Lesson 20: Doctrine and Covenants 6-9

Doctrinal Mastery Practice 1

Memorizing and Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge

youth talking with a friend

Doctrinal mastery can help students build the foundation for their lives upon Jesus Christ and His gospel. This lesson will give students opportunities to learn doctrinal mastery passages and the truths they contain as well as learning and applying divine principles for acquiring spiritual knowledge.

Possible Learning Activities

Doctrinal mastery review: Memorize

You may have already introduced students to a few doctrinal mastery passages in the Doctrine and Covenants this year. This may have included Joseph Smith—History 1:15–20, Doctrine and Covenants 1:30, and Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38. The following activity gives students an opportunity to review those three passages and familiarize themselves with the next nine doctrinal mastery passages from Joseph Smith—History 1:15–20 through Doctrine and Covenants 49:15–17. If you feel it would be better for your students, you could adapt it to focus on only the doctrinal mastery passages students have learned so far.

This activity should only last 10–15 minutes so there is enough time for the doctrinal mastery practice application later in the lesson.

Bring some tools to class that students would recognize and know how to use. This could include a screwdriver, hammer, and saw.

• When would you be grateful to have one of these tools?

  Allow several students to share. They might share personal experiences or imagine situations. Students can have fun and be creative with their answers.

• What are some circumstances in which you would be grateful to have a scripture memorized?

Doctrinal mastery passages are a selection of scriptures that can be especially helpful to you and others. In seminary, you have opportunities to memorize the references and key scripture phrases of the doctrinal mastery passages. You might even try memorizing the entire verses of some of these passages.

Read and mark the following passages in your scriptures. Select one or two that you feel are most meaningful to you.

Display the chart listing the doctrinal mastery passages and key scripture phrases. Provide students with sufficient time to mark each of the passages.

Doctrinal mastery scripture reference	Key scripture phrase
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Joseph Smith—History 1:15–20	Key scripture phrase Joseph Smith “saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 1:30	Key scripture phrase The Church of Jesus Christ is “the only true and living church.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 1:37–38	Key scripture phrase “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 6:36	Key scripture phrase “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 8:2–3	Key scripture phrase “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 13:1	Key scripture phrase The Aaronic Priesthood “holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–11	Key scripture phrase “The worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 18:15–16	Key scripture phrase “How great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19	Key scripture phrase “I, [Jesus Christ], have suffered these things for all.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 21:4–6	Key scripture phrase The prophet’s “word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 29:10–11	Key scripture phrase “I will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory … and dwell in righteousness with men on earth a thousand years.”
Doctrinal mastery scripture reference Doctrine and Covenants 49:15–17	Key scripture phrase “Marriage is ordained of God.”

Take a moment to try to memorize the reference and key phrase to one or two passages that are most meaningful to you. Also think of a situation in which having the reference and key phrase memorized may be a blessing to you or someone else.

Give students sufficient time to begin memorizing the scripture references and key scripture phrases they chose. It may be helpful to inform students that the Doctrinal Mastery app can also help them memorize doctrinal mastery passages.

When students have had sufficient time, invite several to practice sharing the key scripture phrases they began memorizing. You could also invite them to explain why it may be useful for them to memorize these references and phrases.

Encourage students to continue memorizing the references and key scripture phrases throughout the year. They may also memorize the entire scripture passage if they would like.

Learn and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge

The rest of the lesson is focused on helping students apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to a real-life situation. Before reading the situation below, it may be useful to first invite students to review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. Suggested review activities are included in the section of the appendix titled “Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities.” Descriptions of the principles are found in paragraphs 5–12 in the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023).

Ava began to study Joseph Smith—History and the Doctrine and Covenants and was having a good experience. However, she came across some negative comments on social media about the Prophet Joseph Smith that confused and worried her.

If useful, you can ask follow-up questions like “Why might she be confused or worried?”

Consider putting students into small groups and inviting them to brainstorm ways the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge might help Ava in this situation. If useful, you could display some or all of the following activities, and you could invite the groups to complete them as part of their brainstorm.

Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective

1. List three prophets from the past that some people followed in faith while others did not and may have even criticized them.

   • What are some reasons some people followed while others criticized?

   • How did the Lord bless those who followed His prophets?

   • How can pondering these things about previous prophets give us a better perspective to deal with negative information about Joseph Smith?

If students mention a historical concern about the Prophet, reading paragraphs 9–10 in the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023) may be useful.

Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources

2. Find one divinely appointed source about the Prophet Joseph Smith that you think could help Ava. The following could help you do this:

   • Find verses in Joseph Smith—History or the Doctrine and Covenants that you have studied so far that illustrate what we can do when we face a doubt or questions.

   • Look up “Joseph Smith” in the Guide to the Scriptures or the Topical Guide. Or search “Joseph Smith” in the index of a general conference Liahona or on the Gospel Library app.

   • If you have in mind a specific negative comment someone may say about the Prophet, look through the topics in the Topics and Questions section of ChurchofJesusChrist.org to see if there is information that may help. Also think of a trusted person whom you might recommend this teenager speak with.

Act in faith

3. Through Joseph Smith, the Lord brought forth the following: the Book of Mormon, the Restoration of the true and living Church on the earth, the covenants and ordinances necessary for exaltation, and the majority of the Doctrine and Covenants. Ponder specific ways the Lord has already blessed your life through these things and how they can help strengthen your testimony of the Prophet. Think about what you did to receive these blessings. List some ways you could recommend Ava act in faith to continue to strengthen her testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet of God.

After students have had time to brainstorm and possibly do some of the above activities, invite them to share what they feel might be most helpful to Ava. Encourage multiple students to share. You also might consider asking, “What other ways do you think we could use the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to help someone in this situation?”

Supplemental Learning Activities

Create memory cards

Encourage students to use the memory cards on the Doctrinal Mastery app or make their own. Or you may find a way to display the cards from your own mobile device and have students practice identifying the passages. If students are making their own cards, they could be given the following instructions:

1. Using an entire side of a piece of paper, draw two columns with three boxes of equal size in each column.

2. Turn the paper over and do the same on that side.

3. On one side, write the scripture references for each doctrinal mastery passage. (Alternatively, students may find success from writing a rhyming phrase, using pictures, or some other approach to help them remember the reference. Help students understand that these approaches should not be done in a way that detracts from the sacred nature of the scriptural text.)

4. On the opposite side, write the key scripture phrases of the reference located in the corresponding box on the opposite side of the paper.

5. Cut out each box so that each card has a reference on one side and the key scripture phrase on the other.

6. Repeat for the remaining passages.

In class or at home, students can cycle through their memory cards two or three times, looking at one side of them and seeing how many they can guess correctly. They can then flip them over and cycle through them again.

Alternative scenario

If you feel it would be more relevant to your students, invite them to consider the following scenario for the acquiring spiritual knowledge practice application: Dante and Kevin are walking to school one morning when Kevin turns to Dante and says, “We’ve been good friends for a long time, so don’t take this the wrong way, but why do you say you belong to the true church? Don’t you think it’s arrogant to say your religion is true and everyone else’s religion is false?” Invite students to use the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to help. They could also draw on Joseph Smith—History 1:15–20 and Doctrine and Covenants 1:30.