Therefore God gave unto them commandments...

after having made known unto them the plan of redemption (Alma 32:12). I've always found this passage interesting because it is so different from how we generally teach the gospel and the commandments to our children. If God allowed us to know the plan of redemption before giving us commandments, hasn't He then established a pattern for us to follow with our own children? If a child is old enough to understand that he should do or not do certain things, then is he not also old enough to be given a reason? When a person understands the why, it is so much easier for him to accept the thing being taught. Yet, often, we teach the rules and the commandments long before we teach the why, which is the joy that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we teach our children by constantly keeping the things we are teaching in the context of the plan of salvation, then the commandments we teach them to live will not seem arbitrary, but as Joseph Smith taught, "God has designed our happiness. He never will institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith). If we truly believe this statement, we will teach our children to find the ways that each commandment can bring them happiness. This will allow them to gain their own testimony of the commandments. It is not enough to just have a testimony of the Church, that is too vague and broad. We each need to discover for ourselves a firm belief or knowledge in each of the things we espouse to believe starting with the existence and love of God the Father, continuing to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its impact on our lives personally all the way through an understanding of each and every commandment. I believe that the full measure of happiness offered in conjunction with each commandment cannot be attained without an understanding and assurance of the divinity of that commandment. God has designed our happiness, and yet we often find ourselves unhappy. Interestingly, that unhappiness is rarely a reaction to the external hardships we face, but rather the internal conflicts that come from not understanding our place in God's plan or the place for God's plan in our lives.