Category Archives: The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Lesson 7: What Happens after Death?

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It takes a nonmember 12-year-old to put a lesson about life after death in perspective for a teacher: by having a nonmember in my class, I learned how to be a better teacher.

I’ve been concerned about keeping the attention of my easily distracted class, as I mentioned last week. This week, I followed some suggestions from my mother, who happens to be a teacher, as I taught my lesson — word strips for each scripture, scripture summaries for each student, and so forth. In some respects, none of those teaching methods made any difference. What made the difference was my attention to the subject matter and trying to bear testimony to each class member.

When I walked in to class on Sunday, there was a visitor.

For our lesson, I was going to show them the analogy of the glove: after we die, our bodies go in the earth but our spirits live.

Because there was a nonmember in the room, I went back to the beginning with the analogy. Before we were born, we were only spirits (ungloved hand). Then we were born and received a body (glove goes on the hand). When we die, the body goes into the earth (glove on floor) and our spirits return to God (ungloved hand). Then we are resurrected, and our spirits and body are reunited (glove goes back on the hand). As I asked the class to demonstrate with the glove, we had a great review of the basics of these concepts. It helped me realize how important it is to understand and review the previous lessons before going on to the next lesson.

Then we read scriptures to learn about the Spirit world (our bodies are in the earth; our spirit lives with God). Each person in the class had a summary for a scripture, and after reading each scripture, I’d ask them who had that particular summary. (I think I need to give everyone all four summaries, though, because after their summary had been discovered, they’d not pay attention as we read.) I realized that all of these summaries were fairly new concepts to the nonmember. I ended up talking about a lot of background with the class.

  • The spirits of dead go to God. (Alma 40:11)

We talked about how everyone goes back to God. It’s not just the “good” people.

  • After death, the righteous are happy and the wicked are unhappy. (Alma 40:12-13)

We discussed how we are going to feel — what will our personalities be like after death? Here is where it makes a difference if we’ve been wicked. We’ll still be wicked, plus we’ll feel horrible about it!

  • Christ preached to the spirits in the spirit world. (1 Peter 3:18-20)

We talked about Noah, who is mentioned in verse 20, and what happened to those who died in the flood that didn’t have an understanding of the gospel. This was a good example of why there is a place to learn the gospel after this life. The nonmember in the class seemed to like the concept that there is a chance for those who have died without the gospel to learn the gospel.

  • Missionaries on earth also are missionaries after they die. (Doctrine and Covenants 138:57)

We discussed that our work, as believers and members of the gospel, continues after our time on earth. We’ll always bear our testimony to friends, just as one person in our class did by inviting her friend.

Because baptism is so essential to our progression, we must do baptisms by proxy for those who have died. The discussion seemed to follow naturally, and I felt the spirit as I bore my testimony to the class and to the nonmember.

Then we talked about how we will all be resurrected, judged, and assigned a kingdom of glory (body and spirit are reunited). We read 1 Corinthians 15:40-42, the JST version. (We talked about what the JST is by playing telephone and talking about why modern revelation is important). After reading those verses, I showed pictures of the sun, moon, and stars, and I bore testimony that Heavenly Father has glory for each of us. He wants us to return to Him, and He will help us. We didn’t have time to talk about the Celestial Kingdom of glory, why it is so important, and how to get there. That will be the subject for next week — and the rest of the year!

Even though the class was still chatting with each other and there was still a lot of distraction in the room, I was paying attention to the spirit I was feeling. I was trying to make sure that the nonmember understood what we were talking about. He was nodding through the lesson. The others in the class were getting it to, distracted as they were. And I realized that that is what matters. It’s not about getting through everything I want to talk about (we didn’t).

I realize that my class needs review and testimony throughout the class more. I need to worry less about keeping their every attention and more about each particular member of the class. For instance, did ____ feel the spirit today? That will be my goal as we begin the next lessons.

Lesson 7 and part of lesson 8 out of 45 (I’m still three lessons behind.)

The Ethics of Bribery

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I am facing a dilemma in my Sunday school class. I prepare good lessons. I love the gospel and I have a testimony of it. But my class just doesn’t want to listen.

