Doctrinal Mastery: Alma 39:9

“Go No More After the Lusts of Your Eyes”

In your study of Alma 39, you learned about the importance of living the law of chastity and how to resist temptation by relying on Jesus Christ. This lesson can help you memorize the doctrinal mastery passage and key scripture phrase for Alma 39:9, explain the doctrine taught in this passage, and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in real-life situations.

Encourage learners to consciously strive to become like Jesus Christ. As students strive to become more like Jesus Christ, help them recognize promptings from the Holy Ghost to identify ways they can improve. Encourage students to prayerfully consider specific steps they can take in their efforts to become more like the Savior.

Student preparation: Invite students to start memorizing the key scripture phrase for Alma 39:9. You might also encourage them to try memorizing the entire verse.

Possible Learning Activities

This doctrinal mastery passage lesson is designed to be taught after the lesson “Alma 39,” which is the contextual lesson for the doctrinal mastery passage Alma 39:9. If this doctrinal mastery passage lesson needs to be moved to a different week, be sure to teach the corresponding contextual lesson during that week as well.

Explain and memorize

The doctrinal mastery key scripture phrase for Alma 39:9 is “Go no more after the lusts of your eyes.” Use the following method, or another of your choosing, to help you memorize the reference and key scripture phrase.

On the board, consider writing Alma 39:9 and drawing a pair of eyes in a crossed-out circle. Give students a few minutes to study the key scripture phrase, then invite several students to come to the board and write the phrase around the drawing. Recite the scripture passage and key phrase aloud together as a class a few times until students have it memorized.

Then consider inviting a few students to come to the front of the classroom to role-play the following scenario.

Imagine you are a missionary teaching someone about the law of chastity for the first time. Briefly describe what the law of chastity is, and use Alma 39:9 to explain how to keep it.

Practice application

Give students an opportunity to review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in paragraphs 5–12 in the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023). After they review, invite them to choose a significant word from each principle that they feel best describes it. Students could then share what word they chose and why.

Use the following scenario, or consider adapting it to best meet students’ needs, to help students apply the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.

Ivan enjoys spending time on social media. He is creative and uses various social media platforms to share positive messages. However, he also sees a lot of content that is inappropriate and at times even pornographic. At first, it bothered him, but over time he is growing more and more comfortable with it. Lately, he even seeks out more of this kind of content. He currently is not concerned about the choices he’s making.

Brainstorm how understanding and applying the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge could help Ivan see the concerns with his current actions. The following questions and resources may help.

Consider writing the first question of each section below on the board and inviting students to discuss their answers in pairs or small groups. As students work in groups, walk around and listen to what they discuss. Add additional questions and the resources listed below as needed to help students further use the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.

Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective

• How could Ivan examine his situation with an eternal perspective?

• How might his efforts to keep his thoughts clean make a difference throughout his life on earth and into the next life?

• How might his efforts affect his relationship with Heavenly Father?

Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources

• What are some examples of divinely appointed sources that could help Ivan? How could Alma 39:9 help?

If students need help finding divinely appointed sources, consider sharing the following resources.

• For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices (booklet, 2022), “Walk in God’s Light”

• Mosiah 4:30; 3 Nephi 12:28–30; Doctrine and Covenants 42:23; 121:45

• General conference talks about sexual purity, pornography, or social media that you find on the Gospel Library app or ChurchofJesusChrist.org

Act in faith 

• What can Ivan do to act in faith and “go no more after the lusts of [his] eyes”? (Alma 39:9).

• How might striving to turn to Christ help his efforts?

• What doctrine from Heavenly Father’s plan could help Ivan and why?

• How do you think the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge could help Ivan recognize the danger of his current actions?

• What could he do to make lasting changes?

When groups finish their discussion, invite them to share what they learned with the class. As students share, acknowledge the value of their comments. Also consider asking questions that help students interact as a class, such as “Why do you think that what your classmate just shared is important?” or “How could applying what your classmate shared be helpful to Ivan?”

Doctrinal mastery review

During a future lesson, show students an image of a pair of eyes inside a crossed-out circle and invite them to recall which doctrinal mastery passage goes with it. Recite the key scripture phrase together a few times for review.