I echo President Monson’s compliments to Brother Peterson, Brother Komatsu, and Brother de Jager. They have earned our greatest commendation. And I, too, join with others who feel a debt of gratitude to this wonderful chorus of youth from Brigham Young University. They’re wonderful.

Our youth are wonderful and especially able to ask thoughtful questions. Recently I had a conversation with “Ruth” and “John.” Ruth opened the discussion. With a sigh, she lamented, “Our world is constantly changing, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I replied, “ever since its creation﻿—geologically and geographically. And its populations are changing﻿—politically and spiritually. You might ask your grandparents about life when they were your age and discover their thoughts.”

“Oh, I already have,” Ruth continued. “My grandpa summarized his opinion with a clever quip: ‘Give me the good old days﻿—plus penicillin.’”

Then John expressed deep concern. “Continually changing conditions make the future shaky for us,” he said. “It’s kind of scary. We seem to be standing on shifting sand.”

Together they asked, “What can we trust? Is anything constant that will not change as we grow older?”

To that question I responded with an emphatic, “Yes! Many things!” Because Ruth and John are typical of many today who seek for unchanging constants in a changing world, I would like to address that subject, titling my remarks “Constancy amid Change.” Through the years, prophets and Apostles have spoken of many unchanging constants.1 To facilitate this discussion, I will group some of these constants into three categories: heavenly personages, plans, and principles.

I. Personages Our Heavenly Father has a glorified body of flesh and bone, inseparably connected with His spirit.2 Scriptures state that He is “infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God” (D&C 20:17).3 His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and the chief cornerstone of our religion.4 “He is the life and the light of the world” (Alma 38:9).5 “There shall be no other name … nor any other way … whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17).6 Another personage is the Holy Ghost, whose enduring influence transcends time. Scripture assures that “the Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever” (D&C 121:46; emphasis added). Brothers and sisters, these Heavenly Beings love you. Their love is as constant as is the greatest love of earthly parents. But there is another personage about whom you should be reminded. Satan also exists and seeks “that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Ne. 2:27).7

II. Plans I speak now of category two﻿—unchanging plans. A great council in heaven was once convened, in which it seems that all of us participated.8 There our Heavenly Father announced His plan. Scriptures refer to this plan of God9 by many names. Perhaps out of deference to the sacred name of Deity, or to depict its broad scope, it is also called the plan of happiness,10 the plan of salvation,11 the plan of redemption,12 the plan of restoration,13 the plan of mercy,14 the plan of deliverance,15 and the everlasting gospel.16 Prophets have used these terms interchangeably. Regardless of designation, the enabling essence of the plan is the atonement of Jesus Christ. As it is central to the plan,17 we should try to comprehend the meaning of the Atonement. Before we can comprehend it, though, we must understand the fall of Adam. And before we can fully appreciate the Fall, we must first comprehend the Creation. These three events﻿—the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement﻿—are three preeminent pillars of God’s plan, and they are doctrinally interrelated. The Creation The creation of the earth was a preparatory part of our Father’s plan. Then “the Gods went down to organize man in their own image, … male and female to form they them. “And the Gods said: We will bless them” (Abr. 4:27–28). And bless us they did, with a plan that would give us physical bodies of our very own. Adam and Eve were the first people to live upon the earth.18 They were different from the plant and animal life that had been created previously. Adam and Eve were children of God. Their bodies of flesh and bone were made in the express image of God’s. In that state of innocence, they were not yet mortal. They could have had no children,19 were not subject to death, and could have lived in Eden’s garden forever.20 Thus, we might speak of the Creation in terms of a paradisiacal creation. If that state had persisted, you and I would still be stranded among the heavenly host as unborn sons and daughters of God.21 “The great plan of [happiness] would have been frustrated” (Alma 42:5).22 The Fall That leads us to the fall of Adam. To bring the plan of happiness to fruition, God issued to Adam and Eve the first commandment ever given to mankind. It was a commandment to beget children.23 A law was explained to them. Should they eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:17), their bodies would change; mortality and eventual death would come upon them.24 But partaking of that fruit was prerequisite to their parenthood.25 While I do not fully understand all the biochemistry involved, I do know that their physical bodies did change; blood began to circulate in their bodies. Adam and Eve thereby became mortal. Happily for us, they could also beget children and fulfill the purposes for which the world was created. Happily for them, “the Lord said unto Adam [and Eve26]: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden” (Moses 6:53). We and all mankind are forever blessed because of Eve’s great courage and wisdom. By partaking of the fruit first, she did what needed to be done. Adam was wise enough to do likewise. Accordingly, we could speak of the fall of Adam in terms of a mortal creation, because “Adam fell that men might be” (2 Ne. 2:25).27 Other blessings came to us through the Fall. It activated two closely coupled additional gifts from God, nearly as precious as life itself﻿—agency and accountability. We became “free to choose liberty and eternal life … or to choose captivity and death” (2 Ne. 2:27). Freedom of choice cannot be exercised without accountability for choices made.28 The Atonement Now we come to the third pillar of God’s plan﻿—the Atonement. Just as Adam and Eve were not to live forever in the Garden of Eden, so our final destination was not to be planet earth. We were to return to our heavenly home. Given that reality, still another change was necessary. An infinite atonement was required to redeem Adam, Eve, and all of their posterity. That atonement must enable our physical bodies to be resurrected and changed29 to a bloodless form, no longer liable to disease, deterioration, or death. According to eternal law, that atonement required a personal sacrifice by an immortal being not subject to death. Yet He must die and take up His own body again. The Savior was the only one who could accomplish this. From His mother He inherited power to die. From His Father He obtained power over death. The Redeemer so explained: “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:17–18). The Lord declared that “this is my work and my glory﻿—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). He who had created the earth came into mortality to fulfill the will of His Father30 and all prophecies of His atonement.31 And His atonement redeems every soul from penalties of personal transgression, on the condition of repentance.32 Thus, we might speak of the Atonement in terms of the immortal creation. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). I have recounted the importance of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement, knowing that parents are accountable to teach these precepts of God’s plan to their children.33 Before leaving our discussion of unchanging plans, however, we need to remember that the adversary sponsors a cunning plan of his own.34 It invariably attacks God’s first commandment for husband and wife to beget children. It tempts with tactics that include infidelity, unchastity, and other abuses of procreative power. Satan’s band would trumpet choice, but mute accountability. Nevertheless, his capacity has long been limited, “for he knew not the mind of God” (Moses 4:6). I speak now of category three﻿—unchanging principles.