Gospel Doctrine, Lesson 30: The Great Plan of Happiness, Alma 40-42

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#1 Elder Neal A. Maxwell: The Lord has described his plan of redemption as the Plan of Happiness Conversationally, we reference this great design almost too casually at times; we even sketch its rude outlines on chalkboards and paper as if it were the floor plan for an addition to ones house. However, when we really take time to ponder the Plan, it is breathtaking and overpowering! (Thanks Be to God, Ensign, July 1982) #2 Elder James E. Talmage: many other great truths not known before, have been declared to the people, and one of the greatest is that to hell there is an exit as well as an entrance. Hell is no place to which a vindictive judge sends prisoners to suffer and to be punished principally for his glory: But it is a place prepared for the teaching, the disciplining of those who failed to learn here upon the earth what they should have learnedNo man will be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that stage the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state. (Conference
Report, Apr. 1930, p. 97 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 342-3)

#3 President Brigham Young: When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the spiritual world...Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes, they do. Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do [that is, the righteous and the wicked occupy together one world of spirits, although there are separate venues in that world for each, and a chasm, gulf, or some kind of barrier separates them there; see D&C 138:12, 20-22, 29]...Do they go beyond the boundaries of the organized earth? No, they do not. (D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C.
Skinner, Verse by Verse The Book of Mormon, Volume 2, 43)

#4 Joseph Smith: The great misery of departed spirits in the world of spirits, where they go after death, is to know that they come short of the glory that others enjoy and that they might have enjoyed themselves, and they are their own accusers (Teachings, 310-11) #5 Elder Bruce R. McConkie: The Lord has promised that at the time of his Second Advent the graves will be opened, and the just shall come forth to reign with him on the earth for a thousand years Following this great event, and after the Lord and the righteous who are caught up to meet him have descended upon the earth, there will come to pass another resurrection. This may be considered as a part of the first, although it comes later. In this resurrection will come forth those of the terrestrial

order, who were not worthy to be caught up to meet him, but who are worthy to come forth to enjoy the millennial reign. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:295-97) #6 President Brigham Young: It is supposed by this people that we have all the ordinances in our possession for life and salvation, and exaltation, and that we are administering in those ordinances. This is not the case. We are in possession of all the ordinances that can be administered in the flesh; but there are other ordinances and administrations that must be administered beyond this world. I know you would like to ask what they are. I will mention one. We have not, neither can we receive here, the ordinance and the keys of resurrection. [The keys] will be given to those who have passed off this stage of action and have received their bodies again. They will be ordained, by those who hold the keys of the resurrection, to go forth and resurrect the Saints, just as we receive the ordinance of baptism then receive the keys of authority to baptize others for the remission of their sins. This is

one of the ordinances we can not receive here [on the earth], and there are many more. (Journal of Discourses, 15:137.)

#7 The Prophet Joseph Smith: Would you think it strange if I relate what I have seen in vision in relation to this interesting theme? Those who have died in Jesus Christ may expect to enter into all that fruition of joy when they come forth, which they possessed or anticipated here. So plain was the vision, that I actually saw men, before they had ascended from the tomb, as though they were getting up slowly. They took each other by the hand and said to each other, "My father, my son, my mother, my daughter, my brother, my sister. And when the voice calls for the dead to arise, suppose I am laid by the side of my father, what would be the first joy of my heart? To meet my father, my mother, my brother, my sister; and when they are by my side, I embrace them and they me. It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind. (History of The Church, v. 6, p. 361-362) #8 President Harold B. Lee: Resurrection will one day be as common as birth. The only reason we don't have the same assurance about the resurrection as we have about birth is because we are not seeing that happen daily before our eyes as we see birth. Nobody questions the reality of birth, which is just as much a mystery to our understanding as the resurrection of a body that is dead; but if we live in the morning of the resurrection, when the graves shall again be opened and when resurrection shall be almost a daily occurrence, those whose time it is to come forth will walk unto the city of their friends and will be seen of them. We will speculate then, just as we do now about the coming of a baby when there is evidence that a new one is in prospect, and we will confidently look forward to continued resurrection of friends and loved ones. (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, p. 62)

#9 The Prophet Joseph Smith Happiness is the object and design of our existence, and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God." (History of the
Church, vol. 5, pp. 134-135)

#10 Gordon B. Hinckley: It is very important to be happy in this work. We have a lot of gloomy people in the Church because they do not understand, I guess, that this is the gospel of happiness. It is something to be happy about, to get excited about. (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, Happiness)