I guess that means that I’m a boring teacher, so my lessons must not be as good as I think. But I assume a 12-year-old can sit still for 35 minutes, read the scriptures with me, and get something out of it. Is that asking too much?

I talked with Sister C, who taught them last year. She said she had an agreement with the most talkative girl in the class: she’d give her something if she behaved each week. I don’t know what the reward was, but I assume it was edible.

Now, I have qualms about feeding my class, as well as bribing them. The FAQs page online for Primary even says not to bring snacks:

What is the policy for food in Primary? Food should only be provided when it is included as part of a lesson or as a snack for the children in the nursery class. Be sure to consult with the parents of each child about any dietary restrictions that may be caused by conditions such as diabetes or allergies (see Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2, 239).

This isn’t primary. This is Sunday school. They are even older. Besides, the physical facilities rules should say not to have food in the classrooms. Yes, people do it all the time, but shouldn’t we know better?

Like I said, I assume a 12-year-old can listen to a teacher for 35 minutes. They’re old enough to respect the scriptures. These kids have been members their entire lives and their parents are active. They should know better. I say I shouldn’t have to bribe them.

However, that still leaves me with a dilemma: a rowdy class. What are your thoughts on bribing the class with food? I hate the idea, but if everyone in the cyberworld agrees that it is the only way, maybe I need to reconsider.

East of Eden: Good versus Evil

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John Steinbeck’s East of Eden has been banned before. I’m not surprised. It deals with attempted fratricide, prostitution, and murder. One character, Cathy, is described as a monster. But as I read it and recognized the obvious references and echoes of Genesis, I was overcome and enlightened. Combining the plot with the incredibly well written descriptions of the characters, the Salinas valley (California), and five decades, this is a novel I want to reread.

I am reminded of Mosiah 3:19.

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

When Adam and Eve left Eden, they, for the first time, had wickedness within them. They were able to give in to temptation. But they had the choice to choose the good. In Genesis, Cain chose evil and was sent “East of Eden” (see 4:1-16). Nevertheless, Cain had the choice to choose whether he would follow good or evil throughout his life: he was not condemned straight away.

In this novel, what makes Cathy and others evil is that they don’t “choose” the good. They don’t put off the “natural man.” And that makes all of the difference. On the other hand, other characters in the novel seem to completely miss the “natural man” and are thus overwhelmingly “good.” Ultimately, though, Steinbeck’s point is that we all must choose what we will do: the crux of agency is that we are free to choose. Everyone is!

I don’t know how many reading this review will want to read the novel. Some of the situations and characters are downright evil. But I think a key to reading literature is finding how it relates to your own life; part of what I gain by reading East of Eden is a better appreciation of what it means to have agency.

Lesson 6: Adversity Can Help Us Grow

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Since my class didn’t have a substitute — other than the teacher next door, who taught Book of Mormon — they are now three weeks behind. I will have to merge lessons, but I really don’t want to shorten the next three. They are so important! It’s my current challenge, or, if you will, a tiny little “adversity.”

In 2 Nephi, chapter 2, Lehi explained to his son Jacob why we need adversity to learn (verses 11, 16, 22-23). When we compare our lives to life in the Garden of Eden, we see that life would be lacking if there wasn’t opposition. As I mentioned when I shared my thoughts about the Garden of Eden, it’s clear to me that opposition is necessary. I used the example of childbirth: it was horrible, but I learned so much.

In that same chapter of the Book of Mormon, we read about a person who faced adversity (2 Nephi 2:1-2). Jacob was “afflicted” because of his brothers. When I think that Laman and Lemuel tried to kill Nephi multiple times, I think that Jacob must have really struggled as a young boy trying to learn the gospel! And yet, Lehi says that Jacob nevertheless was strong in the faith. I think his trials as a child made him stronger.

Let’s read about other examples of adversity. As we read, think about how we can prepare for adversity.

In the first, a parable, there are two people facing adversity (Matthew 7:24-27). This is a story we’ve known since primary when we sang it:

The wise man built his house upon the rock,
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down, and the floods came up,
And the house on the rock stood still.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down, and the floods came up
And the house on the sand washed away.

