Man's Search for Happiness
A. YOUR SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS
Sometimes in your search for happiness,
you ponder the meaning of your life. You sift your memory for beginnings,
you send your mind ahead for directions, but all you really know is
“now.” And you are lost in the present.
B. WHO AM I? --
YOU HAVE ALWAYS LIVED
Who am I? How
did I come to be? Time. Where does it take me? Towards death? And then
what? Where did I come from?
To understand why you
are here, you must first your beginnings. At birth, you did not suddenly
flare into existence, out of nowhere. You have always lived.
In pre-earth life, you were with your Heavenly Father. There as His
spirit sons and daughters, you lived until you were ready to come to earth.
As the poet Wordsworth said,
“Our birth is but a sleep,
and a forgetting. The soul that rises with us – our life's star – hath
had elsewhere its setting, and cometh from afar. Not in entire forgetfulness,
and not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory do we come,
from God, who is our home.”
C1. ENTERING MORTAL LIFE
-- THIS MORTAL BODY -- PAIN, DIFFICULTIES, DEATH, OPPOSITION
Upon entering
mortal life, the memory of your life before birth was blotted out,
that you might life by faith and further prepare for the everlastingness
of [life]. This mortal body in which your spirit now dwells, is
subject to pain, to difficulties, to death. For
it is in opposition that you grow in strength of character. You
must know pain to appreciate well-being; difficulties to develop courage;
death to understand eternal life.
D1. A WONDEROUS MORTAL BODY, IN
THE LIKENESS OF GOD -- A NOBLE HERITAGE WITH POSSIBILITIES BEYOND YOUR GREATEST
DREAMS
You then, whoever
you are, are related not only to every person upon
this earth who lives, who has lived, who will yet
live, but to God the Father of us all, and to His Son
our Savior. With your acceptance of the responsibility of earth life, you
were given a wonderous mortal body, in the likeness of God.
So, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him,
male and female created he them.” And, “the spirit and the body are the
soul of man.”
As sons and daughters
of God, is it any wonder that you are an eternal part of His plan and
purpose; and coming from such a noble heritage, that you
have possibilities far beyond your greatest dreams. Be assured
that your personal search for happiness has real purpose.
Be assured that your life is worth living.
C2. TWO PRECIOUS GIFTS: TIME, FREEDOM
OF CHOICE -- YOUR ETERNAL REWARD IS ACCORDING TO YOUR CHOSING
Life offers you
two precious gifts; one is time, the other
freedom of choice. The freedom to buy with your time what you
will. You are free to exchange your allotment of time for thrills.
You may trade it for base desires. You may invest it in greed.
You may purchase with it vanity. You may spend your time in pursuit
of material things. Yours is the freedom to choose. But these are
no bargains. For in them you find no lasting satisfaction.
Every day, every
hour, every minute of your span of mortal years must sometime be
accounted for; and it is “in this life” that you “walk by faith”
and prove yourself able to choose good over evil, right over wrong,
enduring happiness over mere amusement; and your eternal award
will be according to your choosing.
D2. A PROPHET OF GOD HAS SAID --
JOY -- FULLNESS OF LIFE -- A LIFE DEDICATED TO SERVICE -- TRUE HAPPINESS
A prophet of
God has said, “Men are that they might have joy”—a joy
that includes a fullness of life; a life dedicated to service;
to love and harmony in the home; and the fruits of honest
toil; an acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of its requirements
and commandments. Only in these will you find true happiness; a happiness
which doesn't fade with the lights and the music and the crowds. ("Of
course. Our Father in Heaven, we thank thee for this food; we ask thee to
bless it...")
E. PRE-MORTAL PAST --
HOPE OF RESURRECTION
God has placed
you on earth without memory of your pre-mortal past. But
He hasn't left you without hope, or without faith in life after
death.
F. THE RESURRECTION
This He has
promised you, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” ("...that believeth in
me, shall never die...")
One of the
best attested facts of sacred history is the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Three days following his crucifixion, the disciples
were gathered together, as recorded in scripture. “Then the same say at evening,
being the first day of the week, when he doors were shut where the disciples
were assembled, came Jesus and stood in the midst; and saith unto them, 'Peace
be unto you.' And when he had so said he showed unto them his hands and his
side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.”