Other thoughts too great not to include:

Elder A. Theodore Tuttle: it is not nearly so hard to live the standards as not to live them. This was impressed upon me some years ago as I interviewed a young girl of seventeen or eighteen years of age. She said: I have broken all of the Ten Commandments, except the sixth one, and lots of other laws besides. During the course of the interview, which incidentally, was conducted behind bars, she confessed ashamedly some of the sins which she had committed. Near the close of the interview she pulled up the sleeve of her sweater and pointed to the telltale puncture wounds left by a hypodermic needle. Those aren't mosquito bites, she said pathetically. I asked her if she had found happiness in the type of life she had lived. As she shook her head negatively, tears began to fill her eyes. She buried her head in her arms and sobs literally racked her body. As I watched her suffer, helpless at the moment to bring much comfort, I thought of the statement of Alma made in the Book of Mormon: Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness. (Alma 41:10.) I have thought since of the statement Cecil B. DeMille made at the beginning of the film The Ten Commandments. Most of you have seen it. You will recall how, at the beginning of the motion picture, he walked through those large curtains and came onto the stage to give a short introduction to the film. As I remember he said something like this: The history of mankind teaches us that we cannot break God's laws, rather we break ourselves against them. (Conference Report, Oct. 1965, p. 31) Elder Lance Wickman: "These principles that are at the heart of the great plan of redemption are also the very essence of the higher law of personal behavior taught by the Savior. He sought to teach that law in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matt. 5-7) and repeated it for the Nephites (see 3 Ne. 12-14). He sought to call us in our daily living from pedestrian plodding through what is merely just--that is, from giving to each what is due--to the stratospheric flight of mercy. He has called each of us to give to each person our love whether or not it is due. Unless we understand this, His mandate to 'be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect' (Matt. 5:48) is subject to gross misunderstanding...Truly, loving others more than self is the essence of the gospel of Christ. It is the soul of mercy." Boyd K. Packer: There once was a man who wanted something very much. It seemed more important than anything else in his life. In order for him to have his desire, he incurred a great debt. He had been warned about going into that much debt, and particularly about his creditor. But it seemed so important for him to do what he wanted to do and to have what he wanted right now. He was sure he could pay for it later.

So he signed a contract. He would pay it off sometime along the way. He didn't worry too much about it, for the due date seemed such a long time away. He had what he wanted now, and that was what seemed important. The creditor was always somewhere in the back of his mind, and he made token payments now and again, thinking somehow that the day of reckoning really would never come. But as it always does, the day came, and the contract fell due. The debt had not been fully paid. His creditor appeared and demanded payment in full. Only then did he realize that his creditor not only had the power to repossess all that he owned, but the power to cast him into prison as well. I cannot pay you, for I have not the power to do so, he confessed. Then, said the creditor, we will exercise the contract, take your possessions, and you shall go to prison. You agreed to that. It was your choice. You signed the contract, and now it must be enforced. Can you not extend the time or forgive the debt? the debtor begged. Arrange some way for me to keep what I have and not go to prison. Surely you believe in mercy? Will you not show mercy? The creditor replied, Mercy is always so one sided. It would serve only you. If I show mercy to you, it will leave me unpaid. It is justice I demand. Do you believe in justice? I believed in justice when I signed the contract, the debtor said. It was on my side then, for I thought it would protect me. I did not need mercy then, nor think I should need it ever. Justice, I thought, would serve both of us equally as well. It is justice that demands that you pay the contract or suffer the penalty, the creditor replied. That is the law. You have agreed to it and that is the way it must be. Mercy cannot rob justice. There they were: One meting out justice, the other pleading for mercy. Neither could prevail except at the expense of the other. If you do not forgive the debt there will be no mercy, the debtor pleaded. If I do, there will be no justice, was the reply. Both laws, it seemed, could not be served. They are two eternal ideals that appear to contradict one another. Is there no way for justice to be fully served, and mercy also? There is a way! The law of justice can be fully satisfied and mercy can be fully extended-but it takes someone else. And so it happened this time. The debtor had a friend. He came to help. He knew the debtor well. He knew him to be shortsighted. He thought him foolish to have gotten himself into such a predicament. Nevertheless, he wanted to help because he loved him. He stepped between them, faced the creditor, and made this offer. I will pay the debt if you will free the debtor from his contract so that he may keep his possessions and not go to prison. As the creditor was pondering the offer, the mediator added, You demanded justice. Though he cannot pay you, I will do so. You will have been justly dealt with and can ask no more. It would not be just.