When I was young, I thought of this song as a “fun song” after all, there are hand motions. I didn’t realize it was a spiritual song. It is talking about Christ, and how we need to build a foundation on Christ:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. –Helaman 5:12

Life is hard because there is adversity in it, and there is no promise that it will be easy for us: we knew it would be hard when we agreed to come to earth. But we can rely on Christ and make him our foundation as we go through hard times.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. –Matthew 11:28-30

(Note, and this is just me: I don’t think he’s saying things will be easy if we turn to him. He’s saying his yoke is easy. I think that means that it is easy to turn to Him and make Him a part of our lives. He’s there for us. We still may have a hard life, filled with adversity, even by depending on Christ. The man with a house upon a rock still had to face the rains. But Christ can help us, and we’ll have a foundation that is sturdy. We can trust Christ to always be there.)

Here are some scriptural examples of adversity.

  • Jonah 1:1-17; 2:1, 10; 3:1-3
  • 1 Nephi 16:18-27, 30-32
  • D&C 121:heading, 1-2, 6, 7-8 and D&C 122:5-9

As we read, we’ll answer these questions:

  • Who had the trial?
  • What trial did he have?
  • Why did he have this trial?
  • What did he learn?

Some adversity is our own fault: we sin and thus bring adversity upon ourselves (as Jonah did and as we do when we break the commandments). Other adversity doesn’t come from sin but from the circumstances we are in (Nephi’s bow broke; our car didn’t start; our dinner burned, which technically is our fault but we didn’t intend for it to happen). Still other trials come because other people are exercising their agency (Nephi’s family complained against him; enemies put Joseph Smith in jail; our little brother lost our favorite book). But ultimately, adversity can strengthen us. We can’t complain too much: as the Lord reminded Joseph Smith, the Son of Man descended beneath all of us: He suffered for all of us already. If we say it’s too hard, we’re saying we’re greater than He is.

Let’s not pretend our adversity is that bad. By relying on Christ and making Him our foundation, we can get through any rains that may come.

Lesson 6 of 45

Lesson 4 and Lesson 5: The Atonement and Mortality

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(Note: I put a link to the LDS scriptures in the sidebar. It takes too long to link each reference!)

While teaching my lesson about the Atonement four weeks ago, I ran out of time to talk about the most important aspects, namely the things we must do to receive all the blessings of the Atonement and what will happen if we do not accept the Atonement in our lives.

Since then, I’ve missed three weeks of lessons and I don’t know who, if anyone, was the substitute. (I did talk to the Sunday school president and he said he’d find substitutes, but my husband thinks the Sunday school president was probably confused and I should have found substitutes myself. Oops.)

Because I don’t know what to expect, here’s my plan for gospel discussion, which merges the concepts of lesson 4 (The Atonement of Jesus Christ) and lesson 5 (Mortality: A Time to Learn through Experience). I feel like lesson 4 is the most important lesson in the manual, so I want to make sure we discuss some of the concepts again.

  • First, to find out: What did you talk about the last few weeks? Who were your teachers?
  • Then, to remind them: We’ve been talking about the plan of salvation. In Moses 1:39, we learn that Heavenly Father’s work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. What does immortality mean? What does eternal life mean?
  • Then, to follow up: Last time I was with you, we watched a movie. In it, a man wanted to buy a property. He signed a contract with a creditor in order to purchase the property. But when it came time to pay off the contract, he couldn’t. The creditor was going to put him in jail (as justice required), but instead his friend came. His friend offered to pay the fine (out of mercy) so the man didn’t have to go to jail. What was the man required to do for his friend? Who did these people in the movie represent: the creditor, the man, the friend?

Today we’re going to talk about two things: What we must do to make the Atonement of Jesus Christ real in our lives and what we must learn in this life to prepare to meet Heavenly Father.

To discuss the two key points of this lesson, we’re going to read parts of 2 Nephi 9, which I believe is one of the best chapters in the Book of Mormon (is it fair to choose favorites?). I think it discusses the vital aspects of the Atonement.

