Choose Eternal Life

Lehi reasoned with his son Jacob with these words, “And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.” From this we learn that happiness is directly linked to righteousness, and righteousness must come from our agency since it must be a choice to reject the sin (which, according to Lehi, must exist if there is happiness). So, from this, I think we can conclude that real happiness comes from the righteous use of our agency. Lehi further elaborated on the original state of Adam and Eve with these words, “They would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.” Thus we could have no joy if we did no good; if we did not know sin and have the opportunity to choose it, we could not exercise our agency and experience the joy of choosing right. Lehi then declared this famous statement: “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” Less well-known is the next verse which again connects this with our agency: “They have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon.” Because Christ has redeemed us from the fall, we have the opportunity to act for ourselves and to choose happiness if we want. I love how Lehi summarized this: “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil” (2 Nephi 2:13, 23, 25-27). The power is in us to choose the follow Jesus Christ and gain eternal life through Him, and that is how we obtain joy.

                After Adam and Eve gained experience in mortality and began to understand what they had done in partaking of the fruit, they reflected on it and focused on the joy they had found. We read, “And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.” He realized that his transgression had led to agency which had given him the opportunity to have joy in mortality. The account continues, “And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:10-11). Again, she highlighted how their partaking of the fruit led them to have agency to choose between good and evil. That in turn gave them the opportunity to find “joy” in their redemption through Jesus Christ and ultimately gain eternal life through obedience (i.e. the righteous exercise of their agency). Perhaps then what these scriptures highlight is that when we are struggling to find joy, rather than focus on what we have or do not have or what has or has not happened to us, we might ask ourselves how we can better use our agency. What choices can we make to better follow the “great Mediator of all men” and choose good? And perhaps as we try to help others to be happy, instead of seeking to force this or that action upon them we might also consider how we can encourage them to use their agency to follow Jesus. Lehi invites us all in these powerful words, “I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life” (2 Nephi 2:28).