They’re Not Really Happy

 

1 Nephi 8:26–27. “Great and spacious building”

The great and spacious building stands in opposition to the tree of life, which represents the love of God and the blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Elder Glenn L. Pace, who served as a member of the Seventy, contrasted the standards of God with the behaviors of the people in the great and spacious building:

 

“To those of you who are inching your way closer and closer to that great and spacious building, let me make it completely clear that the people in that building have absolutely nothing to offer except instant, short-term gratification inescapably connected to long-term sorrow and suffering. The commandments you observe were not given by a dispassionate God to prevent you from having fun, but by a loving Father in Heaven who wants you to be happy while you are living on this earth as well as in the hereafter” (Glenn L. Pace, “They’re Not Really Happy,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 40).