The New and
Everlasting Covenant
Dallas Institute
Religion 234
Just a warning…
President Kimball
If we live in such a way that the
considerations of eternity
press upon us, we will make
better decisions.
(Ensign, Jan 1977, p.3)
Your generation?
My generation?
“Baby Boomer”
What would you call your generation?
The NOW Generation
Commitments- Pres. Hinckley
Said she: “I met my husband when he was a
freshman. He was from a very active family with
many years of service in the Church. He was so
enthused about serving a mission. I thought we
shared the gospel as our most important value in
this life. We both enjoyed music and nature and
had a high priority on gaining knowledge. We
dated a few months, easily fell in love, and wrote
to one another while he served an honorable
mission.
When he came back home, he got back into school
and we were married in the Salt Lake Temple. We
followed the counsel of Church leaders and
began our family. I had been attending [the
university] on an Honors at Entrance
scholarship, but I became pregnant and sick and
left school to devote my time and energy to my
husband and infant son.
“For the next eighteen years I supported my husband
while he finished school, got some work
experience, and started his own business. We
both served in leadership positions in the
Church and community. We had five wonderful
children. I taught the children the gospel, how to
work, how to serve, how to communicate, and
how to play the piano. I baked bread; canned
peaches, apples, tomatoes; sewed dresses and
quilts; cleaned house; and tended my flowers
and vegetables. In many ways it seemed that we
were an ideal family.
Our relationship was sometimes sweet and
sometimes difficult. Things were never perfect
because I am not a perfect woman and he is
not a perfect man, but many things were good.
I did not expect perfection; I just kept trying.
“Then came the crash. About a year ago he decided
that he never loved me and that our marriage
was a mistake from the beginning. He was
convinced that there was nothing in our
relationship for him. He filed for divorce and
moved out.
‘Wait,’ I kept saying. ‘Oh, no. Stop! Don’t do this.
Why are you leaving? What is wrong? Please,
talk to me. Look at our children. What of all our
dreams? Remember our covenants. No, no!
Divorce is not the answer.’ He would not hear
me. I thought I would die. “Now I am a single
parent. What an enormous load of heartache,
pain, and loneliness is behind that statement.
It explains so much trauma and so much anger
from my teenage sons. It explains so many
tears from my little girls. It explains so many
sleepless nights, so many family demands and
needs. Why am I in this mess? What did I
choose wrong?
Daniel Jones
In Feb, the first Indian came to our camp…At the time of his arrival
we were out of everything, having not only eaten the hides taken
from the cattle killed, but had eaten the wrappings from the
wagon-tongues, old moccasin-soles were eaten also, and a piece
of buffalo hide that had been used for a foot mat for two months…
-A few weeks laterWhen [another] company arrived, some of our boys were getting the
pack saddle soaked up ready for cooking the hide covering. Boyd
always calls me the man that ate the pack saddle. But this is
slander. The kindness of him and others prevented me from
eating my part of it. I think if they had not arrived, probably I would
have taken a wing or leg, but don’t think I would have eaten the
whole of it.. As it was, the saddle was allowed to dry up again,
and may be in existence yet and doing well so far as I know…
Elder Russell M. Nelson
If you really want to be like the Lord—more than
anything or anyone else—you will remember
that your adoration of Jesus is best shown by
your emulation of Him.
Then you will not allow any other love to
become more important than love for your
companion, your family, and your Creator. You
will govern yourself not by someone else’s set
of rules but by revealed principles of truth.
Which is right?
Do not “blindly” follow
Church Leaders
?
Follow the
Prophets
Hugh B. Brown
April 1963 Conference
Elder George Q. Cannon
[Many young people] with no particular desire,
only to get married, without realizing the
character of the obligations that they take
upon themselves or the covenants that they
make and the promises involved in the taking
of these covenants.
The result is that hundreds among us go to the
house of the Lord and receive these blessings
and come away without having any particular
impression made upon them."
Kirtland Temple
Sacrament prayer
…and witness unto thee, O God, the
Eternal Father, that they are willing to
take upon them the name of thy Son…
So, what does it mean to take the “Lord’s
name in vain”
Why was this Earth created?
D&C 49
16 Wherefore, it is lawful that he should
have one wife, and they twain shall be
one flesh, and all this that the earth
might answer the end of its creation;
17 And that it might be filled with the
measure of man, according to his
creation before the world was made
Brigham Young
“The whole subject of the marriage relation is not in my
reach, nor in any other man’s reach on this earth. It is
without beginning of days or end of years; it is a hard
matter to reach.
We can tell some things with regard to it; it lays the
foundation for worlds, for angels, and for the Gods; for
intelligent beings to be crowned with glory, immortality,
and eternal lives. In fact, it is the thread which runs
from the beginning to the end of the holy Gospel of
Salvation—of the Gospel of the Son of God; it is from
eternity to eternity” (in Discourses of Brigham Young, 195).
Abrahamic Covenant
Abraham 2
6 But I, Abraham, and Lot, my brother's son, prayed unto
the Lord, and the Lord appeared unto me, and said
unto me: …
8 My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the
beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee.
9 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless
thee above measure, and make thy name great
among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto
thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear
this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;
10 And I will bless them through thy name; for as many
as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name,
and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up
and bless thee, as their father;
D&C Section 84
33 For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these
two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and
the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by
the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.
34 They become the sons of Moses and of
Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the
church and kingdom, and the elect of God.
Covenants
The Lord
The Holy Spirit
Of Promise
His
Children
Question
Are there any covenants
and commitments in
dating and courtship?
D&C 131
1 In the celestial glory there are three heavens
or degrees;
2 And in order to obtain the highest, a man [and
woman] must enter into this order of the
priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting
covenant of marriage];
3 And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.
4 He may enter into the other, but that is the end
of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.