Prepare your mind and heart to be taught by the Holy Ghost so that you can make the most of your seminary experience. Participating in seminary can help you come to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ better. By studying the scriptures and the words of the prophets, you can learn how to progress toward eternal life.
Begin your study with prayer.
Being a parent is a great blessing and a sacred responsibility. God will hold parents accountable for how they fulfill their family responsibilities (see “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 145).
What do you think it might be like to have a child who is the age you are now? While serving as a member of the Seventy, Elder Larry R. Lawrence spoke to the parents of teenagers about their responsibility to their children. As you watch the following excerpt from his talk, consider what parents can do to help their children and what children can do to honor their parents. You can read the text for this video here: “Courageous Parenting,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 98–99.
Imagine that this chain goes on forever in both directions and represents your ancestors, you, and your descendants. Because we are linked to our ancestors and descendants, certain traits, traditions, and teachings are often passed on from one generation to another.
1. Answer the following questions:
What are some traits, traditions, or teachings your parents (or ancestors) have passed on to you?
What do you think are the most useful traits, traditions, or teachings you could pass on to your future children?
From Moses 6:1, 13, 21, 23 we can learn that parents are responsible to teach their children the ways of God.
In Moses 6:1–25 we read that Adam and his righteous posterity continued to teach the gospel to their families even when those around them became wicked. By doing this, those who were righteous made it possible for their families to experience the blessings and protection that come from knowing and living the ways of God.
Consider how your parents or other parents you know have fulfilled their responsibility to teach their children the ways of God even as the world has increased in wickedness. What blessings have you seen when parents teach their children how to live righteously?
Have you ever felt like you were not good enough? Or have you ever had a weakness that made you feel like you could not accomplish something the Lord had asked you to do?
A prophet named Enoch had feelings similar to these when the Lord called him to cry repentance to his people. In Moses 6–7 we learn significant details about Enoch and his people that are not recorded in Genesis 5 but that the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Read Moses 6:26–28, looking for phrases that describe Enoch’s people.
The Lord’s description of Enoch’s people having hearts that had “waxed hard,” ears that were “dull of hearing,” and eyes that could not “see afar off” (Moses 6:27) is a symbolic way of saying that the people resisted the promptings of the Spirit and did not hearken to the Lord’s counsel.
Read Moses 6:31–34, looking for Enoch’s response to the Lord’s call.
Quiz 1
What concerns did Enoch express about his ability to fulfill the Lord’s call? Please select all that apply.
He did not feel he was good at speaking.
He worried the people did not like him.
He was concerned about his family’s welfare.
He felt he was too young to be given such a responsibility.
What commandments did the Lord give Enoch?
To sell all that he had and give it to the poor.
To tell the people to leave their homes and journey to a promised land.
To open his mouth and invite the people to choose to serve the Lord.
From Enoch’s experience with the Lord recorded in Moses 6:31–34, we can learn that if we go and do what the Lord commands, He will be with us and help us.
How might this principle help those who feel inadequate or who feel incapable of doing what the Lord has asked of them?
Read Moses 6:35–36, looking for what the Lord commanded Enoch to do to help him accomplish the task He had given him.
When Enoch washed the clay from his eyes, he was able to see with spiritual eyes rather than just his natural eyes. Notice the word seer in Moses 6:36. Because God gave Enoch power to see things that were not visible to the natural eye, he was a seer. Similarly, the First Presidency and the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been called of God to be prophets, seers, and revelators in our day.
Read Moses 6:37–39, 47, looking for how the people responded to Enoch’s preaching.
How was the people’s reaction a fulfillment of the Lord’s promises described in Moses 6:32–34 to be with Enoch and help him?
2. When have you seen (or read about) someone doing what the Lord asked in spite of his or her weaknesses and then receiving the Lord’s help? What did you learn about the Lord from that experience?
The phrase “we are” in Moses 6:48 indicates that the Fall made it possible for us to be born on the earth (see also 2 Nephi 2:25).
According to Moses 6:49, when people succumb to Satan’s temptations, they “become carnal, sensual, and devilish, and are shut out from the presence of God.” When we misuse our agency and seek to fulfill physical appetites and desires instead of following after righteousness and the things of God, we become carnal and sensual.
In Moses 6:50–68 we read that Enoch shared with the people some of the things Adam learned from God after the Fall.
Read Moses 6:50–52, looking for what God told Adam we need to do to overcome our carnal and sensual nature.
From Moses 6:52 we can learn that if we believe, repent, and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, then we will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
How does believing, repenting, being baptized, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost help us overcome our carnal nature and prepare to return to live with God again?
Read Moses 6:53, looking for what Adam asked the Lord.
We read the Lord’s answer to the first part of Adam’s question in Moses 6:54–57. He explained that all people must repent of their sins, because no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God. When we repent, we begin the process of spiritual rebirth, or being born again. We are born again as we come alive to things of the Spirit and gradually lose our desire to break God’s commandments.
The Lord then answered the second part of Adam’s question, which is about baptism. The Lord compared being born again spiritually to being born physically.
Read Moses 6:59. What blessings come from being born again?
From Moses 6:59 we can learn that we must be born again in order to be sanctified from all sin and to inherit eternal life.
Moses 6:59 also identifies three elements that are part of both physical and spiritual birth: water, the Spirit, and blood.
Read Moses 6:60–62, looking for why water, the Spirit, and blood are essential to being born again.
Quiz 2
1. Match the element on the left with the role it plays in the process of being born again on the right.
By the water …
By the Spirit …
By the blood …
… we are justified.
… we keep the commandment.
… we are sanctified.
Purification through the Atonement of Jesus Christ
To be justified means “to be pardoned from punishment for sin and declared guiltless” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Justification, Justify,” scriptures.lds.org). To be sanctified means to be “free from sin, pure, clean, and holy through the Atonement of Jesus Christ” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Sanctification,” scriptures.lds.org).
How can we know if we are being justified, sanctified, and purified through the Atonement of Jesus Christ?
President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency explained:
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Henry B. Eyring
“Reception of the Holy Ghost is the cleansing agent as the Atonement purifies you. …
“… And when he is your companion, you can have confidence that the Atonement is working in your life” (Henry B. Eyring, “Come unto Christ” [Brigham Young University fireside, Oct. 29, 1989], speeches.byu.edu).
When have you felt forgiven of sins because of the influence of the Holy Ghost? Where were you, and what were you doing? Remember to not share anything too personal.
What things can you do that will invite the Holy Ghost into your life and help you feel forgiven of your sins?
Read Moses 6:63. Why do you think it is important for us to understand that “all things are created and made to bear record of [God]”? How might it influence your actions to know that you were created to bear record of God?
In Moses 6:64–68 we read that after Adam was taught these truths, exercised faith, and repented, Adam cried unto the Lord and was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord. He was baptized, received the Holy Ghost, and, as a result, was “born of the Spirit” (Moses 6:65).
The following truths were identified in this lesson:
Parents are responsible to teach their children the ways of God.
If we go and do what the Lord commands, He will be with us and help us.
If we believe, repent, and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, then we will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
We must be born again in order to be sanctified from all sin and to inherit eternal life.
Adam set an example by believing in Jesus Christ, repenting, and being baptized with water and the Spirit. If we follow Adam’s example, we too can become born again through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
