Gospel Doctrine, Lesson 11: “Press Forward With

a Steadfastness in Christ”, 2 Nephi 31-33

#1 Cleon Skousen put it this way: “In the beginning this may not be easy. Reading scripture with eager-

ness usually comes after one has cultivated a familiarity with the teachings of Christ and learned how to attract the Spirit of the Lord in order to gain a thrilling depth of understanding concerning the vast and pro-found concepts which lie behind each Gospel principle. Then one can feast indeed upon the teachings of Christ. And the longer one participates, the greater the feast becomes.” (Treasures from the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, 291)

#2 Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: “We need to feast upon the words of Christ in the scriptures and

as these words come to us from living prophets. Just nibbling occasionally will not do. (See 2 Nephi

31:20 and 32:3.) Feasting means partaking with relish and delight and savoring— not gorging epi-sodically in heedless hunger, but partaking gratefully, dining with delight, at a sumptuous spread carefully and lovingly prepared..,. over the centuries” (Wherefore Ye Must Press Forward, 28)

#3 Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: “May I suggest, based on personal experience, that faith

comes and revelations are received as a direct result of scriptural study… However talented men may be in administrative matters; however eloquent they may be in expressing their views; how-ever learned they may be in worldly things— they will be denied the sweet whisperings of the Spirit that might have been theirs unless they pay the price of studying, pondering, and praying about the scriptures.” (Doctrines of the Restoration, 238)

To download past handouts, go to: highlandvalleysundayschoolnotes2012.blogspot.com

#4 Elder Robert D. Hales explained: “What a glorious blessing! For when we want to speak to God, we pray. And when we want Him to speak to us, we search the scriptures; for His words are spoken through His prophets. He will then teach us as we listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit” (CR, Oct. 2006)

#5 Elder W. Rolfe Kerr of the Seventy said, “So we see, brethren and sisters, that the words of

Christ can be a personal Liahona for each of us, showing us the way. Let us not be slothful be-cause of the easiness of the way. Let us in faith take the words of Christ into our minds and into our hearts as they are recorded in sacred scripture and as they are uttered by living prophets, seers, and revelators. Let us with faith and diligence feast upon the words of Christ, for the words

of Christ will be our spiritual Liahona telling us all things what we should do” (CR Apr. 2004)

#6 In 1967 Sister Romney suffered a serious stroke. The doctors told then—Elder Romney that

the damage from the hemorrhage was severe. They offered to keep her alive by artificial means but did not recommend it. The family braced themselves for the worst. Brother Romney confided to those closest to him that in spite of his anguished, personal yearning for Ida’s restored health and continued companionship, above all he wanted “the Lord’s will to be done and to take what he needed to take without whimpering.”

As the days wore on, Sister Romney became less responsive. She had, of course, been adminis-

tered to, but Elder Romney was “reluctant to counsel the Lord about the mat-ter.” ...He fasted that he might know how to show the Lord that he had faith and that he would accept God’s will in their lives. He wanted to make sure that he had done all he could do. She continued to fail. One evening in a particularly depressed state, with Ida unable to speak or recognize him, Brother Romney went home and turned as he al- ways had to the scriptures in an effort to commune with the Lord. He picked

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up the Book of Mormon and continued where he had left off the night before. He had been reading in the book of Helaman about the prophet Nephi, who had been falsely con-demned and unfairly charged with sedition. Following a miraculous deliverance from his accusers, Nephi returned home pondering the things which he had experienced. As he did so he heard a voice. Although Marion Romney had read that story many times before, it now struck him this night as a personal revelation. The words of the scripture so touched his heart that for the first time in weeks he felt he had tangible peace. It seemed as if the Lord was speaking directly to him. The scripture read:

Blessed art thou … for those things which thou hast done… And thou … hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this… I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. [Helaman 10:4-5]