2 Nephi 9:4-7, 21-24

  • In verse 4, what does it mean that our “flesh must waste away” but “in our bodies we shall see God”? (see footnote b, Alma 11:41)
  • In verse 5, what does “subject unto him” mean? Remember that in the movie, the man must pay the debt back to his friend. We likewise must to subject ourselves to Christ to receive the blessing of the Atonement in our lives. What are some things we must do?
  • Believe (John 3:16)
  • Repent (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16, 2 Nephi 9:23)
  • Hearken unto his voice (2 Nephi 9:21)
  • Be baptized and exercise faith in Christ (2 Nephi 9:23)
  • Endure to the end (2 Nephi 9:24)
  • In verse 6, it mentions the “merciful plan of the great Creator.” What does that mean? What do we know about this plan? (Moses 1:39) How does the Atonement fulfill part of this plan?
  • In verse 7, we learn that the “first judgment” would never have ended for us without the Atonement. The “first judgment” is like the creditor in the movie: there is justice, but no mercy. How did the Savior make it possible to overcome that judgment? How we would be “damned” (verse 22) if we don’t receive the Atonement? What does “damn” actually mean? How can not living with God mean that we are damned?

2 Nephi 9:10-12

  • In verse 10, we read about death and hell. What do these mean (hint: they are different)?
  • Without a Savior, which death would be worse: physical death or spiritual death? (hint: this is a trick question!)
  • If you disobeyed the Savior your entire life, which death would be worse: physical death or spiritual death? (hint: this is also a trick question.)

2 Nephi 9:13-16, 27

  • Before reading these verses: When you think of “hell,” what stereotypes do you think of?
  • In verse 13, we read that everyone will be resurrected, but some people will not be happy. Why would a perfect knowledge be a challenge? How could being separated from Heavenly Father be “hell”?
  • In verse 15, we read that everyone must appear before the judgment seat. What difference will it make to have the Savior on your side? (Think of the movie “The Mediator.”)
  • In verse 16, we read that people will be “filthy’ after resurrection. Why do you think people will be “filthy” even after being resurrected? What can you do in this life to avoid being “filthy” even after the resurrection? Why is important to follow the Savior in this life? What qualities can we develop and what do we need to learn in this life so we can appear before Heavenly Father and the Savior “clean”?
  • Charity is the pure love of Christ (Moroni 7:45-47)
  • Qualities to emulate (2 Peter 1:5-7)
  • What people, experiences, and organizations has the Savior blessed us with so we can learn these things?
  • Family: Doctrine and Covenants 88:123 (we learn love and unselfishness)
  • Church callings: Doctrine and Covenants 4:2 (we learn service)
  • Friends: Doctrine and Covenants 121:9 (we learn loyalty)
  • School, church, and seminary classes: Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19 (we learn knowledge and understanding)

I realize that I probably won’t get through all of this material. I don’t know what they’ve learned in the past few weeks and so we’ll have to play it by ear.

I also realize that some of these questions might be challenging for 12-year-olds. Overall, though, I feel the manual doesn’t give them enough credit. They are very smart and able to understand the scriptures. We should spend more time reading directly from the scriptures and less time reading stories. I feel that stories might be good, but they are not as powerful as the word of God. A class of bright 12-year-olds can benefit from a Sunday school class immersed in the scriptures.

The Power of Testimony

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I forgot about this experience until I was preparing my Sunday School lesson, and I decided I’d write about it.

First, here is the background: My Sunday school class last year contained four very quiet 13-year-old girls and one very quiet 13-year-old boy. They were a great class — they knew the answers or at least tried to participate, quietly and submissively. They all turned 14 and so went to a new teacher at the beginning of the year.

This year, I have three very talkative 12-year-old girls and one quiet 12-year-old boy. Actually, only one of the girls is very talkative (I’ll call her Sarah) — the others just feed off of her. The girls tend to whisper to each other and distract the others from the lesson. Sarah tries to think of off-the-wall questions to stump me as I try to teach. Sometimes the questions are very good — but often they seem so off subject it’s hard to get momentum back for the lesson I’ve prepared.

Four weeks ago, during my lesson about the Atonement, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by the distracted class and the super-important subject matter. (I mentioned I felt overwhelmed trying to teach the Atonement in 30 minutes to begin with.) Sarah kept whispering and giggling with another girl, whom I’ll call Mary. (They were sniffing their marking pencils which apparently had scents: “They’re Smencils,” I was told.)

