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Question: Do Latter-day Saints claim to be the only ones that can experience the fullness of happiness on this earth?
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Question: Do Latter-day Saints claim to be the only ones that can experience the fullness of happiness on this earth?
Introduction to Question
Many former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and even active members of the Church become troubled from time to time by the reality that many people outside of the Church and even those that go against the Church appear to be happy people and sometimes happier than members of the Church.
A pithy mantra of former members of the Church is that "what's unique about the Church isn't good and what's good isn't unique."
This confusion seems to stem from a notion that only active, believing, fully-practicing members of the Church can experience the fullest measure of happiness in this life. There appears to be an assumption that leaders of the Church or the Church’s official scriptures make this claim. That assumption is true, but there needs to be some context added to it and an answer to this criticism fleshed out. This article attempts to answer these concerns and criticisms.
Response to Question
Claims from Church Leaders
There are claims from Church leaders that are roughly the same as the one made above. For instance, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland made the following claim in the April 2009 General Conference of the Church:
I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work—and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times—until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies.[1]
Perhaps the most direct scripture on this issue is found in Doctrine & Covenants 101:36:
- 36 Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full.
This revelation was "given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, December 16 and 17, 1833. At this time the Saints who had gathered in Missouri were suffering great persecution. Mobs had driven them from their homes in Jackson County; and some of the Saints had tried to establish themselves in Van Buren, Lafayette, and Ray Counties, but persecution followed them. The main body of the Saints was at that time in Clay County, Missouri. Threats of death against individuals of the Church were many. The Saints in Jackson County had lost household furniture, clothing, livestock, and other personal property; and many of their crops had been destroyed" (chapter heading for Section 101).
So the Savior may be saying that the fulness of joy is found as we are saved and go to heaven, but it seems more likely (at least to this author) that he is saying that the world will not give us the fulness of joy that is found only in a covenant relationship with the Savior and the fulness of light and knowledge about him provided solely by his Restored Church.
What perhaps gets misunderstood, however, is that the claim is not just that one can experience a fullness of joy in this life by following the teachings of the Savior, but that one can experience the fullest measure of peace and happiness in this life and the next life when we reach the eternities. Doctrine & Covenants 59:23 claims that “he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.” The scriptures consistently describe eternal life as never-ending or everlasting happiness.
But still, you might ask, why are people happy and sometimes happier outside of the Church?
He Maketh His Sun to Rise on the Just and the Unjust
Basically all human beings cooperate with one another to mutually achieve pleasure and happiness. It’s a basic tendency of human nature to prefer life and happiness over death and/or pain. That means that most people will follow Jesus’ injunction in Matthew 7:12 quite naturally: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you: do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets”. A large amount of happiness will be reaped by people as they do this. We believe that this is a manifestation of the truth that people have the law of God written on their hearts as taught in Romans.[2] It is also a manifestation of the truth that "the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil".[3]
But Jesus tells us this:
- Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
It’s interesting to notice where this observation about happiness and unhappiness comes. Jesus is in the middle of telling his disciples to love their enemies. That is something that is not common among the world’s “natural morality”. We tend to hate our enemies. Maybe not murder them or kill them, but we certainly allow ourselves to experience deep feelings of hatred towards those that annoy or injure us. Jesus recognizes that there must be something that sets us apart from other peoples in our practice of love. Jesus wants us to pay very close attention to these finer points of the law. The world will practice the basic law of doing unto others as we would have them do to us, but the covenant people will practice the finer points of the law and achieve the fullest measure of happiness by living by the finer points. It is these that Jesus likely has in mind when he tells people to come unto him and experience a fullness of joy. It is these that bring us the fulness of peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come.
We often think that the wicked are those that do drastic evils such as rape, murder, incest, and other heinous acts. Of course, those people are wicked, but they are not the entire group of people that make up the wicked. Satan rather works most frequently by counterfeits of the finer points of the law to draw people away from it. He works by using the philosophies of men mingled with scripture. It’s those deceptions that we, as Latter-day Saint Christians, have to become especially adept at recognizing and rejecting. We need to use the word of God as our measuring stick to measure all truth. We need to submit ourselves to its claims regarding our behavior and obey with exactness and not deviate from it. That is the only way that we will recognize how God leads us to the fullest measure of peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come.
It's possible that people can keep the basic law and the finer points inadvertently. Perhaps they don't have exposure to specifically The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but perhaps they can work out substantial portions of what it means to live the Law of Love to its fulness rationally. It's unlikely, but possible. If a person could rationally work it out without the repository of the revealed word of God recorded in scripture to guide their decisions, it's possible that they experience much, most, or even all of the happiness and joy that the Gospel offers.
We're Going to Experience Heartache and Pain Just Like the Rest of the World
The Gospel promises that as we live by its moral injunctions that we will be able to experience the fullest measure of peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come. It does not mean that hard things, whether by natural causes or by the sinful choices of others, will not happen to us in this life. Jesus flat out tells us "[i]n the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."[4] The Lord told Brigham Young that "[m]y people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom."[5] The Lord himself will chasten us from time to time because he loves us.[6]
The promises of Jesus mean that he is instructing us in the fullest practice and meaning of love and that, as we follow his instructions that he gives either himself or through his appointed prophets, we'll experience the fullness of joy. It does not mean that that will always be easy or that evils, whether natural or human, will not come upon us. The challenge is to bear our burdens with patience and turn to the Lord continually for help.