There was the answer. He had sought only to know and obey the will of the Lord, and the Lord had spo-ken. He fell to his knees an poured out his heart, and as he concluded his prayer with the phrase, “Thy will be done,” he either felt or actually heard a voice which said, “It is not contrary to my will that Ida be healed.” Brother Romney rose to his feet. It was past two o’clock in the morning, but he knew what he must do. Quickly he put on his tie and coat, then went out into the night to visit Ida in the hospital. He arrived shortly before three o’clock. His wife’s condition was unchanged. She did not stir as he placed his hands upon her pale forehead. With undeviating faith, he invoked the power of the priesthood in her behalf. He pronounced a simple blessing and then uttered the incredible promise that she would re-cover her health and mental powers and yet perform a great mission upon the earth. Even though he did not doubt, Elder Romney was astonished to see Ida’s eyes open as he con-cluded the blessing. Somewhat stunned by all that had happened, he sat down on the edge of the bed only to hear his wife’s frail voice for the first time in months. She said, “For goodness’ sake, Marion, what are you doing here?” He didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He said, “Ida, how are you?” With that flash of humor so characteristic of both of them, she replied, “Compared to what, Marion? Compared to what?” Ida Romney began her recovery from that very moment, soon left her hospital bed” (F. Burton Howard, Marion G. Romney: His Life and Faith, 137-42)

Other thoughts too great not to include:

The Parable of the Divers

Many years ago, when I was somewhere between nine and eleven, I participated in a community summer recreation program in the town where I grew up. I remember in particular a diving competition for the different age groups held at the community swimming pool. Some of the wealthier kids in our area had their own pools with diving boards, and they were pretty good amateur divers. But there was one kid my age from the less affluent part of town who didn’t have his own pool. What he had was raw courage. While the rest of us did our crisp little swan dives, back dives, and jackknives, being ever so careful to arch our backs and point our toes, this young man attempted back flips, one-and-a-halfs, doubles, and so on. But, oh, he was sloppy. He seldom kept his feet together, he never pointed his toes, and he usually missed his vertical entry. The rest of us observed with smug satisfaction as the judges held up their scorecards that he consistently got lower marks than we did with our safe and simple dives, and we congratulated ourselves that we were actually the better divers. “He is all heart and no finesse,” we told ourselves. “After all, we keep our feet together and point our toes.” The announcement of the winners was a great shock to us, for the brave young lad with the flips had apparently beaten us all. However, I had kept rough track of the scores in my head, and I knew with the arrogance of limited information that the math didn’t add up. I had consistently outscored the boy with the flips. And so, certain that an injustice was being perpetrated, I stormed the scorer’s table and de-manded an explanation. “Degree of difficulty,” the scorer replied matter-of-factly as he looked me in the eye. “Sure, you had better form, but he did harder dives. When you factor in the degree of difficulty, he

(...continued from previous page) beat you hands down, kid.” Until that moment I hadn’t known that some dives were awarded “extra credit” because of their greater difficulty…. Whenever I am tempted to feel superior to other Saints, the parable of the divers comes to mind, and I repent. At least at a swim meet, we can usually tell which dives are the most difficult. But here in mor-tality, we cannot always tell who is carrying what burdens: limited intelligence, chemical depression, com-pulsive behaviors, learning disabilities, dysfunctional or abusive family background, poor health, physical or psychological handicaps— no one chooses these things. So I must not judge my brothers and sisters. I am thankful for my blessings but not smug about them, for I never want the Scorer to say to me, “Sure, you had better form, but she had a harder life. When you factor in degree of difficulty, she beat you hands down.” So, enduring to the end doesn’t have much to do with suffering in silence, overcoming all life’s ob-stacles, or even achieving the LDS ideal (“pointing our toes” and “keeping our feet together”). It just means not giving up. It means keeping—to the best of our abilities—the commitments we made to Christ when we entered into the marriage of the gospel. It means not divorcing the Savior or cheating on him by letting some other love become more important in our lives. It means not rejecting the blessings of the atonement that he showered upon us when we entered his church and kingdom. (Stephen E. Robinson, Following Christ: The Parable of the Divers and More Good News, 34-38)

Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “The idea that scripture reading can lead to inspiration and revelation opens the door to the truth that a scripture is not limited to what it meant when it was written but may also include what that scripture means to the reader today. Even more, scripture reading may also lead to current revelation on whatever else the Lord wishes to communicate to the reader at that time. We do not overstate the point when we say that the scriptures can be a Urim and Thummim to assist each of us to receive personal reve-lation” (“Scripture Reading and Revelation, Ensign, January 1995, 8)