Anyway, I was trying to talk above their whispers so the other two class members could learn something. I mean, I was talking about the Atonement; the least the girls could do was listen. But I was not having any luck. I was distracted and the other girl and boy kept glancing at Sarah and Mary.

“OK, listen,” I finally said, stopping mid-sentence. “I’m giving the most important lesson in the book right now. Can I tell you why this is the most important lesson?”

The two girls stopped giggling and looked up. I had the attention of the whole room.

“I’m talking about our Savior Jesus Christ today. The only way we can return to our Heavenly Father is through Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The purpose of our Heavenly Father, His entire work and glory, is to “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” That includes you. You are His work and His glory! Every other lesson in this manual and every lesson you will ever receive in the church goes back to the Savior. I’m talking about Him today. I need you to listen, because I know this is true and I know this is very important.”

The room was silent and the spirit was so strong I felt like crying (and I don’t usually cry when I feel the spirit). The room stayed quiet as I continued the lesson. The class participated. We watched the movie “The Mediator” and by the end the two girls were whispering again, but this time they were whispering about the video. (“No, I think the friend represents Jesus.”)

They were back to whispering a little by the end of the class, and the cloud of spirit had subsided a little by then, but I was amazed by the power bearing my testimony had in that moment. I know it made a difference to the class.

After the warning bell rang, I still had more than 10 minutes of material left — I know we wouldn’t get to it.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. We won’t get to the whole lesson today,” I said as I bore my testimony at the end of class.

“Well, will you finish this lesson next week?” Sarah asked.

I was flabbergasted. Most weeks, I’m not sure she’s listening at all.

I explained that I was going out of town, but I’d make sure we talk about what’s most important again. For this reason alone, I intend to go back and reemphasize some of the material from that lesson. Sarah, the talkative one, wants me to finish the most important lesson in the book. She was listening!

Lesson 4: The Atonement of Jesus Christ

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I have procrastinated preparing this lesson, quite simply because I don’t see how I can possibly help four 12-year-olds gain an appreciation for the Atonement of Jesus Christ in 30 minutes. I feel this is the most important lesson in the book, and I don’t know where to begin.

Obviously, testimony is the most crucial aspect of any lesson: I know I can bear my testimony.

I guess the best place to begin is where we left off in last week’s lesson.

Because Adam and Eve transgressed in the Garden of Eden, they gained knowledge of good and evil. Physical death entered the world, which meant that our bodies and spirits would be separated. Adam’s transgression also allowed spiritual death to enter the world (Doctrine and Covenants 29:40-41).

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression. –Article of Faith 2

That’s good news: Adam’s transgression doesn’t automatically mean we’re all punished. But the problem is that we all will sin. Sin makes us unclean, and “no unclean thing can dwell with God” (1 Nephi 10:21).

Here’s the good news for all of us:

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. –Article of Faith 3

Without a Savior, we’d be dead twice: physically and spiritually. Physically, our bodies would not be united with our spirits. Spiritually, we’d be denied the presence of God because we are unclean. Jesus Christ was chosen to be the Savior. His resurrection makes it possible for each of us to be resurrected and thus overcome physical death. Also, because He willingly gave his life for each of us and paid the price for our sins, we can each be forgiven for the sins we commit so that we can become clean again. We can dwell with God again.

The plan of Heavenly Father required justice: the sins must be paid for. A Savior provides mercy: we have a chance to return to our Heavenly Father. The law of justice is met because the price for the sin is paid, and the law of mercy is met because Christ has mercy on each of us, who are imperfect.

The Mediator

The mediator in this film (the debtor’s friend) said that he would pay the debt and become the debtors new creditor. The debtor would have to repay the debt on the creditors terms.

Similarly, in our lives, the Savior gives us clear instructions on what we must do to receive the blessings of the Atonement in our lives.

Everyone who has or will come to earth will receive the blessing of resurrection and thus be saved from physical death. But to be saved from spiritual death, we must rely on the Mediator to pay the price for our sins. Then, if we do not meet the creditor’s terms, that is, if we do not repent, we will have to suffer for our own sins (Doctrine and Covenants 19:17-18) because that is how justice will be met.

