Seminary: 83 3 Nephi 12

Background: The people who survived the destruction gathered around the temple. They heard God the Father announce the arrival of Jesus Christ and the Christ then descended from the sky. He brought up 12 persons and gave them the priesthood, and commissioned them to preach and to baptize. He provided the approved method of baptism.


Write: “Happiness is the object and design of our existence” (Joseph Smith)

Is this statement true?

How many of you desire to be happy?

Have any of you ever felt happy?

This quote is from Joseph Smith, the full quote is:

“Happiness is the object and design of our existence, and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it?

What is the path that leads to happiness?

What would it take to gain the type of happiness that Joseph Smith spoke of?

What are some events that could happen in your lives over the next five years that could bring happiness?

Have any of you thought something would bring make you happy, only to find out later that it did not?

Why do you think it failed to bring happiness?

What is a blueprint?

What are they used for?

What happens when someone does not use the blueprints?

http://www.projectcartoon.com/cartoon/1111

Would you be interested in a “blueprint” or plan for a perfect life?

President Harold B. Lee told us about one:

“In his Sermon on the Mount the Master has given us somewhat of a revelation of his own character, which was perfect, or what might be said to be ‘an autobiography, every syllable of which he had written down in deeds,’ and in so doing has given us a blueprint for our own lives…

“Each of his declarations is begun by the word ‘Blessed.’…’Blessedness is an inward fountain of joy in the soul itself, which no outward circumstances can seriously affect’ [in a Commentary on the Holy Bible, ed. J. R. Dummelow (1909), 639]. These declarations of the Master are known in the literature of the Christian world as the Beatitudes and have been referred to by Bible commentators as the preparation necessary for entrance into the kingdom of heaven….May I speak of them as something more than that as they are applied to you and me. They embody in fact the Constitution for a Perfect Life.” (Decisions for successfully living [1973], 56-57).

3 Nephi 12:1-12

Discuss each of the beatitudes

What does it mean?

How could it help us to be happy?

Robert Matthews:

“These choice, brief statements are not separate, disjointed platitudes; each has a relationship to the others. Let us look at them from the more complete list given in the Nephite sermon and in the Joseph Smith Translation. The Beatitudes deal first with a person’s relationship to God. They speak of such things as faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sins, and receiving the Holy Ghost. (These particular features are missing from the King James Version.) The emphasis then shifts to a person’s feelings about himself, or of those feelings that spring from within himself, or of those feelings that spring from within. For example: Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Then the emphasis shifts to a person’s attitude toward others. For example: Blessed are the peacemakers. And finally a fourth emphasis appears-how a person should handle other people’s attitudes toward himself. Thus, blessed are all they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake of who are reviled and persecuted falsely” (Robert J. Matthews, A Bible! A Bible! [1990], 240).