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: “Please… read more slowly and more carefully and with more questions in mind… Ponder, [and] examine every word, every scriptural gem… Hold it up to the light, and turn it, look and see what’s reflected and refracted there… such an examination may unearth a treasure hidden in a field; a pearl of great price; a pearl beyond price” (Summer 1992 CES Satellite Broadcast, 4)

President Spencer W. Kimball: “I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns.” (Teachings of Spencer W. Kim-ball, 135)

Susan W. Tanner (Young Women General President): “Do you remember Tevye, the poor milkman with five daughters in the musical Fiddler on the Roof who dreamed of being rich? What would you hope for if you were rich? Probably for some of the same things that he did. He wanted to be prominent, have a big house, not have to work so hard, and so on. But these were not his deepest desires. His fondest dream, if he were to strike it rich, may seem unusual to us. Remember, he sang:

If I were rich I’d have the time that I lack To sit in the synagogue and pray And maybe have a seat by the eastern wall, And I’d discuss the holy books with the learned men Seven hours ev’ry day. This would be the sweetest thing of all.

If you were rich, would you spend your free time studying the ‘holy books,’ or the scriptures, for several hours a day? If your were rich, would the sweetest joy that you could imagine be to have more time for in-tensive scripture study?” (http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=10576)

Wendy L. Watson (current wife of Elder Russel M. Nelson): “One woman was guided to learn how to hear the voice of the Spirit while reading the scriptures. She was tutored to kneel in prayer, to thank her Heav-enly Father for the scriptures, to request that the Spirit be with her as she read, and then to tell the Lord what she needed from the scriptures that particular day— one question she needed answered, perhaps guidance in a relationship, perhaps confirmation of a decision. She would then open her scriptures… and begin reading. She never had to read very far… before the Spirit gave her the answer she was seeking. Through these daily question-and-answer sessions with the scriptures and the Spirit, her sensitivity to the whisperings of the Spirit increased— and she fell in love with the scriptures. “I have related her experience to others who then tried the same experiment; the results have been astonishing. Everything from financial problems to relationship concerns have been solved. And in the process, their ability to hear the voice of the Holy Ghost has increased. (“Let Your Spirit Take the Lead”, 2003 BYU Women’s Conference)

President Spencer W. Kimball told the members of the Church that he was “convinced that each of us, at some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves” (Ensign, Sept. 1976, p. 4). When we do that, we can obtain revelation. If we depend only upon our own reasoning or the scholarship or commentar-ies of others, we will never obtain the understanding that can come only by revelation. Persons in that cir-cumstance will be left forever with what Alma calls “the lesser portion of the word” (Alma 12:11). (Elder Dal-

lin Oaks, “Scripture Reading and Revelation”, Ensign, January 1995)

Press Forward, Saints Hymn #81

Press forward, Saints, with steadfast faith in Christ, With hope’s bright flame alight in heart and mind, With love of God and love of all mankind. Chorus: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Press forward, feasting on the word of Christ. Receive his name, rejoicing in his might. Come unto God; find everlasting light Press on, enduring in the ways of Christ. His love proclaim thru days of mortal strife. Thus saith our God: “Ye have eternal life!”

Human Anguish and Divine Love

Truman Madsen gave a talk entitled Human Anguish and Divine Love as part of his Timeless Questions, Gospel Insights

lecture series. In this talk he covered the age-old question of “Why do we suffer?” What follows is a partial transcript of his talk.

“[The book of Job] speaks of a man who had not been unrighteous in any way and yet loses everything; his flocks

and herds, his family, and finally his health – and is covered with boils. His comforters come, with the presupposi-

tion that there is no other explanation [for suffering] except sin, and ask him, ‘Alright Job. Be honest. Out with it!

What have you done wrong?’ And Job replied, “I haven’t done wrong and yet I suffer.” And that’s the dilemma we

still face. What about innocent suffering?

“So we go down to the other side of the triangle and ask ‘Well what can we say about the power of God?’ Do we –

must we – acknowledge that God does not have all power? And therefore, that some evils are irremediable? Now I

enter at least hip deep into deep water, which is in some ways unique to us [Latter-day Saints], to our tradition. See,

it isn’t sufficient to ask, ‘Could God have prevented the blindness that afflicts that newborn child?’ ‘Could God

have healed such and such a person who was born without a spine?’ ‘Could God reverse the ravages of disease in

those who are suffering from all these forms of terminal cancer?’ Of course He has the power to do those things!

