Righteousness and Happiness

When we seek happiness, when we want peace and contentment, when we want control of our lives, when we want a direction, a reason for our lives, where do we turn?

 There are “gurus” who teach their version of solutions to this quest, who will enlighten us – for a price. Their advice pales in comparison to the help and instruction we can find readily in the scriptures, in the testimonies of the 16 prophets of this dispensation, and in the writings of the scriptural prophets. One General Conference offers more wisdom and insight than all such “gurus” can offer.

 There are those who turn to worldliness and immorality because they think that therein lies the happiness they seek. They are willing to spend their lives in a fruitless search for truth and understanding through those who have no real understanding of the eternities and the plan our Heavenly Father has devised for each of us.

 There are those who give up looking for answers and just drift through life, willing to “go with the flow” because they lack understanding of the purpose of their existence. They are willing to waste their lives, their talents, and their innate goodness on the altar of apathy and indolence.

 There are those who busy themselves with work, achievement, wanting stuff, getting stuff, and wanting more stuff, excluding their families from anything but their desire for more worldly goods. They neglect their wives, husbands, and children to advance their careers. They tell themselves that they are doing it for their loved ones, but their real motivation is purely selfish. Alienation, focus on the wrong goals, and eventual misery are the results of such life motivation. Children, spouses, and eternal goals are lost as they waste their lives in worldly pursuits.

 There are those who look in the right places for guidance, who seek the Lord and do their best to understand that the only real happiness, peace, control, and direction is to be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 The adversary gladly leads us down any of these paths except the last one. He will do whatever he can to keep us from seeking happiness in the gospel. He will offer many counterfeits for the truth and the gospel. He will pervert every aspect of the gospel, the technology the Lord has given us, and our own desires in ways that make his alternatives, (wickedness, perversion, dishonesty, and lasciviousness) seem more attractive and easier than the Lord’s way.

.In the October General Conference this year, President Eyring titled his remarks “To My Grandchildren,” and begins with this statement:

There is one overarching commandment that will help us to meet the challenges and lead to the heart of a happy family life.

He mentioned that this year two of his grandchildren will be married and within a few years at least 10 more will probably do so. He said:

That happy prospect has caused me deep contemplation as they have asked me for advice. Essentially they have asked, “What choices could I make that will lead me to happiness?” And on the other hand, “What choices are likely to lead me to unhappiness?”

President Eyring’s statement reminds me of the scripture in Alma 41:10:

Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.

And if that is true, and certainly it is eternally true, then the converse is also true: Righteousness always is happiness. Scriptural justification for that idea can be found in 2 Nephi 2:13:

…if there be no righteousness there be no happiness.

Mary Wollstonecraft, an early (circa 1780) feminist said the following:

No man chooses evil because it is evil. He only mistakes it for good; the happiness he seeks.

On the face of it, her statement seems to be true. If a person robs a bank, he or she usually does so because they think the money will buy them happiness. The only trouble with her thought is that it leaves the adversary out of the equation, assumes that evil is just a mistake, and therefore can be excused as only a poor choice, with no eternal consequences. If we are to believe Mary, the gospel plan is not part of the decision, when in fact, it is the key to proper choices. Poor choices can have eternal consequences, and are offered by the adversary for our destruction, not our happiness.

The person who robs a bank usually finds that the money is soon gone, their pleasure was fleeting, and the consequences of their actions are restrictive and very undesirable, which is exactly what the adversary intended when he enticed the robber to take the money.

President Eyring says that giving advice on happiness in marriage is hard to give:

Heavenly Father has made each of us unique. No two of us have exactly the same experiences. No two families are alike. So it is not surprising that advice about how to choose happiness in family life is hard to give. Yet a loving Heavenly Father has set the same path to happiness for all of His children. Whatever our personal characteristics or whatever will be our experiences, there is but one plan of happiness. That plan is to follow all the commandments of God.

What a testimony to Heavenly Father’s power it is to hear an apostle say that we are each unique. Even twins have unique characteristics, likes and dislikes, attitudes and desires. But with that uniqueness comes a requirement for commonality of conduct based on instruction from the Lord that applies equally to each of us. The gospel is unchanging, God’s commandments and covenants are eternal, and the path we must follow to return to our Father-in-Heaven was defined before the world was.

 Because there is good that comes from right choices, and undesirable consequences that are the natural result of evil choices, we can say with perfect conviction (in agreement with President Eyring) “wickedness never is happiness,” and righteousness always is happiness as we follow the commandments of God. 4 Nephi 1:15-18 describes a time in the Book of Mormon when righteousness was happiness:

15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.

18 And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land.

This is the happiness we seek. There is no mistaking the evil of the world for true, eternal happiness and joy. The adversary’s counterfeits cannot offer such – only misery and woe in the end.