Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6
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whitlarson

Posts: 5155



Posted: 4 Feb 2008 08:40 AM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life

The purpose:

To help class members have a greater desire to “choose liberty and eternal life” through Jesus Christ, “the great Mediator of all men.”

Scriptures:

2 Nephi 1–2

http://scriptures.lds.org/2_ne/1

http://scriptures.lds.org/2_ne/2

-----------------------------------------------

Teacher's Manual Link:

http://tinyurl.com/2vdroa

Student Manual Link:

http://tinyurl.com/2vse5r

XO

Whit

whitlarson

Posts: 5155



Posted: 4 Feb 2008 08:47 AM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

LDS Living Link:

http://www.ldsliving.com/bom6.asp

Meridian Link(s):

http://www.ldsmag.com/gospeldoctrine/bom/080129bom6.html

BYU New Testament Series:

Episode 8 - "Lehi’s Blessing" (2 Nephi 1-2)

http://www.byub.org/bookofmormon/episode.asp?id=8

Extra Articles (as listed with Ep. 8)

* “A Tribute to the Rank and File of the Church” by Boyd K. Packer (http://tinyurl.com/348x6m)

* “BYU Faculty Workshop Address” by David O. McKay (http://education.byu.edu/mckay/54sept17.html)

* “Christ and the Creation” by Bruce R. McConkie (http://tinyurl.com/3vgyk)

* “Lessons From Eve” by Russell M. Nelson (http://tinyurl.com/34blzz)

* “Opposition in Order to Strengthen Us” by Eldred G. Smith (http://tinyurl.com/3xwdj8)

* “Using Our Free Agency” by Delbert L. Stapley (http://tinyurl.com/2mygnb)

-Whit

whitlarson

Posts: 5155



Posted: 4 Feb 2008 08:56 AM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

DEFINITION OF AGENCY (from the Church website):

Agency is the ability and privilege God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves. Agency is essential in the plan of salvation. Without it, we would not be able to learn or progress or follow the Savior. With it, we are "free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Nephi 2:27).

We do not call it "free" agency. President Packer said, "the words free agency do not appear in the revelations" - and he calls it "moral agency."

Elder Uchtdorf said, "You have agency, and you are free to choose. But there is actually no free agency. Agency has its price. You have to pay the consequences of your choices."

We were instructed by the Primary General Presidency to refer to it as "agency" and not "free agency" while talking with the children in Primary.

You will see "free agency" used throughout old Ensign articles, but our leaders have given us new instruction. :)

whitlarson

Posts: 5155



Posted: 4 Feb 2008 04:54 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

CTR - hope it's okay that I'm copying and pasting this from a different thread... Since we're studying 2 Nephi 2 this week I figured it fit right in...

"Today reading and thinking about this:

2 Nephi 2:6, 7

6 Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.
7 Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

Question I've been pondering. What does it mean to have a "contrite spirit"?" (posted by CTR)

whitlarson

Posts: 5155



Posted: 4 Feb 2008 05:06 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

Bruce D. Porter's gave this talk in October Conference (http://tinyurl.com/2ndhvl).

I sorta look at a "contrite spirit" as having "more sorrow for sin."

ctr2002

Posts: 14241



Posted: 4 Feb 2008 05:07 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

no problem. Didn't event think of that. I've a few others I've been thinking of also.

*edit* me either... so I took it off to rethink it some more.

whitlarson

Posts: 5155



Posted: 4 Feb 2008 05:19 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

I'm not sure I fully understand your question...
ctr2002

Posts: 14241



Posted: 4 Feb 2008 05:41 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

me either so I edited until I rethink.
verily

Posts: 1402



Posted: 5 Feb 2008 10:16 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

someone recently mentioned, I think on here...that when we choose right we are free from negative consequences, or something along those lines. I thought that was cool.
verily

Posts: 1402



Posted: 5 Feb 2008 10:28 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

....arise from the dust, my sons, and be men................
that is found in 2 Nephi 1:21. I love that scripture!
ctr2002

