Gospel Doctrine, Lesson 48: “Come unto Christ”,

Moroni 7-8; 10 To download past handouts, go to: highlandvalleysundayschoolnotes2012.blogspot.com

#1 Elder Spencer J. Condie, of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy: “Elder Dallin H. Oaks instructed a group of missionaries in Proto, Portugal, regarding the impor-tance of ‘real intent,’ adding that when we pray with real intent we are willing to accept the consequences of the answer we receive. That is to say, we are willing to assume the responsibility of that confirmation we receive by undergoing a mighty

change of heart and, in most cases, undergoing a mighty behavioral and attitudinal change in our lives.” (In Perfect Balance, 64)

#2 LDS Bible Dictionary: “Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is al-ready willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them.”

#3 The story is told of a man who had been pressed for weeks by his wife and bishop to live the law of tithing. Finally, exasperated, the man went into the bishop’s office, slid the envelope across the desk, and said, “Here Bishop, here’s your d___ tithing!” The bishop calmly slid the envelope back across the desk, replying, “Well if that’s the way you feel about it, then you can keep your money. The Lord doesn’t want it.” (gospeldoctrine.com/Moroni 7)

#4 President Brigham Young: “ We say to the Saints, do not pay Tithing, unless you want to; do not help to build up this Temple unless you want to, ...If you grudgingly put forth your means to help to gather the Saints, it will be a curse to you.” (Journal of Discourses, 8:355)

#5 President Marion G. Romney: “About a quarter of a century ago Sister Romney and I moved into a ward in which they were just beginning to build a meeting-house. The size of the contribution the bishop thought I ought to contribute rather staggered me: I thought it was at least twice as much as he should have asked. However, I had just been called to a rather high Church position, so I couldn’t very

well [say no]. Therefore, I said, ‘Well, I will pay it, Bishop, but I will have to pay it in install-ments because I don’t have the money.’ And so I began to pay. And I paid and paid until I

was down to about the last three payments, when, as is my habit, I was reading The Book of Mormon, and came to the scripture which said: “ ‘...If a man...giveth a gift...grudgingly, wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.” (Moroni 7:8) “This shocked me because I was out about a thousand dollars. Well, I went on and paid the three installments I had promised to pay, and

then I paid several more installments to convince the Lord that I had done it with the right

attitude” (“Mother Eve, a Worthy Exemplar,” Relief Society Magazine, Feb. 1968, 84-85)

#6 President Gordon B. Hinckley: “How do we recognize the promptings of the Spirit? I don’t think that’s too difficult, really. When all is said and done it is a mat-ter of a feeling we have in our hearts… That’s the test… Does it persuade me to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be generous? Then it is of the Spirit of God. If it is dark, sinister, ugly, not good, then you may know

that it is of the adversary… “You recognize the promptings of the Spirit by the fruits of the Spirit— that which enlighteneth, that which buildeth up, that which is positive and affirmative and uplifting and leads us to better thoughts and better words and better deeds is of the Spirit of God. .. I think it is just that plain, just that simple.” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, “Holy Ghost”)

#7 Elder Neal A. Maxwell: “Unsurprisingly the triad of faith, hope, and charity, which brings us to Christ, has strong and converging linkage: faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, hope is in His atonement, and charity is the ‘pure love of Christ’ (see

Ether 12:28; Moroni 7:47). Each of these attributes qualifies us for the celestial kingdom (see Moroni 10:20-21; Ether 12:34). Each, first of all, requires us to be meek and lowly (see

Moroni 7:39, 43)...In the geometry of restored theology, hope has a greater circumference than faith. If faith increases, the perimeter of hope stretches correspondingly” (CR, Oct. 1994)

#8 Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “Charity, ‘the pure love of Christ’ (Moroni : 45), is not an act but a condition or state of being. Charity is attained through a succession of acts that result in a conversion. Charity is something one becomes.” (CR, Oct. 2000)

#9 Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: “True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and purely in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. It is Christ’s love for us that ‘suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not.’ It is his love for us that is not ‘puffed up…, not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.’ It is Christ’s love for us that ‘beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth

all things.’ It is as demonstrated in Christ that ‘charity never faileth.’ It is that charity—his pure love for us—without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possessed of the blessings of his love at the last day—the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise—surely it shall be well with them.

“This does not in any way minimize the commandment that we are to try to acquire this kind of love for one another...We should try to be more constant and unfailing, more long-suffering and kind, less envious and puffed up in our relationships with others. As Christ lived so should we live, and as Christ loved, so should we love. ..

