Spiritual Resource Management

by White Wolf (Phil Shapley)

Pain and suffering are required for everlasting happiness.  Realities relevant to happiness are identified.

 Background

We must know certain basic realities before we can understand why God allows war, pain, suffering, killing………….  These realities are critical to the Lord’s goal to bring us the greatest possible happiness.  In explaining them, we see how they relate to God tolerating pain, death, evil, suffering….  However, He does not want you to suffer accept when it is necessary for your growth or when interfering with it, would violate your or other people’s agency (freedom to choose).  Agency is a sacred principle on which the Creation was and is organized (see Basic Truths Behind Christ’s Teachings).  Violating agency can cause serious disruption in the Creation, and thus, the Creator can not interfere with bad behavior without serious consequences, except in extraordinary circumstances.  He, however, can warn you so you can choose to avoid bad situations.  Those who endure suffering well, are much rewarded in the after death life in the spirit world.

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LDS = Latter Day Saint, BM = Book of Mormon, D&C = Doctrine and Covenants, PGP = Pearl of Great Price

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Some over-riding realities

Reality 1:  Your spirit, intelligence or consciousness, existed before you came to Earth and will exist ever after, even after your death on Earth.  (LDS PGP Abraham 3: 22-26, Jeremiah 1: 5, 1 Peter 4: 6, LDS D&C 138, 1 Corinthians 15: 51-55, 29)

Reality 2:  God’s work and glory is to bring to each person the highest level of everlasting happiness he/she is willing to qualify for. (LDS PGP Moses 1: 39).

Reality 3:  Happiness can not be ‘forced’ on a person.  Happiness comes from what is in a person’s heart, basic nature.  If there is love, faith and adventure in your heart, then you can be happy.  Requiring a person to do ‘good’ things that he does not want to do, won’t change his heart and often produces resentment.

Reality 4:  God gives Man agency—you are free to make your own decisions.  That God has given you agency, is obvious:

-         in life you are free to decide your own course, whether it be good or evil;

-         compelling you to change would not make you happy which is the Creator’s goal;

-         the Scriptures state God gave you agency, freedom of choice (BM 2 Nephi 2: 27, 10: 23).

Reality 5:  God can seldom interfere with agency—the Creation came about by spirits, consciousnesses, awarenesses, intelligences voluntarily obeying requests from the Creator, and thus, the physical Creation came into existence (Basic Truths Behind Christ’s Teachings).  Their free agency is very important to these spirits—if it was interfered with by the Creator, many spirits would rebel, causing the Creation to collapse.  And once you interfere with agency, where do you stop? 

Reality 6:  The choices a person makes determines if and how much he develops charity, forgiveness, faith in God……,  these qualities determine your ultimate happiness, a happiness that lasts forever since you live forever.           You develop the capacity for happiness by doing good, by obeying the Commandments, by revering the Creator……  As you do this, your acquire love, forgiveness, tolerance, faith, security……  The more you do, the greater your growth in these qualities and the greater your happiness.

Reality 7:  The Lord is all wise, He knows what experiences you need and what ‘rules’ you must live to achieve great happiness—a happiness or the lack of, that lasts forever. (LDS D&C 88:41, BM 2 Nephi 2: 24, 9: 20, Alma 26: 35)

Specifics considerations relevant to Happiness

Reality 8:  Before you came to Earth in a physical body, you lived with God and had advanced your personal qualities as far as possible in that environment.  See references Realty 1.  .

Reality 9:  Experiences with your spirit, consciousness in a physical body on a physical Earth is necessary if you are to further advance in charity, faith, nobility………  Thus, God created Mother Earth. (LDS PGP Abraham 3: 24)  God would not have sent you to Earth unless your experiences here could contribute to realizing greater happiness—your greater happiness is His goal. 

Reality 10:  Some harsh, difficult experiences are necessary if you are to develop your higher, nobler qualities. (LDS D&C 29: 39, BM 2 Nephi 2 15), When there is suffering, hardship, pain, crime, death, abuse…………….:

1. you can observe first hand that God’s ways are wise;
2. you develop empathy for people with problems and begin to understand their problems;
3. you are strengthened when you endure hardship;
4. in struggles, you are often motivated to call on the Lord for help which enables Him to strengthen and help you, your faith grows, you learn the wisdom of God’s ways;
5. hardship can wake you from traveling a bad path and lead you to return to a better way, return to God so you can resume your growth toward happiness and qualify for His assistance;
6. if you endure tribulation well, you will be much compensated in the spirit world;
7. interfering with agency, can lead to the collapse of the Creation;
8. people who use their agency in a bad way, suffer harsh consequences in their Earth life but mostly in the post-Earth spirit world (unless fully repented of through Christ);
9. if a person continues in bad behavior, his doom can be sealed on him and the person that endured it, can be rewarded greatly.  In the end, there will be justice;
 10.  you can be given warnings through the Spirit so you can choose to avoid many hardships.

Reality 11:  The experiences you go through are determined or influenced by one of four means:

1. 1)      the environment that you live in—slums, rich, jungle, farm, city, university…..  The author’s understanding is that the Lord, after consulting with you in the pre-Earth life spirit world, suggested where it would be most profitable, in the long-run, for you to live on Earth;
2. 2)      the actions and decisions of others—kindness, meanness, abuse, the example of others… all affect you.  It is difficult for the Lord to interfere with the actions of others—that violates agency (see Reality 5), but you can be given warnings through the Spirit so you can choose to avoid bad situations;
3. 3)      your knowledge, decisions and actions;
4. 4)      intervention by the Lord to give you experience that can help you advance, get out of negative situations—It the past in the Book of Mormon and in the Old Testament, when people became stuck in evil, God often generated plaques, drought, war, hardship, etc. to wake people up (this is not interfering with agency, people will use their agency to decide how they react to a situation).  Often people woke up.  They returned to the ‘good way’ and progressed again toward greater happiness.  After 9/11, people found that family, friends and spirituality were more important than materialism, money, career…….

