| Plan of happiness key to conversion, activation LDS Church News, April 8, 2000 All commandments have eternal importance in the context of the plan of happiness, Elder Jay E. Jensen of the Seventy said Saturday afternoon. "I know that this truth is a key to conversion, retention and activation," he added. "If we can help people first understand the plan, they will find a deeper and more permanent motivation to keep the commandments. When we understand the great plan of happiness, we are gaining an eternal perspective, and the commandments, ordinances, covenants and the experiences, trials and tribulations can be seen in their true and eternal light." Elder Jensen continued, "Remember, however, that Satan will dim the brightness of hope and eternal perspective by the dark, compelling urgency of now." He then related scriptural incidents of those who lost their eternal perspective, such as Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon, who "turned out of the way and complained of their sufferings because they did not have their possessions, with which they said, 'they might have been happy.' (1 Nephi 17:21.) "Those without an eternal perspective, or those who lose sight of it, make their own standards to benefit themselves and their own selfish interests. Their mortal perspective becomes their standard and for some their god." Elder Jensen expressed gratitude for his parents and the "home-centered gospel learning where I first obtained an eternal perspective. That perspective was reinforced through my youth by leaders and teachers as I attended Church and seminary. "The most significant decision I made in my life to gain an eternal perspective and a firm understanding of the great plan of happiness was a full-time mission. By daily study of the Book of Mormon and as I taught the missionary discussions, I experienced the truth the Apostle Paul taught, 'thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself.' I learned the plan of happiness by teaching it again and again." Continuing, Elder Jensen expressed his appreciation for the role the hymns of the Restoration played in his early conversion. "Many hymns reveal the doctrines of the great plan of redemption. Some hymns came as a result of great sacrifice, the ultimate being death, and they communicate a spirit of holiness and consecration to lead us to conversion to the Father and His plan." Then, speaking of the new Teacher Improvement emphasis in the Church, he urged parents, teachers and missionaries to understand the plan of happiness themselves and to "sing the hymns that carry the same spirit. Sing them, hopefully not in a perfunctory way, rather with purpose to begin and end meetings and as part of lessons or to introduce or summarize ideas in the lessons." He concluded by testifying that "the great plan of the Eternal God is true." |