How to Learn Happiness; and False Parenting

Quick Version:

The Word of God = Happiness. Anything else in life is superfluous to finding happiness.

Parenting is sacred, meaning God has His hand in it and we should be ultimately humble and seeking the Spirit in this sacred responsibility. 

Full Version:

1. In Alma 44:5, Moroni lists a bunch of reasons why Zerahemnah should stop waging war against them. In only two places does he use the word "sacred". One, in reference to the word of God, and two, in reference to the support we owe our wives and children. 

He calls that sacred. Of all the important things he listed, fatherhood and husband(ness?) are called sacred. 

What does that mean? I think it means that it is special to God and something beyond our own power. I think a sacred thing is something that man can't fully understand or solely accomplish. I think it means that we have to let go of our pride and stop thinking we have the power to parent our kids or be a good spouse on our own, and that it is a duty that God watches over. 

You hear constantly the people are afraid of having kids, and they worry about printing them correctly. I think the evidence shows that this scripture is correct, that you can't really do it without the Spirit, and even when you have the Sapirit, they will still go their own way and God was the only one who could be constantly guiding them throughout their life while you aren't looking.

So then what is your job? Help them build a relationship with Heavenly Father. Teach them everything you know, of course, but make sure first of all that they see an example of living the Gospel and love. 

That's Parenting with a capital P. 

2. In that scripture, the sacred word or God is also described as something "to which we owe all our happiness." Well, that quite a statement to make. Not some of our happiness, all of it. 

Can all of our happiness really be attributed to the word of God? The word of God is simply truth. All truth is scripture. So the more we learn that is true, the happier we will be. 

Do we need money and health and recognition and success? Strangely enough, we don't. We see examples of everyone of these things in the world not bringing happiness. People who have one or all of these to the extreme, yet they are very unhappy. Others have none of these, and they are very happy. There's nothing wrong with these things, and they teach us valuable lessons, but none of them make us happy. 

So if you want happiness, what you have to do is learn the truth, learn the word of God, and you can literally learn happiness. Don't waste your time neglecting the scriptures and prayer and church doing other things you think you need to do (God will take care of you don't worry), make sure you give ample time to learning the word of God. 

Ended on: Alma 44:6