Then, why doesn’t He? Ah, because we don’t ask the right question, which is, ‘Can He do compossible things? Can

He achieve the purposes of mortality in our lives and at the same time eradicate all suffering and evil?’ And the an-

swer is, ‘No, He cannot.’ When the famous dam broke up north in Idaho, an earthen dam first cracked and then

broke. Then a huge wave of swirling water swept down and in that incredible turmoil destroyed houses, barns,

drowned cattle and some human beings. When it’s all over and people go back and find just a chimney left or a

frame, they sit down and ask the hardest question, and it’s not academic, ‘Why us? Why did this happen to us?’

“Elders Spencer W. Kimball and Boyd K. Packer went up and held a meeting with these people who literally had

been wiped out. Brother Packer’s reported to have said something like this, ‘You have been asking the question,

‘Why us?’ Well I’ve come to tell you.’ By the way they [those affected] had said the things most of us would have

said, ‘Well, I’ve tried to live a good life, I certainly have faith in the purposes of the Lord, and etcetera.’ ‘I’ve come

to tell you the answer,’ said Brother Packer, ‘It happened to you because the dam broke.’ Now you may consider

that a fairly superficial answer but he was saying something really quite profound. We elected – you and I, and

that’s a unique view [to Mormons] – we elected, prepared for, even were trained for the experiences of mortality.

And we knew very well as best we could as mere spectators – and now we are participants – we knew very well it

would involve the kinds of things we face every day including sacrifice, suffering, service.

“If the question then is raised, ‘God, why did You get me into this?’ The Mormon answer is, ‘Why did you get you

into this?’ You elected and we are told we shouted for joy at the prospect. Imagine that! Shouting for joy! But

couldn’t God being all powerful have arranged a plan of redemption that would enable us to become what we really

have it in us to become without going through such a struggle? And the Mormon answer to that is, ‘No, He could-

n’t!’ To achieve the growth and the overcoming that are essential to a condition like unto His, we have to submit to

the operation. I repeat, our understanding is: God Himself is powerless to get us to total fulfillment except through

the operation we call mortality. And that involves freedom, and much of the evil of the world derives from free-

dom, but not all of it. And furthermore, apparently in the spiritual world, we faced the same realities we do in the

physical; namely, suppose you want muscle. You want to develop strength. You’re too young to have known the

ads that used to appear, not just in the sports and athletic magazines but in others. Uh, it was always a picture of

Charles Atlas. Charles Atlas, uh, with his barrel chest, flexing the biceps. And underneath it said, ‘I was – stress

was – a 98 pound weakling.’ Well, that got your attention if you were like myself, a 45 pound weakling. And you

see his fine physique. And so he had a course called Dynamic Tension. Well, imagine writing to Charles Atlas and

saying, ‘Send me the equipment.’ And then 6 months later writing, ‘Dear Charles, I am returning your equipment

and there has been no change but please send muscles.’ Can you put muscles in boxes?

“The U.S. Army tried during the period of the Second World War to find a way of quickly enhancing muscle and

strength without exercise. Maybe we can do it with pills. Maybe we can do it with nutrition. Maybe we can do it

with sun lamps, but somehow we’ve got to build an army and we haven’t got time to go through all these logistics

of exercise. Well, they failed. The only way you can develop muscle is stress. And apparently, in the gospel of

Jesus Christ, the only way you can build character and sanctify souls is through distress and pain. No woman

has ever given birth to a child, I submit, without some pain. We call them labor pains. My suspicion is that all the

books on painless childbirth have indeed been written by men. Jesus takes that exact simile and says, ‘When a

woman is taken in labor and travail, she hath sorrow because her hour is come.’ He said again and again in His life,

‘Mine hour has not yet come’ but then it did come.

“The sequel to the verse is, ‘But when she is delivered of a child she hath great joy because a son is born into the

world.’ Strange thing to call up a woman who is 8 months pregnant as I did once and said, ‘Uh, any labor pains

yet?’ She said, ‘No, darn it!’ Here’s a woman who wants to have the pains. Why? Because beyond them is deliver-

ance and not only that – new life! That’s exactly the analogy of the purposes of mortality and Jesus talks about our

being reborn. Who paid the price and went through the labor pains so we could be reborn? He did!

