Blessings of the Gospel for Children

One of the questions that President Nelson invited us to consider in preparation for the bicentennial next year was this: “How have the events that followed the First Vision made a difference for me and my loved ones?”  As I watched the Children and Youth program broadcast tonight I thought about this question and how grateful I am for the direction the restored gospel gave me as a child and youth.  From the beginning the scriptures that Joseph Smith brought forth emphasized the need to teach children the gospel.  The Book of Mormon has many such passages, from Lehi teaching Laman and Lemuel to Nephi writing down his testimony of Christ “that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26).  Other parents likewise taught their children the gospel, such as Jacob teaching Enos, the stripling warriors learning the gospel from their mothers and fathers, and Alma teaching his three sons.  In the crowning event in the Book of Mormon, the Savior took special care to teach and pray for and bless the children: “He took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them” (3 Nephi 17:21).  In perhaps the clearest scriptural direction to teach the gospel to children the Lord said, “Inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents….  And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord” (Doctrine and Covenants 68:25-28).  These scriptures and many more helped to underscore the importance of raising children in righteousness in the Church from the very beginning of the Restoration.

               And so I am so grateful for that emphasis, not just in the written word but in reality.  Anyone watching the broadcast tonight could see how seriously the Church takes its responsibility to teach the gospel to our children and youth and to help them become true disciples of Jesus Christ.  As a child I was taught the principles of the gospel by my parents and leaders in the Church, and I was taught the laws of God that I must live to be protected and keep the Spirit of the Lord in my life.  Looking back now I can see that it was those teachings, the principles of the restored gospel, that kept me from participating in any number of destructive activities that so many of the youth of today fall into, from addictions to immorality to violence.  With Primary classes, family home evenings, scouting activities, family scripture study, Aaronic Priesthood quorums, and so much more, I see now how I was protected from the sins of this generation through the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” that I received.  I think of the youth conferences, pioneer treks, testimony meetings over the campfire, EFY, seminary, quorum presidencies, and so many other activities I was involved in which instilled in me a desire to keep the commandments and follow our Savior Jesus Christ.  I remember being particularly grateful for this upbringing in the gospel as I saw so many youth during my mission who had no such help in their lives.  I watched in sadness as many children and teenagers, particularly from foreign countries, wandered the streets during up to no good and with what seemed to be so little spiritual direction or guidance to keep them in the right way.  As I focus now on my own children and teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ, how grateful I am for the knowledge of commandments and covenants restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith that we have to guide us in raising the youth of the latter days.