And so the creditor agreed. The mediator turned then to the debtor. If I pay your debt, will you accept me as your creditor? Oh yes, yes, cried the debtor. You save me from prison and show mercy to me. Then, said the benefactor, you will pay the debt to me and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison. And so it was that the creditor was paid in full. He had been justly dealt with. No contract had been broken. The debtor, in turn, had been extended mercy. Both laws stood fulfilled. Because there was a mediator, justice had claimed its full share, and mercy was fully satisfied. Each Lives on Spiritual Credit Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit. One day the account will be closed, a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent, we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone, to help us. And, by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended save there be one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption. Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice untempered, unsympathetic, must, positively must, fall on us. The full recompense for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be exacted from us to the uttermost farthing. But know this: Truth, glorious truth, proclaims there is such a mediator. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5.) Through Him mercy can be fully extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of justice. This truth is the very root of Christian doctrine. You may know much about the gospel as it branches out from there, but if you only know the branches and those branches do not touch that root, if they have been cut free from that truth, there will be no life nor substance nor redemption in them. Mercy Is Not Automatic The extension of mercy will not be automatic. It will be through covenants with Him. It will be on His terms, His generous terms, which include, as an absolute essential, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. All mankind can be protected by the law of justice, and at once each of us individually may be extended the redeeming and healing blessing of mercy. A knowledge of what I am talking about is of a very practical value. It is very useful and very helpful personally; it opens the way for each of us to keep his spiritual accounts paid up.

You, perhaps, are among those troubled people. When you come face to face with yourself in those moments of quiet contemplation-that many of us try to avoid-are there some unsettled things that bother you? Do you have something on your conscience? Are you still, to one degree or another, guilty of anything small or large? We often try to solve guilt problems by telling one another that they don't matter. But somehow, deep inside, we don't believe one another. Nor do we believe ourselves if we say it. We know better. They do matter! Our transgressions are all added to our account, and one day if it is not properly settled, each of us, like Belshazzar of Babylon, will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. ( That All May Be Edified, p. 318 -21) Elder Orson F. Whitney: You parents of the wilful and the wayward: Don't give them up. Don't cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The shepherd will find his sheep. They were his before they were yours - long before he entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as he loves them. They have but strayed in ignorance from the Path of Right, and God is merciful to ignorance. Only the fulness of knowledge brings the fulness of accountability. Our Heavenly Father is far more merciful, infinitely more charitable, than even the best of his servants, and the Everlasting Gospel is mightier in power to save than our narrow finite minds can comprehend.CR, April 1929, p. 110.) Neal A. Maxwell: In the plan of happiness, the Great Shepherd, Jesus, will neither drive nor even herd us along the strait and narrow path. Doing such would be against Gods agency-drenched plan. Instead, exemplifying and beckoning, Jesus says, Come, follow me (Luke 18:22), the very words and the manner of the true shepherd. Meanwhile, strange, is it not, how we are willing to settle for so much less? We are like an eager child at a candy store who will settle for just one of these and one of those, when the Owner desires to give us the whole store (D&C 84:38) (Whom the Lord Loveth, pp. 73-74.) Elder Bruce R. McConkie: There are two distinct senses in which the expression spirit prison is used: 1. Since disembodied spirits cannot gain a fullness of joy until their resurrection (D&C 93:33-34), they consider their habitation in the spirit world as one of imprisonment, and so the whole spirit world (including both paradise and hell) is a spirit prison. It was to the righteous sprits in prison, those who were in paradise that our Lord preached while his body was in the tomb. (1 Pet. 3:18-21; 4:6; D&C 76:73-4) 2. In a more particular sense, however, the spirit prison is hell, that portion of the spirit world where the wicked dwell. Moses 7:37-39). Before Christ bridged the gulf between paradise and hellso that the righteous could mingle with the wicked and preach them the gospelthe wicked in hell were confined to locations which precluded them from contact with the righteous in paradise. (Luke 16:19-31). (Mormon Doctrine, 637-43)

LESSON 30 OUTLINE Outline on board, to be filled in by class:

Terrestrial Kingdom

Also place word strips, turned over, on board: the plan of restoration (Alma 41:2) the great plan of salvation (Alma 42:5) the great plan of happiness (Alma 42:8) the plan of redemption (Alma 42:11) the great plan of mercy (Alma 42:31) And write in the upper right hand corner: Matt. 8:11-2 D&C 101:90-91 Matt. 22:13 D&C 133:64, 73 Matt. 22:30