“Life has its share of fears and failures. Sometimes things fall short. Sometimes people fail us, or economies or businesses or governments fail us. But one thing in time or eternity

#10 Elder Neal A. Maxwell: “The Book of Mormon will be with us ‘as long as the earth shall stand.’ We need all that time to explore it, for the book is like a vast mansion with gardens, towers, courtyards, and wings. There are rooms yet to be entered, with flaming fireplaces waiting to warm us. The rooms glimpsed so far contain further furnishings and rich detail yet to be savored, but décor dating from Eden is evident. There are panels inlaid with in-credible insights, particularly insights about the great questions. (see Alma 34:5-6) Yet we as Church members sometimes behave like hurried tourists, scarcely venturing beyond the en-try hall. (Not My Will, But Thiine, 33)

Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “Moroni did not promise a manifestation of the Holy Ghost to those who seek to know the truth of the Book of Mormon for hypothetical or academic reasons, even if they ‘ask with a sincere heart.’ The promise of Moroni is for those who are commit-ted in their hearts to act upon the manifestation if it is received. Prayers based on any other reason have no promise because they are not made ‘with real intent’” (Pure in Heart, 19-20) Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: “The Savior said, ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you...Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid’ (John 14:27)...I submit to you, that may be one of the Savior’s commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resis-tance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart. I can tell you this as a parent: as concerned as I would be if somewhere in their lives one of my chil-dren were seriously troubled or unhappy or disobedient, nevertheless I would be infinitely more devastated if I felt that at such a time that child could not trust me to help or thought his or her interest was unimportant to me or unsafe in my care. In that same spirit, I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Sav-ior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands or trust in his commandments” (“Come Unto Me,” Ensign, Apr. 1998, 19) President Brigham Young: “Miracles, or these extraordinary manifestations of the power of God, are not for the unbeliever; they are to console the Saints, and to strengthen and

Other thoughts too great not to include:

does not fail us—the pure love of Christ… “Thus, the miracle of Christ’s charity both saves and changes us. His atoning love saves

us from death and hell as well as from carnal, sensual, and devilish behavior. That redeem-ing love also transforms the soul, lifting it above fallen standards to something far more no-ble, far more holy...Without the redeeming love of Christ in our lives, all other qualities—even virtuous qualities and exemplary good works—fall short of salvation and joy” (Christ and

the New Covenant, 336-37)

confirm the faith of those who love, fear, and serve God” (Discourses of Brigham Young, 341) Elder Bruce R. McConkie: “Hope enables [us] to have faith in the first instance and then because of faith that hope increases until salvation is gained” (Mormon Doctrine, 365-66)

(An example of mistaking good for evil…) Two California Highway Patrol Officers were conducting speeding enforcement on I-15,

just north of the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar. One of the officers was using a hand held radar device to check speeding vehicles approaching the crest of a hill. The officers were suddenly surprised when the radar gun began reading 300 miles per hour. The officer attempted to reset the radar gun, but it would not reset and then turned off.

Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to a USMC F/A-18 Hornet which was engaged in a low flying exercise near the location.

Back at the CHP Headquarters the Patrol Captain fired off a complaint to the USMC Commander. The reply came back in true USMC style:

Thank you for your letter. We can now complete the file on this incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the

presence of, and subsequently locked on to your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it, which is why it shut down.

Furthermore, an Air-to-Ground missile aboard the fully armed aircraft had also automati-cally locked on to your equipment location.

Fortunately, the Marine Pilot flying the Hornet recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile system alert status and was able to override the auto-mated defense system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position.

The pilot also suggests you cover your mouths when cussing at them, since the video systems on these jets are very high tech.

Sergeant Johnson, the officer holding the radar gun, should get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose. Also, the snap is broken on his holster.

Thank you for your concern.

Semper Fi Not a true story—just a joke!

LESSON 48 OUTLINE Before we get into the meat of the concluding chapters of the Book of Mormon, I’d like to point out one of those internal evidences of its being translated from an an-cient Semitic language. First, a little English grammar: ~When we begin a sentence with “if”, what word usually accompanies it in the next phrase of the sentence? (for example, “If you want a testimony of the Book of Mormon, __(then)__ you must read it and pray about it.” Often we leave the “then” out of these phrases, but in Hebrew they use the phrase “if...and”. There are, or I should say were, 14 examples of this in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, but they were removed in the 1834 edition because it’s very awkward-sounding in English. Let’s go to two examples. Turn with me to:

Helaman 12:13 In the 1830 edition it read: “...if he say unto the earth—move—and it is moved.”

