The Plan of Happiness: What Every Person is After

In my last post, I talked about what God is like--his nature. I mentioned that he is all-loving and all-knowing. Going along with that, it makes sense that since He loves each of us, he wants us to be happy! And since He's all-knowing, He knows what will make us happy and He's revealed the way for us to find it...

What is this "Plan" Mormons talk about?
The Plan of Happiness is God's plan for every one of us to become like Heavenly Father and receive a fulness of joy. A simple scripture puts it nicely: "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25) The plan includes coming to earth, being baptized, following Heavenly Father's commandments, and continuing faithful until the end of mortal life.

Where did I come from?
We believe that we existed before we were born on the earth. Members of the church often call it "premortal life." We all lived with Heavenly Father before the world was created. Every one of us attended a council where Heavenly Father presented His Plan of Happiness. In that council, the premortal Jesus Christ covenanted (or promised) to be our Savior. But Lucifer (Satan) also wanted to redeem all mankind by forcing them to obedience, which would violate our freedom to choose and He wanted all the glory for "saving everyone." By seeking the power for himself and desiring to take away the agency of man, he then became Satan, or the devil, and was cast out of heaven. 1/3 of the people at the council chose to follow Satan instead of Heavenly Father and Jesus. They chose not to come to earth and receive a body. Those of us who decided to follow God's plan came here to earth and gain a body to learn and progress.

How All This Got Started
 Simple answer:
Some people believe that what happened in the Garden of Eden was a tragedy. Latter-day Saints have a different view. We believe that partaking of the "forbidden fruit" was part of The Plan! Their choice to eat the fruit made it possible for the rest of us to come to earth, to experience the joys and pains of life, to choose God and return to Him. 

A More Elaborate Answer:
Adam and Eve were the first people Heavenly Father sent to earth--to a little spot we know as The Garden of Eden. The earth that was prepared for them was perfect. There was no disease, no blemish on anything or anyone. Adam and Eve were immortal. Adam and Eve were completely innocent and had no knowledge of good and evil, light and darkness, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. But since Heavenly Father knew the only way for them (and the rest of us) to learn and progress is to be given choices. And to be given choices, there has to be opposites. Enter the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. By eating the fruit, their "eyes would be opened" and they would have that knowledge and the world as they knew it would change--or become "fallen" as many Christians call it. Death, sorrow, and disease would enter the world. God provided the Tree, but He commanded them not to eat it. In His own words, Heavenly Father said, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Moses 3:16-17).  When He says "thou shalt surely die" He did not mean they'd die physically right on the spot--although by partaking of the fruit, death entered the world and they became mortal. The more immediate issue was that Adam and Eve would die spiritually--meaning they would not be able to be in the presence of God as they had been able to do before.

 So what does the Fall of Adam Have to do with Me?
Well, while we believe that "men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression*," every single one of us does experience the same consequences they did: death, disease, and pain. There are good consequences too as I mentioned above: knowledge, freedom of choice, a physical body, the opportunity to bear children, and the opportunity to gain eternal life. As it began with Adam and Eve, all of us are separated from God, but we are meant to return to Him and become as He is. Everyone of us makes some bad choices--lying, cheating, stealing, giving into anger, manipulation, violence, etc. These things may keep us from returning to Him unless we seek out Jesus Christ, ask for forgiveness and with His help, change. (This is what we call repentance.) When we are forgiven through this repentance, we are cleansed through Jesus Christ.
This incredible video explains perfectly how the Savior can help every one of us with all pain that we all experience here on earth and the wonderful change that we can experience if we choose it, if we want it.

I think it is everything.





*2nd Article of Faith