They Become Miserable Forever

As Alma taught his son wayward Corianton about sin, justice and mercy, he made this statement: “And now remember, my son, if it were not for the plan of redemption, (laying it aside) as soon as they were dead their souls were miserable, being cut off from the presence of the Lord” (Alma 42:11). This suggests that to be miserable is to be cut off from the presence of the Lord. This is similar to what Lehi taught his son Jacob. He said, “And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. And the law is given unto men. And by the law no flesh is justified; or, by the law men are cut off. Yea, by the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever.” Again, here we have the idea that when we are “cut off” (from the presence of the Lord) we become miserable. Lehi also explained about Lucifer, “And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind…. He seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2:5, 18, 27). Because Satan was cut off from God’s presence permanently, he was miserable. And so, he sought the misery of all mankind, which he thought he could obtain by likewise separating Adam and Eve from the presence of God.

The Book of Mormon speaks of a related cause of being miserable. Alma explained why after Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit it was important for them not to partake of the fruit of the tree of life: “And now behold, if it were possible that our first parents could have gone forth and partaken of the tree of life they would have been forever miserable, having no preparatory state; and thus the plan of redemption would have been frustrated, and the word of God would have been void, taking none effect” (Alma 12:26). So they would have been miserable to return to God’s presence by partaking of the fruit without being prepared for it. Moroni taught something similar when he questioned those of our day with these words: “Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws? Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell” (Mormon 9:3-4). To return to the presence of God knowing that we are spiritually filthy and unprepared would make us more miserable than to be damned. This reminds me of what Brad Wilcox related in a BYU devotional once about a young man who as a teenager had “every bad habit a teenage boy [could] have.” Brother Wilcox told how he worked with the young man’s father to get him to EFY, the spiritual program for youth. But simply putting him in a spiritual environment did not help him: “We finally got the kid to EFY, but how long do you think he lasted? Not even a day. By the end of the first day he called his mother and said, ‘Get me out of here!’ Heaven will not be heaven for those who have not chosen to be heavenly.” We will be unhappy if we return to the presence of God unprepared, knowing we have not repented and followed the Savior as we should have.

These two sets of passages teach, then, that we would be both miserable to be kept away from the presence of God and to return to His presence unprepared. That leaves only one option to not be miserable: return to His presence prepared for that day. And this surely does not only apply to what will happen in the next life; in this life we have been given the opportunity to have the presence of God with us through the gift of the Holy Ghost. But for that gift to remain with us we too must become and remain prepared through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lehi made this promise repeated throughout the Book of Mormon: “For the Lord God hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence” (2 Nephi 4:4). If we do not keep the commandments of the Lord we are cut off from his presence, which is where misery comes from. And to prosper is to not be cut off from God’s presence because through the gift of the Holy Ghost the presence of the Lord is with us. We can seek happiness through the “unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost” which can be our “constant companion” and help us so that our “confidence [will] wax strong in the presence of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:26, 45-46).