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
Slide 3
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?
Slide 4
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).
Slide 5
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).
Slide 6
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).
Slide 7
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.
Slide 8
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).
Slide 9
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.
Slide 10
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?
Slide 11
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).
Slide 12
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).
Slide 13
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).