Posts: 14241



Posted: 6 Feb 2008 03:35 AM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

I like that one too!
verily

Posts: 1402



Posted: 6 Feb 2008 11:43 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

Here is a quote on agency by Pres David O McKay

Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct our lives is God's greatest gift to man. It is inherent in the Spirit of man. It is a divine gift to every normal being, whether born in abject poverty or shackled at birth by inherited riches, everyone has the most precious of all life's endowment--the gift of free agency, man's inherited and inalienable right. It is the impelling source of the souls progress. It is the purpose of the Lord that man becomes like him. In order for man to achieve this, it was necessary for the creator first to make him free. To man is given a special endowment, not bestowed upon any other living thing. God gave to him the power of choice.....without this divine power to choose, humanity cannot progress.

looney_tunes

Posts: 478



Posted: 7 Feb 2008 10:12 AM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

This is such a rich topic, I have struggled in deciding what I wanted to share this week. I finally settled on this talk from the 1998 Women's Conference by Tessa Meyer Santiago entitled "Get Thee Behind Me: Thwarting Latter-day Deceits." I couldn't find it online, so have just given you a few highlights.

She begins her talk by reminding us that Satan is really on a mission to make all of us "miserable like unto himself" (2 Nephi 2:27). One of the ways he does this is to persuade us that we are following God's ways when really we are following the enticings of Satan. She says, "If the adversary can induce us to misinterpret our Father's errand for us, then we will never become what we are meant to be. To that end, subtle twists of the truth of the truth are even more effective than monstrous lies."

She then goes on to identify some of the deceits "by which Satan seeks to blind women's minds and distract their hearts, causing us to lose sight of our divine potential."

DECEIT 1: DIVINE DEMANDS ARE RESTRICTIVE

Sister Santiago discusses Mary, mother of the Savior, and how cynics might say she had no choice in her destiny. If God wanted her and chose her for this special calling who was she to refuse? But Mary might have refused, just as Christ later might have refused his role as well, but they chose to be obedient.

"As Eliza R. Snow in hymn #195 reminds us, 'By strict obedience Jesus won the prize with glory rife: Thy will, O God, not mine be done, ' adorned his mortal life.' Mary was great not only because she was chosen as the mother of Christ, but because she positioned herself through her choices so that God could use her in his work. If we are to become women of Christ, we must learn to embrace the will of God.

DECEIT #2: THE WAY IS EASY

"Satan, the author of confusion, would have us believe that an 'easy way' is one of quick, instant gratification. But pleasure is not the purpose and goal of our existence. Joy is. (see 2 Nephi 2:25) Satan wants us to confuse the two: shortchanging ourselves by trading in joy for pleasure."

"If the adversary cannot get us to abandon hope, he will entice us to cheat. By appealing to our lazines, greed or pride, he would have us arrive at a worthwhile goal in the wrong manner. I have learned that it is not so much the destination but the way in which I journey that God scrutinizes."

DECEIT #3: THE WAY MUST BE GRAND

"How many of us cannot have Family Home Evening unless there is a lesson, a hymn, a snack, and a colorful, neatly laminated job chart of the fridge? How many of us, launching a new scripture reading program, say to ourselves, 'Okay, I'll read thirty minutes a day, and then I'll write in my journal, and then I'll study the Sunday School readings, and the Relief Society manual'? After the second day, finding ourselves hopelessly swamped in our grandiose scheme, we abandon ship for some desert island with no scripture study at all....In many cases, I find I have looked way beyond the mark, making the way not easy but fraught with difficulty and complexity where there should be plainness. The Lord counsels us: 'Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means . . . but be diligent unto the end.' "

DECEIT #4: IF I AM AN AT-HOME MOM, MY HOME MUST BE PERFECT

"President Ezra Taft Benson called the women of the Church home not to clean toilet bowls and wash dishes in immaculate houses but to teach children the gospel of Christ. If we think of ourselves only--or even primarily--as housekeepers, we neglect the next generation of souls."

