“The Lord Would Not Always Suffer Them to Take Happiness in Sin”

Ed J. Pinegar, Richard J. Allen

This principle is one of the enduring themes of the Book of Mormon, a kind of governing leitmotif of truth and wisdom. Alma reminded his wayward son Corianton of this very thing, saying “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). From his position atop the walls of Zarahemla, Samuel the Lamanite warned the people: “ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head” (Helaman 13:38). Mormon, familiar with these words, discerns the condition of his people to be a direct result of their ignoring the same plain truth: that happiness cannot derive from sin. Therefore, the people are in the last stages of extinction—a fateful consequence of their own willful actions contrary to the doctrine of Christ.

Commentaries and Insights on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 2

References