2 Nephi 6: 2-4
Reading 1 – 2 Nephi 9:6
Alma 12:16
Reading 2 – Helaman 14:18
Reading 3 - Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: Our spirits,
stained with sin, unable to cleanse themselves, would be subject to the author
of sin everlastingly; we would be followers of Satan; we would be sons of
perdition. (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, pp129-130)
Reading 4 - President Joseph Fielding Smith said: Death is
just as important in the welfare of man as is birth. There is no greater
blessing that can come than the blessing of birth. One third of the hosts of
heaven, because of rebellion, were denied that privilege, and hence they have
no bodies of flesh and bones, that great gift of God.
But who would like to live forever in this mundane world,
filled with pain, decay, sorrow, and tribulation, and grow old and infirm and
yet have to remain with all the vicissitudes of mortality? I think all of us
would come to the conclusion, if that proposition were placed before us, that
we would not like to have it. We would reject it. We would not want life of
that nature. Life here in this world is short of necessity, and yet all that is
required may be accomplished, but death is just as important in the plan of salvation
as birth is. We have to die--it is essential--and death comes into the world
'to fulfill the merciful plan of the great creator'. (Doctrines of Salvation,
1:116)
Reading 5 – 2 Nephi 9:5-7
2 Nephi 9:10
Reading 6 - Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: “O the wisdom of
God, his mercy and grace!” Jacob exults. Why? Because if there were no
atonement, there would be no resurrection; and if there were no resurrection,
“our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the
presence of Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits
must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be
shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the Father of lies,
in misery, like unto himself.” (2 Ne. 9:89.) That is to say, if there were no
resurrection, which comes by the grace of God, all men would be sons of
perdition, the most horrible and awful punishment in all the eternities. (Bruce
R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p.347)
Reading 7 – 2 Nephi 9:12-14
Reading 8
- Pres. Joseph F. Smith, said: May I say to you that in reality a man cannot
forget anything? He may have a lapse of memory; he may not be able to recall at
the moment a thing that he knows, or words that he has spoken; he may not have
the power at his will to call up these events and words; but let God Almighty
touch the mainspring of the memory, and awaken recollection, and you will find
then that you have not even forgotten a single idle word that you have spoken.
I believe the word of God to be true, and therefore, I warn the youth of Zion,
as well as those who are advanced in years, to beware of saying wicked things,
of speaking evil, and taking in vain the name of sacred things and sacred
beings. Guard your words, that you may not offend even man, much less offend
God. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 311)
2 Nephi 2:10
Reading 9 – 2 Nephi 9:18, 21, 23-24
Reading 10 – 2 Nephi 9:27-38
2 Nephi 10:2, 7-8, 21-22
Reading 11 - Elder Boyd K. Packer taught: “The discouraging
idea that a mistake (or even a series of them) makes it everlastingly too late,
does not come from the Lord. He has said that if we will repent, not only will
He forgive us our transgressions, but He will forget them and remember our sins
no more (see Isaiah 43:25; Hebrews 8:12; 10:17; Alma 36:19; D&C 58:42)” (in
Conference Report, Apr. 1989, 72; or Ensign, May 1989, 59).
2 Nephi 10:23-24
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