"Staying home also doesn't mean delaying the development of our God-given talents and abilities. Some husbands and wives believe to the detriment of their own souls, the happiness of their families, and the health of the communities--that women who stay home have nothing else to offer the world. They mistakenly believe such women have no talents or that any talents they have must be used solely for the betterment of their families. They labor under the mistaken notion that 'I have chosen to stay home to rear my children; therefore, I must delay the development of my skills and talents until I no longer have children at home.' But a woman's circle of influence does not stop at the curb bordering her home. We must not underestimate the power and responsibility of our womanhood. We are equally under covenant both to rear and to teach our children and to recognize and develop our own considerable talents for the service of God."

DECEIT 5: WOMEN'S BODIES ARE TO BE ADMIRED FOR THEIR YOUTH AND BEAUTY

"Perhaps one of the most discouraging struggles women endure is that never-ending battle with our own bodies. A woman's attitude toward her own body is fraught with misconceptions fueled by a world that celebrates an almost prepubescent female body as the ideal norm. Unfortunately for most of us, time moves on. We are no longer seventeen, [perhaps] a number of children have made their way through our birth canals, and gravity is exerting its inexorable pull. Whenever we look in the mirror, we are reminded of what we are not. Satan would have it just that way. He would have us think that because our bodies do not not look a certain, supposedly desireable, way, they are not worth having at all. Thus, we enter into a war wtih our bodies, hating the very tabernacle our Father has given us, despising the flesh. If Satan can get us to fixate on our bodies, either in vanity or self-loathing, then he has caused us to misunderstand completely the role our bodies play in our salvation."

DECEIT #6: YOUTH IS THE OPTIMAL PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL STATE

"A subtle adversary has devised a world fixated on youth. . . . Satan would have it no other way, for with age normally comes wisdom and the ability to live your life according to God's plan. Experience, sweet or sad, is a grueling schoolmaster. . . .Our culture would have us learn nothing from our experience. The 'truths' it espouses are those of an adolescent world: true love is the pitter patter of hearts as that tenth grader walks by your locker; ... True beauty is young, unblemished, rosy cheeked and golden haired; if I do not fit that criteria, I must not be beautiful. . . .Flair comes from breaking the rules; if I am absolutely obedient, I am dull. The list continues. Adolescent theories about worth, popularity, beauty, wealth, and rules masquerade as truth in our adult worlds. We need to recognize them for what they are and root them out."

DECEIT #7: BETTER TO MAKE NO CHOICE THAN THE WRONG CHOICE

"When Satan was cast out of the heavens, he 'sought to destroy the agency of man' (Moses 4:3). This was and will ever be his primary purpose. At every turn he seeks to undermine, confuse, and paralyze our ability to choose. He often does this by introducing fear into the choice process."

"Satan's strategy is to remove the Atonement from the decision-making prcess. He would have us believe that we have one and only one chance to get things right. Otherwise we will be in his power. That unjustified but very powerful fear freezes many righteous women right in their tracks....Because we desire to make the right choice, we make no choice until we know unequivocally that God has directed us. Unfortunately, most times God will not appear as a pillar of light to show us the way. He will speak to us through the gentle voice of his Spirit, perhaps best detected by a faithful, fearless heart. ... Excessive fear of choice impedes our progress and nullifies the precious gift of agency."

"...a loving Father will not desert his children in their time of need;...he will buoy us up as we work through this complicated maze of choice, agency, and personal responsibility."

