We had a great discussion. One student mentioned that he thought the teachers would teach differently. Their opinions would be more in harmony with the gospel.
Then I had the students read the following verses 1-3, 5, 7, 10-13, 15 looking for words and phrases that described what the people experienced because they were converted unto the Lord. It was amazing what they discovered.
In verses 16-17 we saw what ceased to exist among the people because they were converted unto the Lord. In verse 17 it says "nor any manner of ites". We had a good discussion of what that means in todays world and the significance of it today.
Finally I had them see what happens when pride enters into the hearts of the people. If you read the following verses 17-23, 34-39, 40-45, you can see what happens when the people were influenced by pride.
What a great juxtaposition to see the blessings of conversion compared to the devastation of pride.
It was eye-opening for me and the students to see how dangerous pride really is.
Elder Uchtdorf has the best definition of pride:
“At its core, pride is a sin of comparison, for though it usually begins with ‘Look how wonderful I am and what great things I have done,’ it always seems to end with ‘Therefore, I am better than you.’“When our hearts are filled with pride, we commit a grave sin, for we violate the two great commandments [see Matthew 22:36–40]. Instead of worshipping God and loving our neighbor, we reveal the real object of our worship and love—the image we see in the mirror” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Pride and the Priesthood,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 56).
Wow, what a powerful and timely lesson. Verse 39 seems especially relevant, "And they were taught to hate..." I never realized 4 Nephi was so....complete. The essence of the gospel is taught in that one chapter.
ReplyDeleteWith this new ministering thing, another name for visiting and home teaching, I’ve been thinking a lot about this. What really keeps us from ministering? Pride, actually pride keeps us from doing everything we are supposed to be doing. It’s so easy to minister to the people we know and love and so difficult to minister to the people we don’t know. If we could just look at everyone with humble loving eyes, as the savior did, it would be so easy to minister. And once you minister you see people so differently and it’s easy to minister to them.
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