The plan of happiness requires the righteous union of male and female, man and woman, husband and wife. ( See D&C 130:2; D&C 131:2; 1 Cor. 11:11; Eph. 5:31.) Doctrines teach us how to respond to the compelling natural impulses which too often dominate how we behave.

A body patterned after the image of God was created for Adam, (See Moses 6:8–9) and he was introduced into the Garden (See Moses 3:8). At first, Adam was alone. He held the priesthood, (See Moses 6:67) but alone, he could not fulfill the purposes of his creation (See Moses 3:18).

No other man would do. Neither alone nor with other men could Adam progress. Nor could Eve with another woman. It was so then. It is so today.

Eve, an help meet, was created. Marriage was instituted, (See Moses 3:23–24) for Adam was commanded to cleave unto his wife [not just to a woman] and “to none else.” (D&C 42:22; emphasis added.)

One year as we were preparing instructions for the newly called General Authorities, different members of the Twelve were assigned to prepare a statement on each of the important essential doctrines. One statement was given on the great plan of happiness. Years have passed and I cannot remember who had this assignment, but I have kept his statement in my binder. It explains what we're all seeking. It reads:

“Our Heavenly Father has made available to all His children the same plan, system, and grand design by which He himself became God. It is called the great plan of happiness, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ. It consists of infinite, eternal, absolute, unchanging principles. The plan is complete in every particular, capable of reaching without compulsion to every phase of man's existence from premortal life through mortality and to the resurrection of the body and into eternity. There is no condition of intelligence existing to which the plan cannot be applied if individuals willingly obey. There is no extraneous proviso, nothing to be added or taken away. Although individuals can be blessed through the gospel, the fullness is realized only in the family. The plan is the Father's. Jesus made it His by total obedience to the Father's will. The Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement are essential to the implementation and fulfillment of the plan.”

Just as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, so he does not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ. No one adequately and properly knows why he needs Christ until he understands and accepts the doctrine of the fall, and its effect upon all mankind. And no other book in the world explains this vital doctrine nearly as well as the Book of Mormon.

“The Fall + the Atonement are a package deal: the one brings the other into existence. I am not aware of any discussion of the Atonement in the Book of Mormon that Is not accompanied; either directly or by implication, by a discussion of the Fall. We do not appreciate the medicine until we appreciate the seriousness of the malady.”