"Agency is the supreme gift. Even our poorest choices can lead us to God in humility and gratitude for the Atonement. When Satan's original plan to take away all choice was frustrated, his second plan was to have us enjoy the power of choice but rob us of the humility wrought from suffering consequences. If we are to progress as women of Christ, we must exercise choice and learn from consequences."

verily

Posts: 1402



Posted: 7 Feb 2008 08:35 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

wow. I like that talk looney...thanks for posting it.
egillespie

Posts: 3340



Posted: 7 Feb 2008 11:17 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

I have never heard those things before looney_tunes, at least not several of them, they are great. I should post it on my refrigerator and read it every morning!
E
ctr2002

Posts: 14241



Posted: 8 Feb 2008 06:45 AM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

I like it. thanks for posting it. :) You're just so great!
looney_tunes

Posts: 478



Posted: 8 Feb 2008 05:27 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

I'm glad others saw some value in those thoughts as well. I wish I could have typed in the whole talk, but that would have taken HOURS! However, if there is one area anyone wants to discuss further, I'd be happy to see if there was more in the talk about it. I especially like the part about making decisions, because I feel like that is a way Satan stops me from making progress. I get confused or fearful about choices I need to make and just feel sort of frozen for a time--and it isn't necessarily over huge things. I just waste a lot of time dithering and then rushing because of the time I have wasted, or losing out on opportunities I wish I had taken. This is not wise use of my agency. :)
ctr2002

Posts: 14241



Posted: 9 Feb 2008 05:05 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

BUMP

i'll brb after dinner to work on this...

ctr2002

Posts: 14241



Posted: 9 Feb 2008 08:22 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

edit to remove
verily

Posts: 1402



Posted: 9 Feb 2008 09:32 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

hey ctr. quick question that kindof applies....when you teach the youth do you use the same book as the adults, or do you have a regular manual?
ctr2002

Posts: 14241



Posted: 9 Feb 2008 09:42 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

Same book as the adults.
ctr2002

Posts: 14241



Posted: 9 Feb 2008 10:00 PM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

so it should be easy, right? :)

I'm sure it is... just having brain block on all of this...

whitlarson

Posts: 5155



Posted: 10 Feb 2008 09:02 AM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

A few thoughts this morning... I may take some time later. I HATE that I'm not making as much time to write so far this year, I feel a loss in my learning/understanding when I don't take the time to write out my thoughts and feelings... There's a good lesson in there for me about journaling.

I LOVE the understanding that Adam and Eve had to have two choices from the very beginning for opposition to be introduced. That shows us just how VERY important opposition is... 2 Nephi 2:11 - well, what an important scripture.

I love also the thought of waking up and standing up. "Awake and arise!" In Chapter 1 we are told:

"Awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell!"

"Awake! and arise from the dust..."

"Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust."

Laman and Lemuel had a prophet father. They saw angels. They were led by the Liahona to the promised land. But they allowed the adversary to have control over them. I keep thinking of the "dust" as the body or natural man.

I watched the movie "Groundhog Day" last weekend. It is a movie where the main character lives the same day over and over again. He has to change HIMSELF before the day can change. So many times I think we get caught up in the same habits in life - living the same "day" over and over and we are lulled right into that "sleep of hell." We're not out committing any huge sins of commission - but how many sins of ommission are we committing?

I see this in my life particularly when it comes to media, etc. Even when watching television shows that aren't BAD shows - there are often better things I could be doing with that time... I am trying to make sure that I am not wasting time, but I know I still waste more than I should... which makes me an unwise steward.

It also makes me think of when the Savior is in the Garden of Gethsemane and his Apostles keep falling asleep. The Savior says, "Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." I really think that is what happens when we slip into sleepy habits - that is when we fall into temptation.

It's interesting that it's not enough just to wake up... we have to rise... stand... shake off chains... put on armor!! We are content to sleep while the battle rages - but it is a battle for our souls - a battle in which we need to be anxiously engaged.

egillespie

Posts: 3340



Posted: 10 Feb 2008 09:32 AM
Subject: Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life - BOMSG - Lesson 6

Whit! Love your thoughts. Especially,

I"t's interesting that it's not enough just to wake up... we have to rise... stand... shake off chains... put on armor!! We are content to sleep while the battle rages - but it is a battle for our souls - a battle in which we need to be anxiously engaged."

Does it seem like to you the earth is moving faster and faster towards the Second Coming? It does to me.

E

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