“Doctrine usually answers the question ‘why?’ Principles usually answer the question ‘what?’ Whenever we emphasize how to do something without reference to why we do it or what we do, we risk looking beyond the mark. At the very least, we fall into the trap Paul described to the Corinthians: ‘For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life’ (2 Cor. 3:6).”
Quentin L. Cook, “Looking Beyond the Mark,” Ensign, March 2003, 44.
The gospel is like a target. At the center are the core truths we need to be saved. Then, moving outward, there’s a ring that contains useful but nonessential truths, and finally at the outer edge are speculative truths that have no bearing on our present needs. As spiritual marksmen, we should aim for the center of the gospel target as much as possible.
We’ve been taught the dangers of “looking beyond the mark” (Jacob 4:14). Elder Dean L. Larsen said that “in today’s complicated world with its diversity of demands and sometimes distracting voices, it is so important for us to keep our eyes upon the basic things that matter most and that will have the greatest eternal consequence for us.”[1]
Sometimes, in our zeal to learn all we can about the gospel and Church history, we can get caught up in the details behind important events, which can distract us from the far more important elements of our core doctrine that are essential to our salvation. But if we put the gospel in proper perspective by turning our focus to the principles that have eternal importance, we can find peace knowing that God has given us everything we need to return to Him. And in time, we will be able to gain all the knowledge we currently lack.
If we approach gospel topics with the wrong perspective, our understanding of doctrine can be derailed into speculation. Here are a few examples of how we can avoid looking beyond the mark of some of our key doctrines regarding the plan of salvation. By focusing on the essentials, our lives will be better centered on Christ and what He wants us to know and do.
The Creation
The creation of the earth is what Elder Bruce R. McConkie called the first of “the three pillars of eternity”—one of the “foundations upon which all things rest.”[2] Our understanding of this pivotal event is crucial to understanding the rest of the plan of salvation. But as interesting as it is to consider exactly how long God took to create the earth, or how accurate the Big Bang Theory is, or where precisely the earth is positioned in relation to Kolob, none of these details are either fully known or salvific.
The most important question to ask about the Creation isn’t how or when or where, but why. We do need to know that God created the earth for us—“to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). We need to know that the earth is a monumental evidence of God’s power and love for us and of His investment in our happiness, and that He has placed us as stewards over the earth as we make our mortal sojourn toward eternal life. With this understanding, the Creation becomes not a mysterious event surrounded by unanswerable questions, but a solid starting point for comprehending our relationship with Heavenly Father.
The Fall
The Fall of Adam and Eve, the second pillar of eternity, is “as essential a part of the plan of salvation as the very atonement itself.” Like the Creation, without it “none of us would be on the way to immortality and eternal life.”[3] But it, too, is an event surrounded by speculation. The exact mechanisms behind how Adam and Eve were formed, how long their existence in the Garden of Eden lasted, and even some of the details about why God orchestrated the events of the Fall the way He did are beyond our current understanding.
Fortunately, these specifics about the Fall aren’t necessary for our salvation. But we do need to know that Adam and Eve were our first mortal parents; that they transgressed and became mortal; that by so doing, they enabled the rest of mankind to receive bodies and choose between good and evil for themselves; and that the Fall was a necessary prelude to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Knowing these things, the Fall doesn’t seem like a strange, mythical mistake riddled with impossible choices. Instead, it was a deliberate part of God’s plan that Adam and Eve willingly took part in so that we could all fulfill the purposes of our second estate: to receive bodies and to be tested.
The Atonement
Elder McConkie describes the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the third pillar of eternity, as “the heart and core and center of revealed religion,” and he affirms that “salvation is in Christ and comes because of his atoning sacrifice.”[4] The importance of understanding Christ’s Atonement can hardly be overstated, and yet even here, we can allow questions of how distract us from the more important whats and whys. Jesus’s suffering is itself beyond our comprehension in scale. We don’t know how He was able to experience the pain of not only our sins, but every hardship and affliction any of us would ever face—without actually going through those experiences Himself. We don’t know how exactly He was raised from the dead (other than that it was by God’s power), or how He was able to physically bleed from every pore and survive the ordeal.