I know Christ did suffer so that we might be saved. We must believe in Christ, follow and obey Him, and repent of our sins. How grateful I am to have a Mediator, who will pay my debt!

Lesson 4 of 45

Lesson 3: The Fall of Adam and Eve

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Sometimes I think it would be nice to live in a world with no sickness, no sorrow, and no pain. What would such a world be like?

I’ll begin with the trivial: I wouldn’t be uncomfortably hot during the summer. Now, on hot days, I hope for a short summer and early autumn. Of course, I wouldn’t have any uncomfortably cold wintery days either. But, without the extreme weather, I wouldn’t appreciate spring and autumn weather. By eliminating unpleasant weather, pleasant weather gets very boring.

Then I think about a world void of sicknesses and pain. I’ve always been healthy and lacked major health problems. That has changed in the past four months. (Having a baby helps your body fall apart, I guess.) I would love to eliminate pain and sickness from my life! Ironically, though, it is only now that I’ve regularly experienced ill health that I recognize what a blessing it was to have had good health. Every day that I am not ill is a very good day (there still are plenty of those), and some days I feel great! By being ill, I appreciate so much more being well. (However, I really do look forward to not being ill on a regular basis.)

It might sound nice initially, but a world without sickness, sorrow, pain, and sin would lack all enjoyment as well.

In the beginning, Adam and Eve lived in such a world.

When they were first placed there, they were given two commandments:

  1. Multiply and replenish the earth (Genesis 1:28)
  2. Don’t partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17)

And here lies the most complex irony: because the garden was a place of innocence, Adam and Eve couldn’t fulfill the first commandment without breaking the second.

When Adam and Eve did choose to partake of the fruit, they committed a transgression, not a sin. Because there was nothing inherently wrong with partaking of the fruit, it was not a sin to partake of it, even though it was a commandment not to.

I like this comparison: A parent tells a child to never cross the street. Does the parent have a reason for the rule? Yes. But is it inherently wrong to cross the street? No. At some point in his life, the child needs to cross the street.

Eve had a dilemma. She had to choose to sacrifice her painless world of innocence in order to gain experience and to bear children. She did not know what the experience would be because she’d never before experienced it. No human had experienced it. It’s hard to choose to experience the unknown. And yet, she wanted to gain experience and she wanted to raise children.

I feel close to her dilemma. A little more than three months ago, I went through incredible pains to bring a child into the world. It was horrible. I thought I was going to die. I wanted the pain to stop. I wanted to give up. Why can’t we have children without the pain?

Well, that’s not the plan, and I’m not talking about the lack of drugs. (I imagine childbirth is still quite painful with drugs.) There is much pain in raising a child, beyond childbirth. The plan of our Heavenly Father is to learn from experience. Experience sometimes entails fear and pain, but it also includes incredible happiness. There is supposed to be opposition as we experience the good.

Eve could only bear children by giving up innocence. I can’t speak for Eve, but because I went through that painful experience of childbirth:

  • I have the most beautiful, perfect little boy to raise.
  • I learned a lot about my abilities to do what I have to do.
  • I gained an incredible spiritual closeness to my Heavenly Father.
  • I am learning every day from my child.

I think childbirth is an incredible miracle. But it required going through a very challenging experience. It required that I not live in a perfect world, void of pain and sorrow.

Adam [and Eve] fell that man [and woman] might be, and men [and women] are that they might have joy. 2 Nephi 2:25

I’m grateful for the Fall of Adam and Eve. It meant I could come to earth. It meant I can bear children. It meant that I can have my joy multiplied as I Experience. And truly, my family is my greatest joy.

Lesson 3 of 45

Lesson 2: Agency: The Power to Choose

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My son’s face relaxes as his mouth grabs hold of the pacifier. He begins to suck and his mouth almost smiles. He stops squirming and his eyes close. I feel his body go partially limp in my arms. I know he likes that pacifier!

Then I watch his right hand begin its move toward his face. He likes to have his hand near his face. It’s a comfort to him. But I know what is coming. Sure enough, his long little fingers reach the pacifier and loop through the ring on the end of it.