The Lord teaches us that the way to find happiness is not to seek happiness and pleasure in and of itself, but to seek to love our neighbor and become virtuous. As a byproduct of that, you'll find happiness.
Addressing the ExMormon Mantra
A final thing that we can address is the above mantra of former members: What's good about the Church isn't unique and what's unique isn't good.
- A person or entity does not have to be sole propagator nor origin of a particular idea in order to be considered unique. They can be one of a few that propagate a certain idea and that can be considered unique and good.
- It is not necessarily the case that unique goodness must be found in even one of the individual ideas that the Church teaches. The Church can have a collection of ideas and the collection be unique (in the sense of not being found anywhere else) and good. People may be staking their pride in the Church in the wrong thing.
- There are things about the Church that are unique that may be considered good. For instance, the Church teaches that it is morally wrong to consume coffee. Part of the reason they teach this is because being coffee marks the Church as the Lord's people. It is a unique identifier that marks us as the Lord's. The last verse of the revelation giving the Word of Wisdom alludes to the Exodus where the Israelites placed Lamb's blood above their doors.
It is a common misconception, among both members and non-members, that the Word of Wisdom exists primarily, or only, to promote the health of the members. Health protection is an important benefit of the Word of Wisdom. This is made clear by verses 18-20 of the revelation. But an equally the most important reason for the Word of Wisdom is the promise given in the last verse of D&C 89, in which the members are told:
And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them.(D&C 89꞉21)
This refers to the last curse put on the Egyptians prior to the Exodus from Egypt. The Israelites were to mark their houses with lamb's blood at the first Passover. Houses so marked were protected from the "destroying angel." (See Exodus 12:1-30.)
Is lamb's blood "magic?" Does it repel angels like garlic does vampires? Hardly. The Word of Wisdom marks us as people under covenant to God. Consumption of coffee and tea is a common practice in many cultures—when others notice a member of the Church abstaining, it sets them apart as willing to forgo something that is culturally popular. When they notice such unique things, they may be drawn to learning more about the Church and what it teaches. As they learn the Church's moral standards as founded on Jesus' law of love, they will become better people. Thus, not drinking coffee may have delayed but still beneficial consequences in the realm of teaching people what is morally right and wrong and leading them to the fulness of joy offered to those that keep the commandments with exactness.
Defending the Church's Moral Teaching
It may be wise to include here a link to articles that address some of the rules that people have the most trouble with. That way, one can see the utility that comes from them.
The Lifelong Human Vacillation Between Freedom and Purpose
As human beings, we have a suite of fundamental psychological needs. Among these are the need for variety and the need for self-improvement. We vacillate, as humans, between wanting more freedom in our lives and wanting more purpose.
People who want more purpose in their lives want to find some way to structure them. The way to structure their life would be allow to someone or something to give them guidelines and rules to live by to help them squeeze out every ounce of happiness they can get from life. People who want more purpose generally feel a degree of aimlessness or confusion. They wonder whether life is just about being slaves to our currently strongest passions and they want someone to give them direction in virtue and self-restraint.
People who want more freedom in their lives want to throw off the expectations others have of them. You can see this in human beings: when people say they want more "freedom" they're saying that they just don't want to live by the expectations that they have allowed others to place on them when they wanted more purpose. These people tend to feel suffocated by too many expectations.
The way to get purpose is to allow others to place expectations on us. The way to get more freedom is to throw off those expectations.
All of us swing from one pendulum end to the other. But the fallacy in our thinking should be clear at this point: just because those who leave the Church say they have more freedom and are happy, does not mean that that happiness is going to last. There may be times, even though they don't say it, where they will want to have more structure given to their lives: they'll want a religion to be true.
We should allow people to experience these pendulum swings for themselves and then, when they are ready to hear it and when we are prompted by the Spirit, we should be prepared to give a defense of the Church's moral teachings and the doctrines that uphold those moral teachings to provide more structure to people. We should also educate them in this common human psychological pendulum swing so that, when they are tempted to seek more "freedom", they'll recognize the errors in their thinking. We should teach them that the Church's teaching allows them to feel freedom from aimlessness, purposelessness, and being a slave to their passions and that the scriptures and other commandments as taught by the Church are the way that they can find the fullest measure of peace and joy.
Conclusion
While confusions like this are common and forgivable, it should also remind us that we need to do more at reading scripture and the words of living prophets and apostles both contextually as well as holistically. Another article on the FAIR wiki instructs in how to do that.
Hopefully this article will allow all of us to more fully understand how we can become more of one heart and one mind.[7]
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Notes
- ↑ Jeffrey R. Holland, “Safety for the Soul,” Ensign 39, no. 11 (November 2009): 89–90.
- ↑ Romans 2:14–15. Other scriptures seem to imply that the law is not written on our hearts but can be written on our hearts (Hebrews 10:16). But these scriptures may mean more generally that God will remind those he communicates to of what is already there and soften their hearts to the truth that is already there.
- ↑ Moroni 7:16
- ↑ John 16:33
- ↑ Doctrine & Covenants 136:31
- ↑ Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:6; Helaman 15:3; Doctrine & Covenants 95:1
- ↑ Philippians 2:2; 1 Peter 3:15; Moses 7:18.