None of those mechanics really matter, though, when compared to the glorious truths of the Atonement: Jesus Christ, being sinless, took upon Himself the punishments for our sins so that we could repent and be saved. He died and rose again so that all of us would be resurrected with immortal bodies. And He did these incredible things for us—because He loves us and wants to help us return to live with Heavenly Father. His gift was at the same time free (salvation from physical death) and conditional (salvation from spiritual death). What matters isn’t how to quantify or scientifically explain the Atonement; it’s the simple fact that Christ did it so “that he might blot out [our] transgressions according to the power of his deliverance” (Alma 7:13), and that He paved the path for all of us to follow to our heavenly home.
Death, Judgment, and Resurrection
Just as the Creation plays an important part in the plan of salvation’s beginning, so do the events that bring God’s plan to fruition. As concerned as we should be about what happens to us after this life, it’s important to keep in mind that, as Alma wrote of these events, “there are many mysteries which are kept, that no one knoweth them save God himself” (Alma 40:3). Thus, it doesn’t serve us well to worry about exactly when or how the Second Coming will happen. We don’t draw closer to Christ by obsessing over extraneous details of the Millennium. And though we’re justified in wondering about how complex family situations will work out in the eternities, we cannot reason our way into learning spiritual mysteries.
It will be much more beneficial for us to cling to the essential truths we already have: Christ will return again to redeem the righteous and reign on the earth. As we do our best to prepare for His coming, “all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”[5] Everyone will be given an equal opportunity to accept Christ’s gospel, and finally we’ll be given a fair and merciful judgment designed to bring each of us the greatest possible happiness. And the complexities of family situations will all be worked out for the best. No blessing will be denied the faithful regardless of their circumstances.
The Book of Mormon
Elder Tad R. Callister described the Book of Mormon as “God’s compelling witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, and the absolute truth of this Church.”[7] As much as we understand about the book’s origins and doctrinal importance, there are still many gaps to be filled in our understanding. There continues to be debate and disquietude over the methods Joseph Smith employed to translate it, over the geographic locations in which the book’s events took place, over so-called historical anachronisms and lack of physical evidence, and over many other aspects of the Book of Mormon.
But the core truths of the Book of Mormon make these debated points insignificant. We don’t need to know the hows of the book’s translation, except that it was translated by Joseph Smith through direct revelation from God. We don’t need to know where to find secular evidence of the Book of Mormon, because when we follow Moroni’s challenge to read it and ask God, “he will manifest the truth of it unto [us] by the power of the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 10:4). Above all, we need to understand that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our testimonies of Christ and the Restoration, and that it is also a source of divine guidance that will help us “get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book” (Book of Mormon Introduction).
Stay on Target
Whatever gospel subject we’re studying will best enrich our souls if we focus on the basics. As Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “The search for the best things inevitably leads to the foundational principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ—the simple and beautiful truths revealed to us by a caring, eternal, and all-knowing Father in Heaven. These core doctrines and principles, though simple enough for a child to understand, provide the answers to the most complex questions of life.”[6] It is by no means wrong to seek greater knowledge and deeper understanding of all gospel subjects; but in doing so, we must keep in mind the essential parts of God’s plan that will give us what we need to return to His presence.
[1] Dean L. Larsen, “Looking Beyond the Mark,” Ensign, November 1987.
[2] See Bruce R. McConkie, “The Three Pillars of Eternity,” Brigham Young University—Idaho devotional address, February 17, 1981.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] “Lesson 2: The Plan of Salvation,” Preach My Gospel, 52.
[6] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Of Things that Matter Most,” Ensign or Liahona, November 2010, 20.
[7] Tad R. Callister, “God’s Compelling Witness: The Book of Mormon,” Ensign, November 2017, 109.
The Commonplace Notebook 
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