E. YOU CONTINUE
TO LIVE AFTER DEATH
Just as you
lived before mortal birth, just as you now live
in this life, so thru the love and sacrifice of your Savior do
you continue to live after death.
C1. BIRTH/DEATH -- THE
SEPARATION OF DEATH
Like every member
of the human race, you were born and you must die. Your
birth is a matter of record, you take it for granted. But death,
that uncertain door that leads ahead, has been for man an awesome
mystery. Life's greatest test comes with the death of a loved one. And without
faith in the immortality of the soul, the separation of death
looms forever comfortless.
D1.
A PLACE OF REAWAKENING -- LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES
After death, though your
mortal body lies in the earth, you, your spirit self—being
eternal—continue to live. Your memory of this life will remain with you,
and the knowledge of your life before birth will be restored.
Like coming
out of a darkened room into light–through death you will emerge in
a place of reawakening–and find loved ones waiting to
welcome you.
There with
your loved ones, you will await the resurrection—which is the reuniting
of your spirit and your body. There you will continue towards the limitless
opportunities of everlasting life.
C2. HERE YOU ARE ON EARTH
So here you are
on earth, with no memory of what went before, and only faith
to whisper what comes after. ("Are you ready? Yeah. Let's go.")
D2. BY A STILL SMALL VOICE WITHIN
YOU, AND THROUGH REVELATION TO APPOINTED PROPHETS, GOD GUIDES
Be assured that
you are here, not by accident or chance; but as part of a glorious
everlasting plan.
By a “still small voice”
within you, and through revelation to his appointed prophets, God
our Eternal Father guides the affairs of His children, today as in
the past. In 1830 God reestablished His Church, and restored the fullness
of His Gospel once more among men, through a modern prophet, Joseph
Smith.
B. SALVATION AND EXALTATION
-- EXPLORE, TEST, PRAY, SEARCH, SERIOUSLY CONSIDER
By revelation,
our Savior made known again, the Plan of Salvation and Exaltation.
Salvation comes as a gift to every man through Jesus the Christ.
But Exaltation, which is the highest of eternal opportunities,
you must earn. It is not enough just to believe in Jesus
Christ, you must work and learn, search and pray, repent and improve,
know his laws and live them.
This is the way to peace and happiness, and
the fullness of everlasting life. It is your Heavenly Father's way.
We invite you to explore it, to test it, to pray and
search and seriously consider. “Prove all things,
hold fast that which is good.” Only if you are unafraid of truth can
you find it; but it leads to limitless opportunities—with your
loved ones with you—always and forever.
A. EVERY
MAN'S SEARCH -- THE KEY TO HAPPINESS -- A DEEPER HAPPINESS, BEYOND THE UNDERSTANDING
OF MAN; OF ETERNITY
Therein lies your happiness;
a happiness deeper than passing pleasure; a happiness beyond
the understanding of man; a happiness, not of the moment, but,
of eternity.
This is every man's search; this is the purpose of life;
this is the key to happiness—for the God and Father of us
all has said, “This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality
and eternal life of man.”
OUTLINE
A. Your Search for Happiness
B. Who Am I? -- You Have Always
Lived
C1. Entering Mortal Life -- This
Mortal Body -- Pain, Difficulties, Death, Opposition
D1. A Wonderous Motal Body, In the Likeness of God
-- A Noble Heritage with Possibilities Beyond Your Greatest Dreams.
C2. Two Precious Gifts: Time, Freedom of Choise -- Your Eternal
Reward is According to Your Chosing
D2. A Prophet of God Has Said... -- Joy -- Fullness
of Life -- A Life Dedicated to Service -- True Happiness
E. Pre-Mortal Past -- Hope of Resurrection
F. The Resurection
E. Your Continue to Live After
Death
C1. Birth/Death -- The Separation
of Death
D1. A Place of
Reawakening -- Limitless Opportunities
C2. Here You Are on Earth
D2. By a Still Small Voice Within You, and Through
Prophets, God Guides
B. Salvation and Exaltation -- Explore, Test, Pray, Search, Seriosly
Consider
A. Every Man's Search -- The
Key to Happiness -- A Deeper Happiness, Beyond the Understanding of Man;
Of Eternity
~
Suggested outline by Scott L. Vanatter.
See also comparison
to The Family:
A Proclamation to the World.
Return to https://www.angelfire.com/va/vanatter/index.html
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