Telestiall Kingdom

Outer Darkness

~Who can guess what well be talking about today? (plan of salvationturn over word strip) ~There are four other names for this plan in todays lesson. Lets see if we can get them all, shall we? ~Whose plan is this? (Heavenly Fathers) Quotation #1 Although this IS a very rude diagram, the lesson manual suggests we fill it out! (Fill out) ~How many in here served a mission and taught this diagram to investigators? ~Would it surprise you to know its NOT correct? (It did me!) ~Who knows whats not right? (outer darkness) ~Where does outer darkness belong? (in the Spirit World) Alma 40:13-14 Besides this one, there are six more scriptures that use the term outer darkness:

Matt. 8:11-12 Christ is talking about non-Jews having more faith than Jews! 2 Matt. 22:13 This is in the Parable of the Wedding Feast, where a man shows up without a wedding garment. Matt. 22:30 This is in the Parable of the Talents D&C 101:90-91 the state of the wicked at the Second Coming D&C 133:64, 73 the state of the wicked at the Second Coming ~In any of these passages is the author referring to sons of perdition? (No! All refer to the punishment of the wicked in Spirit Prison) Even D&C 76: 31-39, which is about sons of perdition, doesnt use the term outer darkness when describing their fate. Revelation 17:8 says theyll go to perdition. ~What does perdition mean? Isnt it from the same root as perder in Spanish? (Latin: to lose, throw away, ruin) ~So are those who experience outer darkness lost? (No.) ~What happens to them? (All are eventually saved, except the sons of perdition, according to the law they obeyed while on earth) Quotation #2 ~Where is the spirit world? (on earth) Quotation #3 ~And for those who are in hell, what is the cause of their suffering? (regret) Quotation #4 ~For those who live the celestial law, what is it that causes their joy? (being in the presence of God, see Alma 42:11) Lets go back to Almas names for Heavenly Fathers plan. First: The plan of restoration: ~What does the plan restore? (good works for good, evil for evil, Alma 41:3) ~What else will it restore? (the body. Alma 41:2) ~When we are resurrected will it change what kind of person we are? What we enjoy? Who we like to hang out with? We know of at least FIVE resurrections: ~When was the first? (the righteous at Christs resurrection, see D&C 133:54-55) ~Did this occur in the new world also? (read 3 Nephi 23:7-13) ~When was the 2nd resurrection? (the righteous at the 2nd Coming, see D&C

3 88:97-98) ~The third? (Those who lived the terrestrial law, near the beginning of the Millennium, see D&C 88:99) ~Will the terrestrial people live on the earth during the millennium, then? Quotation #5 ~So the terrestrial people will be freed from Spirit Prison when? (near the beginning of the Millennium) ~When will the 4th resurrection be? (Telestial at end of Millennium, see D&C 88:100-101) ~And those born on earth who become sons of perdition? (After the telestial resurrection, see D&C 88:102) ~How will we be resurrected? Will we just come forth out of the grave on our own? Quotation #6 And here is a neat description of resurrection by Joseph Smith: Quotation #7 ~Will there be resurrection throughout the Millennium? (Yes, men will live to the age of a tree and then be changed in the twinkling of an eye.) Quotation #8 Back to Almas names for the plan: The great plan of salvation: ~What can the plan save us from? (our sins) ~How? (Christs Atonement) The great plan of happiness: ~How does the plan bring us happiness? (by restoring us to Heavenly Fathers presence) Quotations 9 & 10 The plan of redemption: ~What does it mean to redeem something? (to buy it back) ~What law does Christs Atonement redeem us from? (justice) ~Will some have to pay that debt themselves? (those who dont repent) ~Once theyve paid the debt, will it be the same as if they had repented? (No, repentance changes us. It sanctifies and justifies us. It enables us, through mercy, to become like Christ. Not repenting is like a criminal serving his

prison sentence. Does it change him? No. We cannot be in the presence 4 of God without being changed.) The great plan of mercy: ~Why is Heavenly Fathers plan merciful? (We cant save ourselves from the law of justice.) We emphasize so often how merciful and kind and long-suffering Heavenly Father is, and sometimes we de-emphasize His justness. Corianton did the same: Alma 42:1 ~What would happen if God were not just as well as merciful? (Hed cease to be God) This is emphasized three times in Alma 42: Alma 42:13, beginning with Now the work 42:22 42:25 Id like to close with a thought by Elder A. Theodore Tuttle. Readits under Other thoughts too great not to include

That we will resolve to be happy in the only way possible is my prayer.