Reality 12: When you die, you return to the spirit world where you can be instructed further. (LDS D&C 138, 1 Peter 3: 19-20, Luke 23: 43)

Reality 13:  Finally, all the choices that you make, determine your ultimate personality, what is in your heart, your level of happiness, how much you have developed, grown—Loving, caring choices produces a loving, caring, faithful heart.

Reality 14:  Repenting of evil and what is in your heart determines the Judgment God passes on you which decides which of the Three Heavens you qualify for and where you would be happiest. (John 5: 22, Romans 2: 2, Revelations 20: 12, etc. and 1 Corinthians 15: 40-41, 2 Cor. 12: 2, LDS D&C 76)-- Sometime after your Earth life in the spirit world when you have decided through your choices and actions what you are willing to do to achieve happiness, God judges your final destination. Some people don’t want to make the changes that advance them in charity but seek to control and dominate others.  Others remain committed to immorality and/or other sin, all of which does not produce a good heart, and thus, real happiness.

            The Creator will send you to one of Three Heavens (1 Corinthians 15: 40-41, 2 Cor. 12: 2, D&C 76) or for a few very wicked, to Hell.  Highly developed people who have made and lived sacred Covenants with Jesus Christ, can reside with Him in the most beautiful Heaven, the Celestial Heaven.  Here you share all God that has— all knowledge, forever families (see your LDS missionaries), indescribable love and beauty, and even God’s creative powers!!

            Those assigned to the Terrestrial have been less valiant in their testimony of Christ, our Creator, but have done well enough and repented enough that their sins can be forgiven.  This is still a beautiful place.

            Those who do not accept Christ or say they do but don’t work to live His teachings, go to the Telestial Heaven.  They must pay the penalty attached to their sins (LDS D&C 76).

People can only go to the Heaven that they are qualified to inherit:

1. lower level people will be very aware of their shortcomings compared with more developed persons—they would be unhappy in a higher Heaven.
2. if a person goes where he is not qualified, the spirits in the Creation would rebel.

Summary of why Christ tolerates some suffering, death… and even at times, generates hardship

God’s work is to bring the greatest possible happiness, joy to Man.  Realizing this, requires the gradual education of Man—through learning and practicing God’s teachings, seeing and experiencing good and evil.  This all takes time and experience in a physical body on an Earth.

Your spirit, consciousness or awareness, continues on forever, and thus, you can realize an everlasting joy, or in contrast, misery.  Which one you realize and the level you obtain, depends on what you learn and the decisions you make, and whether you have sufficiently repented. Forever happiness is God’s goal.  He sees that you have the experiences needed to learn and develop those qualities in your heart that bring happiness, if you so choose.  This includes seeing and experiencing suffering.  This is needed in developing a ‘good’ heart:

1. you can observe first hand that God’s ways are wiser;
2. you develop empathy for people with problems and begin to understand their problems;
3. you are strengthened when you endure hardship;
4. in struggles, you are often motivated to call on God for help which enables Him to strengthen and help you, your faith grows, you learn the wisdom of God’s ways;
5. hardship can wake you from traveling a bad path and lead you to return to a better way, return to God so you can resume your growth toward happiness and qualify for His assistance;
6. if you endure tribulation well, you will be much compensated in the spirit world;
7. interfering with agency, can lead to the collapse of the Creation;
8. people who use their agency in a bad way, suffer harsh consequences  in their Earth life but mostly in the post-Earth spirit world (unless fully repented of through Christ;
9. if a person continues in bad behavior, his doom can be sealed on him and the person who endured it, can be rewarded greatly. In the end, there will be justice;

10)  you can be given warnings through the Spirit so you can choose to avoid many hardships.

What is relatively short-term suffering compared to everlasting happiness-- suffering that is necessary for developing personal qualities that bring this happiness.  If you endure tribulation well, you will be much compensated in the spirit world, especially for abuse from other parties.

Death is only a tragedy, and a temporary one, to friends and family which are living on Earth—you live on forever in the spirit world and your friends and family will eventually join you.*  A death can help you and/or friends and family learn and grow.  The circumstances of your death may teach you important things or create a desire to learn and grow in the spirit world.   Much more than half the people born on Earth will eventually qualify for the highest (Celestial) Heaven.

A fitting concluding comment is what is the suffering we endure compared to what Christ experienced to pay the painful penalties attached to your sins and the sins of all people that ever lived—so that all  could have their sins forgiven and qualify for the most beautiful Heaven, the Celestial Heaven.  The pain Christ endured is described as: “which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, to bleed at every pore and to suffer both body and spirit, and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink”---.  But He partook!  In describing the pain that we can avoid: “how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea how hard to bear you know not”. (LDS D&C 19: 16-18 and Luke 22: 39-45)  Everyone, either on Earth or in the Spirit world, will learn that Christ has already paid the penalty of his/her misdeeds, and can avoid paying himself, if he accepts Christ and repents.  Don’t throw this wonderful free gift away!  In the end, much more than half of those born on Earth, will qualify for the most beautiful Heaven and indescribable happiness.  Approximately half of those born die as innocent young childern.*

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* In LDS teachings, a child that dies before the age of accountability, 8 years, qualifies for the highest heaven, the Celestial Heaven (see your LDS missionaries).   Such a child is innocent, and thus sinless, and therefore, can go to Celestial Glory.