“I turn to a related point that I suppose no one else in the philosophical and religious world would affirm. You re-

member the story of the three Nephites who, having known great frustration and failure earlier in their attempts to

bring others to meaningful lives, now yearn to stay, to endure further and longer in the world in order to help.

There’s something like that, by the way, in the Buddhistic notion of the bodhisattva, the fully enlightened one, who

has now the right and the power, if you will, to enter into the condition of Nirvana but deliberately chooses to stay

behind and help others, thus to postpone his own fulfillment. That is a Christian motif. Three Nephites ask and re-

ceive. The key line in our context is, we are told that they will be spared – by some sort of transformation – any

more of the pains of mortality with one exception: they would still have sorrow for the sins of the world. And we

read later, so they did.

“Well, you can take another approach. You can argue – some have – that the whole point of life is to become indif-

ferent to the condition of others. Don’t get involved. Do not think about, do not witness. Build as it were a moat

around yourself and care only for your own ataraxia, which means a kind of calm resignation. That’s avoidance!

And you can make a life. But what happens, really in the end? Well, I’m suggesting to you to consider that perhaps

contrary to the standard view, which is when Jesus said on the cross, ‘It is finished!’ And that meant that forever

His suffering was over; contrary to that notion the pronoun ‘it’ referred to His submission to death and the end of

His mortal sojourn but even as a resurrected and glorified Being in the image of His Father, He is still super-

sensitive to the sins of this world! And is still sorrowed and is still capable, as is the Father, of weeping when His

children deliberately, sometimes ignorantly, but always tragically run away from Him instead of toward Him. Even

now His sorrow is in some respects greater, precisely because He paid the infinite price to enable us to avoid need-

less suffering. There is needless suffering as well as suffering. That is a solemn thought and yet there is such a thing

as pure joy even in the midst of affliction. And that leads me to my last two points.

“There is a movement in our time, I’ve referred to it twice before, known as Existentialism. The term is hard to

pronounce. But what is held by all of them together is a negative assessment of life to the point of maintaining that

it is finally absurd. So you have the phrase of Sartre: life is a useless passion. You have the expression of Camus

who reviews all of the ills of life and then concludes, there is only one problem: suicide. You have the view ex-

pressed by Heidegger, whatever we then do in our life, in his view, is authentic, otherwise merely superficial, tem-

porary, and fleeting. As Søren Kierkegaard, the great Danish philosopher and theologian was for most of his life

unhappy, as he made clear in his writings. But ended by saying that all this is necessary; somehow, he wants to

hold onto something of the Christian message. It’s as if you become most free, and for him, redeemed only when

you acknowledge that there is nothing! That everything is absurd and then somehow you accept Christ. Well I sub-

mit that in some ways that’s exactly upside down. It is only, ultimately through Christ that we find and hold on to

meaning. Not only in life but in death.

“To dwell on, to exaggerate suffering to the point of holding that life is meaningless – you see if it is, if it is totally

absurd, I just point out in passing, if it is totally absurd then it cannot be meaningful to say so. And by the way, ex-

istentialists usually look pretty happy when they get literary prizes. Celebrating despair becomes heroism – passes

for, at last, complete honesty and I suggest to you, on the contrary, it is the most sophisticated form of cowardice.

That it is the hallucination of sick minds, and therefore Freud and Marx both had it exactly backwards. The healthy

-minded sees for health what the sick cannot see at all. And the sick are incapable at this point of seeing meaning.

“Excuse me but there’s another phrase from Herman Wouk that haunts me. He observes that, ‘Many say that life is

not worth living and many say that they would much rather die than be crippled or have a long stay in the hospital’

but Wouk’s point is that we notice that most of them still hold on after they’ve said that; not all, but most. In a

wheelchair a dear friend of mine is coming down the hall of the hospital, troubled that she’s had to spend a week in

the hospital. And then she, uh, corner of her eye sees a woman in bed; her hands are not exactly folded because she

has crippling arthritis. She stops, rolls in, notices something about the woman’s face – serenity, calmness, even

beauty. ‘How long,’ she asks, ‘have you had crippling arthritis?’ ’25 years.’ ‘How long have you been in this con-

dition, in the hospital?’ ’12 years.’ ‘How can you stand it?’ She had faith and she had found meaning.

