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CORY - Someone asked me how we can believe in 'eternal happiness'?
to know that happiness exists, you also have to experience sadness. so how can we feel the full effects of happiness if we're in a state of perpetual bliss? it's hard to know if you're having a good day if you never had a bad day as some would like to say.
i've wondered about this question myself. are the earthly experiences suppose to be enough to sustain us for eternity? ... in my estimation, if we attain the status of godhood, we'd have sorrow due to the actions of our spiritual children. but that would require a very lengthy and detailed conversation that i'd rather not get into. any insight would be greatly appreciated on how to handle this in a more simplified way.
JOEL - Normally when we speak of eternal happiness we mean the happiness we will obtain at the end of our journy to eternal life with God in heaven as explained in the book of Alma:
"And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal world, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one." (Alma 3:26, See also Mosiah 2: 41, Alma 28: 12)
But there is still a way to expereince eternal happiness while in this life. There is a difference between eternal happiness and always being happy. Like you suggest there must be opposition in all things (2 Nephi 2:11-12). We can't appreciate the good without experiencing the bad. But even though we do have to experience the bad; at least as members of God's kingdom, we know that there is a purpose for it and that in the long run it will be for our good (D&C 122:7).
Understanding this and having faith in God's love for us, brings peace to our souls, even in times of hardship and pain.
This peace is a sign of the eternal happiness that can exist and support us beneath the rollercoaster of both good and bad emotions we might experience in life. How well this manifests in our lives depends a lot on our relationship with God and our faith. Those who understand this have this promise from God:
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14: 27)
The happiness that most humans expereince on this earth is emotional, temporal, and temporary. Eternal happiness is spiritual more powerful and everlasting.
And yes the experiences we have in this life are supposed to be enough to sustain us in the eternity. That's what we are here for.
"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed." (Alma 34: 32-34)
While God sorrows at our mistakes and sins we commit, He maintains His eternal happiness because of the knowledge He has of how the plan works and when He sees it work in the lives of His children.
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