“Paul, don’t do it!” I warn him. “If you move your hand back then you’ll pull the pacifier out of your mouth.”

His eyes twitch, but his lids remain shut. He continues sucking.

A door slams somewhere and Paul’s body starts. He jerks his right hand away from his face. Sure enough, just as I warned, the pacifier now remains in his right hand, a full three inches from his mouth.

His eyes open wide and he stares at me. His look is part shock and part betrayal. How could you? He seems to say. Then his bottom lip begins to jut out and his whole face begins its contortion. Here comes a cry!

You did it! I want to say. You pulled the pacifier out of your own mouth! You can control that arm; you can control that hand! You can choose to put the pacifier back in your mouth! Just move your hand.

But I know he is still too little to recognize his own power: he has agency and he doesn’t even realize it.

Being a mother is helping me see how Heavenly Father views us. Just as I want to help Paul understand how his tiny choices affect his life, Heavenly Father likewise wants me to understand how my more significant choices affect my life — and my eternal progression. Paul is not yet making any choices of eternal consequence: he is still unaccountable. But as the days and years go by, he will gain the ability to choose between right and wrong. He will learn.

When we lived with God in the premortal world, we understood that we could make choices. Heavenly Father provided an opportunity for each of us to come to the earth. We would choose how we would live. We knew we’d make mistakes. And Heavenly Father promised a Savior, who would pay for our sins, so that we could return to live with Him again.

Heavenly Father’s plan includes these principles of agency (See 2 Nephi 2:26-29).

  1. A law. He provides commandments to follow that enable us to return to Him.
  2. Knowledge of the law. He gives us these commandments through prophets and scriptures. As we grow on the earth, we learn the commandments.
  3. Opposition: good and evil. We sometimes have to choose between good and evil; we have to choose between obeying the commandments and doing other things we might want to do. The Spirit will help us discern which choices are right.
  4. Freedom of choice. Heavenly Father will not force us to choose right. We have complete freedom as to whether we will choose right or wrong. We make our own choices!
  5. Responsibility for choices. This is the hard part: we can’t choose the consequence of our choices. If we choose right, we will be blessed. If we choose wrong, we are cut off from our Heavenly Father, unless we rely on Christ’s atonement, which is another choice. Thus, in Heavenly Father’s plan, some people will not return to Heavenly Father again.

In that premortal realm, we know that Satan wanted the glory as the Savior (See Moses 4:1-4 and Abraham 3:24-28). He wanted to save everyone, by making them choose right all the time. He wanted to eliminate principle — the freedom to choose. It sounds like a nice idea: we’d all be saved. There is pain in choosing wrong and some people won’t make it back. Wouldn’t it be great if all made it back?

In watching my son, I realize what a tragedy it would be if he couldn’t learn to control his own body. What if I forced him to move in a set way? He wouldn’t be able to move his arm toward his mouth if the result would be the pacifier coming out: he’d be forced to stay in one position. He would not be able to jolt in surprise when a door slammed. He’d sleep between set hours every day so he wouldn’t be uncomfortably tired ever. He would never choose again.

What a tragedy that would be! What would be the point of his existence? In watching him, I see how important it is that we are able to choose what we do. His choices are small and insignificant now, but as he grows, they will increase in significance. Yes, he will make wrong choices. But he will choose!

There is a reason we experience negative consequences: it is how we learn. It may be hard to anticipate negative consequences for our own choices. But looking on, I can anticipate my infant son’s dismay when he removes his own pacifier. He will be sad, and he is. I know that as he grows, his life will be full of such moments, most of them of much more significance. It will be sad to see wrong consequences. But he will eventually learn how to control his arms and hands. I know that as he gains control and accountability, he will begin to recognize how his actions are related to the consequences, and he’ll learn to make different actions.

Because we did accept Heavenly Father’s plan, we have the freedom to choose. I look on and anticipate the consequences of Paul’s choices, and Heavenly Father likewise looks on and anticipates the consequences of our choices. Heavenly Father has provided guidance for us so we can avoid the painful mistakes. By listening to the Spirit, by obeying to the prophet, and by reading the scriptures, we should recognize what the consequences of our choices are and what right is.

