February 15–21
Doctrine and Covenants 14–17
“Stand as a Witness”
Think about the doctrine and events described in Doctrine and Covenants 14–17. How will you inspire the people you teach to “stand as a witness of [these] things”? (Doctrine and Covenants 14:8).
Invite Sharing
What did members of your class find meaningful in their personal or family scripture study? Perhaps you could invite the class to share one insight about participating in the Lord’s work from each section in Doctrine and Covenants 14–17.
Teach the Doctrine
Doctrine and Covenants 14–16
The Lord invites us to participate in His work.
What do class members know about the Whitmer family? (see Saints, 1:68–69)
.
Have the youth find a fact about the Whitmers they learned from reading Saints, 1:68–69 How do these facts help us better understand the Lord’s counsel to the Whitmers in sections 14–16? For example, why might the Lord have compared His work to harvesting a field?
To allow class members to share their thoughts about participating in the Lord’s work, you display the following references on the board: Doctrine and Covenants 14:1; 14:2–4; 14:5, 8; 14:6–7; 14:9–11; 15:6
Hand out the Scripture refences to the class
. Class members could read one of these scripture passages in pairs and discuss what they learn about the work of the Lord. A few of the pairs could share with the class what they discussed.
Invite class members to share their experiences helping others come closer to the Savior, including as full-time or service missionaries and through ministering.
How have they seen the Lord’s words in Doctrine and Covenants 15:6 and 16:6 fulfilled in their lives?
What do we learn from these sections that can help us prepare to share the gospel?
Doctrine and Covenants 17
We can remain true to what we know, even if others reject us.
“The Testimony of Three Witnesses”; “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses”
We can all be witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
Studying the testimonies of the Three and the Eight Witnesses could strengthen your class members’ testimonies and help them ponder how they might share their own witnesses. You could ask half of the class to read “The Testimony of Three Witnesses” and the other half to read “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses” and share impressions or details that stand out to them.
How are the two testimonies different?
How are they similar?
What do we learn from these witnesses about sharing our testimonies?
To start a discussion about why the Three Witnesses are important, you could share President Dallin H. Oaks’s statement
or John Whitmer’s testimony
or you might show the video “The Testimony of the Three Witnesses” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org).
The importance of the Three Witnesses.
President Dallin H. Oaks explained why the testimony of the Three Witnesses is so compelling:
“The testimony of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon stands forth in great strength. Each of the three had ample reason and opportunity to renounce his testimony if it had been false, or to equivocate on details if any had been inaccurate. As is well known, because of disagreements or jealousies involving other leaders of the Church, each one of these three witnesses was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by about eight years after the publication of their testimony. All three went their separate ways, with no common interest to support a collusive effort. Yet to the end of their lives—periods ranging from 12 to 50 years after their excommunications—not one of these witnesses deviated from his published testimony or said anything that cast any shadow on its truthfulness” (“The Witness: Martin Harris,” Ensign, May 1999, 36).
The testimony of John Whitmer.
John Whitmer, one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, declared: “I have never heard that any one of the three or eight witnesses ever denied the testimony that they have borne. … Our names have gone forth to all nations, tongues and people as a divine revelation from God. And it will bring to pass the designs of God according to the declaration therein contained” (in Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins [1997], 55–56).
Crossword Puzzle
Why did the Lord provide witnesses of the Book of Mormon?
Class members could share ideas that occurred to them as they read Doctrine and Covenants 17. Additional ideas may be found in the scriptures referred to in the heading to section 17 or in “The Testimony of Three Witnesses,” found at the beginning of the Book of Mormon.
How has the testimony of the Three Witnesses influenced our testimonies of the Book of Mormon?
Even if we have not seen angels or handled the gold plates, we can still bear witness of the Book of Mormon.
What do class members find in section 17 (including the section heading) that they feel applies to them?
If someone asked why we believe the Book of Mormon is true, what would we say?
Perhaps class members could write a brief response, and you could invite a few to share what they wrote. The quote by President Ezra Taft Benson could inspire members to bear their witness of the Book of Mormon to others.
Sharing our witness of the Book of Mormon.
President Ezra Taft Benson gave the following invitation to Church members in 1988:
“The Book of Mormon is the instrument that God designed to ‘sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out [His] elect.’ (Moses 7:62.) This sacred volume of scripture needs to become more central in our preaching, our teaching, and our missionary work.
“… In this age of the electronic media and the mass distribution of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way.
“We have the Book of Mormon, we have the members, we have the missionaries, we have the resources, and the world has the need. The time is now!
“My beloved brothers and sisters, we hardly fathom the power of the Book of Mormon, nor the divine role it must play, nor the extent to which it must be moved” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson [2014], 143–44).
Improving Our Teaching
Ask questions that invite testimony. An inspired question can be a powerful way to invite the Spirit. For example, when teaching Doctrine and Covenants 14:9, you could ask a question like “How have you come to know that Jesus Christ is ‘a light which cannot be hid in darkness’?” (See Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 32.)
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