affords, may we also consider the blessing of being at one with God again, the reality that only the sacrifice of Christ offers us. May we long for the reunion and the endless sense of belonging to a home we were once lovingly nurtured in. May we eagerly look forward to the time we can meet the Holy One of Israel as the keeper of the gate who ‘employs no servant there’ (2 Nephi 9:41); who waits for us with open arms (Mormon 6:17) to bring us back once again into the presence of our God. 

 

 - Cathryne Allen

(Art by David Bowman, King Print)