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Choose the Right239 BM 122 6Alma 38-42

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Rank the sins 1-8, with 1 being the most grievous Drinking beer Fornication (sexual transgressions) Kicking puppies Murder Eating way too much at Craigos Stealing a car Denying the Holy Ghost Pushing an old lady down

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Alma 39:5-6 The three most serious sins: 1. Denying the Holy Ghost (unpardonable6) 2. Murder (not easy to obtain forgiveness6) 3. Sexual transgressions (most abominable save #1 and #2 verse 5) Why?

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Procreation & The Plan The power of creationor may we say procreation is not just an incidental part of the plan: it is essential to it. Without it the plan could not proceed. The misuse of it may disrupt the plan. Much of the happiness that may come to you in this life will depend on how you use this sacred power of creation (in Conference Report, Apr. 1972, 13637; or Ensign, July 1972, 111).

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Why is it such a serious sin? In matters of human intimacy, you must wait! You must wait until you can give everything, and you cannot give everything until you are legally and lawfully married. To give illicitly that which is not yours to give (remember, you are not your own [1 Corinthians 6:19]) and to give only part of that which cannot be followed with the gift of your whole self is emotional Russian roulette. If you persist in pursuing physical satisfaction without the sanction of heaven, you run the terrible risk of such spiritual, psychic damage that you may undermine both your longing for physical intimacy and your ability to give wholehearted devotion to a later, truer love. You may come to that truer moment of ordained love, of real union, only to discover to your horror that what you should have saved you have spent, and that only Gods grace can recover the piecemeal dissipation of the virtue you so casually gave away. On your wedding day the very best gift you can give your eternal companion is your very best selfclean and pure and worthy of such purity in return (Jeffrey R. Holland, Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 100; or Ensign, Nov. 1998, 7677).

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Another Reason Its So Serious In exploiting the body of anotherwhich means exploiting his or her soulone desecrates the Atonement of Christ, which saved that soul and which makes possible the gift of eternal life. And when one mocks the Son of Righteousness, one steps into a realm of heat hotter and holier than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be burned. Please, never say: Who does it hurt? Why not a little freedom? I can transgress now and repent later. Please dont be so foolish and so cruel. You cannot with impunity crucify Christ afresh [see Hebrews 6:6]. Flee fornication [1 Corinthians 6:18], Paul cries, and flee anything like unto it [D&C 59:6; italics added], the Doctrine and Covenants adds. Why? Well, for one reason, because of the incalculable suffering in both body and spirit endured by the Savior of the world so that we could flee. We owe Him something for that. Indeed, we owe Him everything for that. Ye are not your own, Paul says. Ye [have been] bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods [1 Corinthians 6:1920; italics added]. In sexual transgression the soul is at stakethe body and the spirit (in Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 99100; or Ensign, Nov. 1998, 76).

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Counsel from a Loving Father Read Alma 38: 12; 39:2-4, 7-15 with a friend, looking for insights into why people fall into sexual immorality and keys for avoiding it.

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Bridle your passions Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the Seventy and his wife Marie explained that a bridle was meant to direct, not destroy, desires and passions: Is self-denial wise because something is wrong with our passions, or because something is right with our passions? Alma taught his son: See that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love. (Alma 38:12; emphasis added.) He did not say eliminate or even suppress your passions, but bridle themharness, channel, and focus them. Why? Because discipline makes possible a richer, deeper love (The Belonging Heart [1994], 302).

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Alma 40-42 On their own, students quickly scan over Alma 40-42. Draw a diagram of the plan of salvation and fill in as much of it as possible using Alma 40-42.

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Alma 40-42 On their own, students quickly scan over Alma 40-42. Draw a diagram of the plan of salvation and fill in as much of it as possible using Alma 40-42. Spirit worldAlma 40:6-14 1 st ResurrectionAlma 40:16-22 Judgment/RestorationAlma 41 Mortality/ ProbationAlma 42:4- The FallAlma 42:2-11 AtonementAlma 42:15 HappinessAlma 41:10-12; 42:8, 16 MercyAlma 42:13-25 RepentanceAlma 42:13, 16 LawAlma 42:17-22 Now, looking at these chapters through the eyes of a parent of a wayward child/or through the eyes of the wayward child, what doctrines and teachings do you find that would worry your mind (40:1; 41:1; 42:1)? Why?

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Where is the Spirit world? When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the spiritual world. Are you going into Abrahams bosom? No, not anywhere nigh there but into the spirit world. Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes, they do. Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do. Do they go to the sun? No. Do they go beyond the boundaries of the organized earth? No, they do not. They are brought forth upon this earth (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 376).

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Second Death The scriptures sometimes speak of salvation from the second death. The second death is the final spiritual deathbeing cut off from righteousness and denied a place in any kingdom of glory (see Alma 12:32; D&C 88:24). This second death will not come until the Final Judgment, and it will come to very few (see D&C 76:3137). Almost every person who has ever lived on the earth is assured salvation from the second death (see D&C 76:4045) (True to the Faith, 153).

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The Order of the Resurrection At the time of the [second] coming of Christ, They who have slept in their graves shall come forth, for their graves shall be opened; and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of heaven They are Christs, the first fruits, they who shall descend with him first, and they who are on the earth and in their graves, who are first caught up to meet him; and all this by the voice of the sounding of the trump of the angel of God [D&C 88:9798]. These are the just, whose names are written in heaven, where God and Christ are the judge of all. These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood [D&C 76:6869]. Following this great event, and after the Lord and the righteous who are caught up to meet him have descended upon the earth, there will come to pass another resurrection. This may be considered as a part of the first, although it comes later. In this resurrection will come forth those of the terrestrial order, who were not worthy to be caught up to meet him, but who are worthy to come forth to enjoy the millennial reign (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [195456], 2:29597). Those coming forth in the morning of this resurrection do so with celestial bodies and shall inherit a celestial glory; these are they who are Christs the firstfruits. Those coming forth in the afternoon of this resurrection do so with terrestrial bodies and consequently shall inherit that kingdom; they are described as being Christs at this coming. All who have been resurrected so far have received celestial bodies; the coming forth of terrestrial beings does not commence until after the Second Coming. (D.&C. 76:5080; 88:9599.) (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [197173], 1:196).