“I have here the handwritten note of one of the finest philosophers of our time, Prof. John Cobb, Jr. I have a P.S. to

a letter after he and I together wrote an article for the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. I say to him, ‘Is not the Atone-

ment of Jesus Christ the most acute and sensitive problem of theodicy? Here, meaning in Christ’s life, innocence is

subjected to incomparable suffering. In your own heart thinking, how is this reconciled with a God who, if He has

all power could surely have coped in another way, sparing His Son and/or Himself?’ And in his own pen he writes,

‘My heart thinks, is that God does not have all power. John.’ That’s also the Mormon view. He has all the power

it’s possible to have in a universe that self-exists and amidst intelligences that are free. The minute you acknowl-

edge that Man is free, you have to say that evil is possible. And the minute you observe around you the use of free-

dom, you have to say, it is actual. But now to Brother Brigham.

“This is the year we have talked a great deal about the plains. Here are two glimpses that have not only impressed

me but shaken me, deeply. Brigham said, he’s looking back, this is 1860, so not yet 2 decades being in the valley.

Said, ‘The sufferings of the wicked in crossing the plains have been far more severe than what had been endured of

the Saints of the Most High. And when we talk of the difference in regard to the pangs of death, there is no com-

parison.’ Stegner observes, in comparing the Mormons who faced ever West, who sometimes had their hands fro-

zen to the crossbar of the handcarts, who some of them died in each other’s arms, were not the same as the Donner

party, who facing mountains of snow at Donner Pass finally lapsed into cannibalism. The sufferings of the wicked,

he [Bro. Brigham] says, were much greater than the sufferings of the Saints. Why? Well, he then says, ‘In speaking

of the paths of the righteous and the wicked, in the right hand there is joy, peace, comfort, light, and life while in

the left hand there is nothing but darkness, misery, sorrow, and death. And while it is joy and peace to be a servant

of God, it is sorrow and affliction to be wicked.’

“Another quote, ‘The faith I have embraced has given me light for darkness, ease for pain.’ He doesn’t say total

removal. ‘Joy and gladness, for sorrow and mourning. Certainty for uncertainty, hope for despair. We talk about

having grace to endure and we pray, ‘Oh, Lord. Give me grace to endure the pains I receive in this thorny path.”

William Clayton’s phrase, remember? ‘Grace shall be as your day.’ Enough, each day! ‘This thorny path, which

leads to heaven. Help me endure the scoffs and snares of the unfriendly world that I may bear the name of Jesus

honorably while I live. It is right to pray for grace. But let me shape this prayer a little differently and ask God, my

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ to open the eyes of my understanding and teach me the truth as it is.

Then I shall see that I am walking in the light and not in the darkness.’ Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, ‘I

am the Light of the World. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.’ The true

people of God are far removed from that pain, which the sinner and ungodly constantly endure.’

“There was a moment when the 3rd company west, in 1847, led by Jedediah M. Grant, had first lost nearly 30 of

their horses and cattle to an Indian raid and then comes the returning company of Brigham Young from the valley

going back to Winter Quarters. And they learn from first-hand witnesses that there is a valley, and you’re getting

close, and we’ve started to build our city, and it’s beautiful, and they rejoice! In their very rejoicing they let down

their guard and Indians raid and 40 more of their horses and teams are driven off. They spend a day and travel 30

miles to try to recover them. They fail. And then it’s very clear to Brigham, that the only way Jedediah’s company

is going to reach the valley is if they, every one of his party, surrender their animals. And so he stands up on a

wagon and in his own account says, ‘I didn’t look at their faces. I said, ‘Brethren, give all of your horses to

Jedediah Grant’s company.” And I remind you that we are only about 900 miles at that point from Winter Quarters,

while shows he also a sense of humor, he says, ‘At 9 o’clock, we saw Jedediah’s hundred’ – and it wasn’t just a

hundred bodies, it was a hundred, including families – ‘we saw them heading for the valley. And then I invited my

brethren to take a walk with me to Winter Quarters.’ This is the same man that Elder Neal Maxwell’s quoted to

whit, ‘I say God is the author of life and of all joy and comfort. He is the author of all intelligence and of all good

to us. Then become satisfied to obey Him. Seek to get more and more of His nature and learn more of Him. This

will give us greater sensibility and we shall know how to enjoy and how to endure. I say, if you want to enjoy ex-

quisitely, become a Latter-day Saint! And then live the doctrine of Jesus Christ. The man or woman who will do

this will enjoy and endure most. And if they will be humble and faithful, they will enjoy the glory and the excel-

lency of the power of God and be prepared to live with gods and with angels.’

