The plan of happiness is dependent upon the Atonement, the centerpiece of the gospel and the empowering element of the plan of salvation. Our very lives are dependent upon the infinite and eternal sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. President Gordon B. Hinckley testifies:
I sense in a measure the meaning of His atonement. I cannot comprehend it all. It is so vast in its reach and yet so intimate in its effect that it defies comprehension. When all is said and done, when all of history is examined, when the deepest depths of the human mind have been explored, there is nothing so wonderful, so majestic, so tremendous as this act of grace when the Son of the Almighty, the prince of His Father’s royal household, … gave His life in ignominy and pain so that all of the sons and daughters of God, of all generations of time, every one of whom must die, might walk again and live eternally.” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997], 28)