Teach It Unto Your Children

One of the themes of Moses 6 is the need to teach the gospel to our children. The chapter opens up with this verse: “And Adam hearkened unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent” (v1). First and foremost we are to teach our children to repent, meaning that we are to help them to develop in righteousness, to turn from wickedness, to become each day more like their Savior. Later in the chapter the Lord emphasized this again: “Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time” (v57). We must teach our children that everyone is in need of repentance, of change, of being purified to dwell in the kingdom of God. And this is intricately linked with the coming of the Only Begotten to the earth in the meridian of time, He who enables us to truly overcome weakness and sin through our repentance.

Those whom God sent to preach to the children of men have always come with this message: “And they were preachers of righteousness, and spake and prophesied, and called upon all men, everywhere, to repent; and faith was taught unto the children of men” (v23). The chapter further highlights that when Enoch was called of the Lord he also taught repentance to the children of men: “Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people, and say unto them—Repent” (v27). That was the first thing he taught just as Adam taught it to his sons, and all true prophets since then until today have said the same. In short, “But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent” (v50). And as parents in particular we must teach our children that they repent and prepare to dwell in the kingdom of God. And this should be a glorious message of the power to change and become, not one of chastisement or punishment. We should teach them as our prophet taught us: “Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to “repent,” He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit—even the way we breathe. He is asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies. Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind.” 

               This chapter also highlights the need to teach our children of the fall and the Redeemer. Adam was told this by the Lord from the beginning, “Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying: That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory” (v58-59). I love that adjective “freely”—we don’t teach them with reservation but openly and with boldness about the fall, the atonement of the Savior, and how we can each be born again to become like Him. If we can teach them to truly love the words of eternal life in this life, then they will come to find eternal life in the world to come. And so to do that we must get them in the scriptures as happened in the days of Adam: “And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled” (v6). They learned to read first and foremost in order to read the words of God. And we can help our children come unto their Savior as they learn to read His words in the scriptures and then live accordingly.