I bear my witness that evil is real. I bear my witness that God is good. I bear my witness that He does all within His

power to enable us to avoid needless suffering. And finally, I bear my witness that He will be with us as our com-

panion in the suffering of which, in the fulfillment of our missions, is unavoidable.”

http://bystudyandfaith.net/2011/02/human-anguish-and-divine-love/

LESSON OUTLINE Today we’ll finish up 2nd Nephi, which means these words are among his last. Have you developed a greater appreciation these past few months for how valiantly Nephi lived? When you think about his life, what stands out in your mind? For me it’s his faith and determination. No matter what the Lord required, Nephi knew that with enough effort, he could do it!

2 Nephi 31:2 Nephi knows these will be his last words. Let’s see what he chose to talk about

~So what is Nephi’s final topic? (The doctrine of Christ) Later on I’ll ask what you think the “doctrine of Christ” is.

2 Nephi 31:5 Here Nephi introduces his first topic

~What does the word “baptism” mean? (Greek: “to dip, steep, dye, immerse) ~What does our being baptized mean? (That we accept the gospel covenant) ~What are some parts of that covenant that we agree to? (take Christ’s name upon us, Bear one another’s burdens, mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort, be a witness for Christ, to serve God & keep His commandments)

2 Nephi 31:11

~What does repentance do for us? (makes us clean. From what? Sin. Is sin a burden? How?) ~Can we sin if we don’t know any better? (No.)

2 Nephi 31:13 Here’s the next topic

~Why does Nephi use fire to describe receiving the Holy Ghost? (fire purifies and cleanses)

2 Nephi 31:18

~Besides cleansing us from the burden of our sins, what else does the Holy Ghost do for us? (bears witness of the Father and Son, Anything else?) ~How do we know we’ve received that witness? (fruits of the Spirit: see Galatians 5:22-23) ~What are the 4 components of the “doctrine of Christ? (faith, repentance, baptism, receipt of the Holy Ghost. Sound familiar?) ~What does the word “doctrine” mean? (teachings) ~What was Christ’s purpose in teaching us these things? (to teach us how to obtain eternal life) ~Is that all, or is there more? (technically, that’s all. But Nephi adds some encour- agement:)

2 Nephi 31:19-20

~What does it mean to “press forward”? (Not get distracted. To move forward with determination, regardless of adversity.) ~Why would Nephi choose such basic doctrine for part of his final words? (Because this is all that matters! The rest is non-essential to our exaltation)

2 Nephi 31:21 This is Nephi’s beautiful conclusion

And to clarify it even further, let’s go to: 2 Nephi 32:5-1st line of 6) ~But how do we know what to do as we’re pressing forward steadfastly? Will we en counter obstacles and forks in the road? (that’s why the Holy Ghost is so es- sential) ~And what is a MAJOR way we receive revelation through the Holy Ghost?

2 Nephi 31:20 2 Nephi 32:3

«Refer to Picture of Feast»

~It is significant that Nephi uses the word “feast” rather than just “read”, or even “search”, or “study”, don’t you think? ~What other verbs come to mind when you think of feasting? What do we do dif- ferently when we feast as opposed to just eating a meal?

Write on Board: Savor

Enjoy Relish Delight in Cherish Treasure Take your time ~Is feasting on the scriptures something that comes easily, or naturally?

Quote #1 Quote #2

~Have you received answers to prayer as you’ve studied the scriptures? I hope if you feel inclined to, that you’ll feel comfortable sharing with us your experiences. Have you ever been reading along and all of a sudden a scripture you’ve read many times before suddenly takes on a whole new meaning that you never saw before?

(David & Abigail)

Quotes #3-6