As I listen to my son’s crying, I recognize what a great blessing this gift of agency is! He can choose and therefore he can learn. We all can.

Lesson 2 of 45

Lesson 1: A Loving Father, An Eternal Plan

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The Plan of Salvation is summarized in a chart in my Sunday school lesson manual:

plan-of-salvation.jpg

But in reviewing the Plan of Salvation chart and the scriptures on it, I began wondering “What is a basic definition of the plan of salvation? Does it really consist of circles and lines? That can’t be it. Is it really defined by Moses 1:39?”

I felt foolish asking that. I’ve been a member of this church my entire life. I’ve read the Book of Mormon a dozen times in my life. How can I not know what the plan of salvation is? Why can’t I simply state what it is?

My first thought was to consult the Gospel Principles manual. To my surprise, it had no chapter dedicated to the subject. Isn’t that something that is taught to new members? My next idea was to consult LDS.org in a basic search. “Plan of Salvation” led to more than 1,500 hits, and I hadn’t even included “plan of happiness” or any of the other names for it. Where do I begin?

I found that LDS.org has a gospel topic library that provided the best explanation for me:

The plan of salvation is the fulness of the gospel.

Well, that encompasses everything! That would explain why there isn’t a chapter dedicated to it in the Gospel Principles manual: the entire manual is the plan of salvation. That’s the whole point of the gospel and of course new members need to learn it. But it isn’t a one-week lesson.

My next question was this: Why does the manual focus on the chart in the first place, then?

The explanation continues:

As we come to understand the plan, we find answers to questions asked by so many: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go after this life?

I see now that the chart is simply a device to illustrate it. I understand now why this is only the first lesson of an entire year of Sunday school lessons. We get to discuss the answers to those three questions over the course of the year. We get to discuss our purpose over the course of the entire year.

Moses 1:39 is the focusing scripture in this lesson. I decided to put it in context. As I read the rest of Moses 1, I see other things that hint of the miraculous plan of our Father in Heaven.

From the beginning of the chapter, we learn that God has a body. Moses speaks to Him “face to face” (v2). We learn that Moses is the son of God (v4) and that God has a special plan for Moses (v6). I believe we can extend that to all of us — we all are children of God and God has a plan for each of us. I know that is true. God does have a plan for us, as we’ll see in verse 39.

Moses learns that “man is nothing” compared to the glory of God (v10). Because he has had this incredible vision of God’s power, when the adversary comes to tempt him, he recognizes the difference between the adversary and God. He notices that the adversary does not have the same glory that God had had: “Where is thy glory?” (v14). True, Moses is very scared during his encounter with the devil (v20), but ultimately, he knows to call upon God, and he receives strength to command the adversary to depart (v20-21).

Because he has demonstrated his faith in God during such a tremendously difficult encounter, he is filled with the Holy Ghost and again beholds the glory of God (v24-25). It is in this subsequent vision, again when he is “face to face,” that he learns so much more about the plan of salvation. It is in this context that God provides an explanation of his purpose:

For behold, this I my work and my glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Immortality, of course, is the ability to live forever, to be resurrected. Everyone will enjoy that blessing. Eternal life is living with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father again. Achieving eternal life is up to us. Our decisions in this life determine whether or not we will live with God again. It is through the atonement of Christ that we are able to be clean in order to return to God again. This is why an understanding of the plan is so important. If we know what we have to do to gain eternal life, it will be easier to do it.

Moses was the chosen one to write of the plan of the Father at that time. I believe that would be the biblical record we have. But the Father promises that when the “children of men shall esteem my words as naught” and take the truths out of Moses writings, then He would send another. That promise was fulfilled in our dispensation with the Book of Mormon and with modern prophets. In the Book of Mormon, then, we can find the fullness of the plan of salvation, the plan of happiness. We can find answers to the burning questions we have in our life: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going?

I think that knowledge of the plan does make the difference. Just as recognizing the difference between the power of God and the non-power of adversary made a difference for Moses when he was confronted, knowing the purpose of God in our lives can help us when we are confronted by the adversary.

This is lesson 1 of 45 in how we can prepare for exaltation. I have a feeling that even after 45 lessons there will be so much more to learn!