Moroni 10:4 (beginning with “and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart…” This read: “...if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent,

having faith in Christ, and he will manifest the truth of it unto you.” This brings us to the phrase, “real intent”. ~What does it mean to pray “with real intent” in this context? (that we intend to act on the answer we receive)

Quotation #1 ~What is required for someone to pray with such intent? What kind of person must he be? (honest and humble) Many times we pray like we’re reading a grocery list: “Please bless me with this, please bless so-and-so with that…” This is not necessarily wrong, but: ~How can we make sure “real intent” is included in such prayers? (by seeking to know Heavenly Father’s will, and doing all we can to bring it about)

Quotation #2 The phrase “real intent” is also used in:

Moroni &:5-8 ~So is it possible for us to be doing the right thing for the wrong reason? Ironically, just as I was working on this part of the lesson, my youngest son Karsten asked me for a $4 chore to do. A little while later, he was getting upset with the chore, and I asked him what he wanted the $4 for. He said, very irritated, “To pay my tithing, and that’s what’s frustrating blah, blah, blah.” Whoa! I’ve certainly done the same thing, many times! ~Have you ever had to clean up after someone, or done a task someone else was supposed to do and grumbled all the while?

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~Does attitude matter? (Read Moroni 7:8 again) Quotations #3-5

Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “…[the] scriptures make clear that in order to purify our service in the Church and to our fellowmen, it is necessary to consider not only how we serve, but also why we serve.” (CR, Oct. 1984) ~What are some reasons people serve one another? -reward/honor -loyalty to friends, family or traditions -companionship -hope of an eternal reward (this is a higher -fear of punishment reason) -duty -Charity (this is the highest reason) Elder Oaks concluded his thoughts with this: “Service with all of our heart and mind is a high challenge for all of us. Such service must be free of selfish ambition. It must be motivated only by the pure love of Christ.” That is the goal. Now, when I tried to teach Karsten this, he stopped even trying to do the chore, since having a good atti-tude about it was beyond him at that point. ~If our attitude isn’t right, should we stop what we’re doing? What should we do? (pray for help, keep doing our best) Next Moroni explains how we can judge good from evil:

Moroni 7:13, 16-17 President Gordon B. Hinckley quoted these verses and then had this to say:

Quotation #6 Sometimes as members of the church we may think it’s an easy thing to distinguish good from evil. But just as we’ve already discussed, doing good for the wrong reason is counted as evil. Here’s an example of some of our local CHP officers mistaking good for evil:

Quotation #7 ~Why is it so important that we understand how to judge good from evil? (read 7:19) In judging what we wear, listen to, read, and watch we can know perfectly well whether or not it is good for us—if it is uplifting, inspiring, if it will bring us to Christ, or if we would feel comfortable wearing it, listening to it, reading it, or watching it in His presence. ~As we judge correctly, and choose the good, what will be the result? What will we become? (see verse 19, “a child of Christ”) ~And what does that mean? (like Him, joint heirs, exaltation)

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So Moroni chooses as his final message to the world, to focus on how to obtain salvation. First, as we talked about last week, he outlines the necessary ordinances. And then he talks about how to become like Christ, which means obtaining charity. ON BOARD: ~What are the three things which bring us to Christ? (see Moroni 10:20) ~Faith in whom? (Jesus Christ) ~Hope in what? (His atonement enabling our salvation) ~And what is charity? (the pure love of Christ) So these three things bring us to Christ, literally, by changing our very natures to be-come like His.

Quotation #8 ~Is charity something we do? Or what we are? (both)

Quotation #9 ~Again, should we just concentrate on other good things because this seems so impossible? Or should we trust that the Atonement is truly infinite?

Quotation #10 Notice that there is only one thing that will not fail, both in this life and eternally. ~What does that make everything else? (an illusion. Everything else is artificial. Every good thing leads to charity. Remember how Paul listed many gifts of the Spirit and then stated that you can have them all, but that without charity you are nothing? And remember, God is love, and we are striving to be like Him so we can dwell with Him eternally. The Beatles were right: all you need is love, as long as it’s God’s love!)

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Well...at the end of every lesson this year, I have felt there was so much more that needed to be discussed. Today is no different, of course. I am grateful for the oppor-tunity I’ve had to teach the Book of Mormon, and I walk away mostly with a sense of awe. When you have to choose what to include and what to leave out of the lessons, then you really get an idea of just how jam-packed with the gospel the Book of Mor-mon really is! I know it is true. I’d like to end with a quotation by Elder Maxwell, #11 on the handout. Let’s not be tourists! Let’s make ourselves at home, shall we?!

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