Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Contents
Title Page
Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual
Doctrine and Covenants Lessons
- The Restoration Proclamation
- Doctrine and Covenants 1
- Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 2; Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65
- Doctrine and Covenants 3–5
- Doctrine and Covenants 6–9
- Doctrine and Covenants 10–11
- Doctrine and Covenants 12–17; Joseph Smith—History 1:66–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 18
- Doctrine and Covenants 19
- Doctrine and Covenants 20–22
- Doctrine and Covenants 23–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 27–28
- Doctrine and Covenants 29
- Doctrine and Covenants 30–36
- Doctrine and Covenants 37–40
- Doctrine and Covenants 41–44
- Doctrine and Covenants 45
- Doctrine and Covenants 46–48
- Doctrine and Covenants 49–50
- Doctrine and Covenants 51–57
- Doctrine and Covenants 58–59
- Doctrine and Covenants 60–63
- Doctrine and Covenants 64–66
- Doctrine and Covenants 67–70
- Doctrine and Covenants 71–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 76
- Doctrine and Covenants 77–80
- Doctrine and Covenants 81–83
- Doctrine and Covenants 84
- Doctrine and Covenants 85–87
- Doctrine and Covenants 88
- Doctrine and Covenants 89–92
- Doctrine and Covenants 93
- Doctrine and Covenants 94–97
- Doctrine and Covenants 98–101
- Doctrine and Covenants 102–105
- Doctrine and Covenants 106–108
- Doctrine and Covenants 109–110
- Doctrine and Covenants 111–114
- Doctrine and Covenants 115–120
- Doctrine and Covenants 121–123
- Doctrine and Covenants 124
- Doctrine and Covenants 125–128
- Doctrine and Covenants 129–132
- Doctrine and Covenants 133–134
- Doctrine and Covenants 135–136
- Doctrine and Covenants 137–138
- The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2
- The Family: A Proclamation to the World
- The Living Christ
Life Preparation Lessons
- Doctrinal Mastery: Finding Answers to My Questions
- Scripture Study Skills
- For the Strength of Youth: Making Choices
- Building Self-Reliance
- Physical and Emotional Health
- Preparing for Future Education and Employment
- Succeeding in School
- Missionary Preparation
- Temple Preparation
- Teachings of Church Leaders
Appendix

Lesson 196—Integrity in Our Education: “We Believe in Being Honest”

“Lesson 196—Integrity in Our Education: ‘We Believe in Being Honest,’” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual (2025)

“Integrity in Our Education,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Lesson 196: Succeeding in School

Integrity in Our Education

“We Believe in Being Honest”

As we strive to become capable and trusted disciples of Jesus Christ, it is important to have honesty and integrity in our hearts. This lesson can help students better act with honesty and integrity in their education.

Possible Learning Activities

Choosing honesty and integrity

Invite students to share scenarios or situations at school in which someone’s integrity might be tested. Share the following examples as needed.

You have an important exam coming up. A classmate notices a copy of the answers to the exam on the teacher’s desk and takes a picture of it with his phone. He sends you and several other students a copy of the picture.
You need to write an essay for a class but haven’t taken the time to do it. A friend suggests that you could use online software that will write your article for you. Or you could paste sections from different articles from the internet and include a few of your own sentences to make it sound like your writing. Your friend mentions that he has done these things before and the teacher never noticed.
- What might lead someone to think these actions are a good idea?
- What can help you know what to do in situations like these?

Explain that this lesson will focus on the importance of honesty and integrity in our education. Invite the students to share what they know about integrity. The following statement by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin could be a helpful resource.

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles defined integrity in the following way:

Integrity means always doing what is right and good, regardless of the immediate consequences. It means being righteous from the very depth of our soul, not only in our actions but, more importantly, in our thoughts and in our hearts. Personal integrity implies such trustworthiness and incorruptibility that we are incapable of being false to a trust or covenant. …

The world desperately needs men and women of integrity. Nearly every day we hear of fraud, misapplication of funds, false advertising, or other dealings designed to obtain gain by cheating or deception. The Lord abhors such practices. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Personal Integrity,” Ensign, May 1990, 30, 32)

How have you noticed the need for integrity in today’s world?

The following suggestion can help students evaluate their own thoughts about the importance of acting with integrity in their education: Invite them to find a blank page in their study journal and label it “Why integrity in education is important to me.” Ask students to list all the reasons integrity is important to them. When they are finished, a few volunteers could share some of their reasons with the class.

Encourage students to continue to add ideas, truths, and scriptures to their list throughout the lesson.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to act with integrity

Explain that understanding the character and teachings of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can motivate us to act with integrity. Consider inviting students to do the following study activity with a partner or in a small group.

Read the following scriptures, looking for teachings that can help us feel a greater desire to act with integrity: 3 Nephi 27:18; Ether 3:11–12; Doctrine and Covenants 3:2; 51:9; 124:15, 20; Articles of Faith 1:13.

What truths did you learn from these verses about the importance of honesty and integrity in our lives?

Invite students to share multiple truths they learned. They could identify truths similar to the following: Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are perfectly honest. When we act with honesty and integrity, we become more like Them.
What can make it difficult to act with honesty and integrity in our education?

Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught about the effect integrity can have on our spiritual growth:

There is enormous spiritual power in remaining true and honest when the consequences of your honesty could appear to be a disadvantage. Each of you will face such decisions. These defining moments will test your integrity. As you choose honesty and truth—whether or not the situation works out the way you hope—you will realize that these important crossroads become fundamental pillars of strength in your spiritual growth. (Neil L. Andersen, “The Divine Standard of Honesty,” Ensign, Aug. 2017, 40)

What are the benefits and blessings of being honest and having integrity at work and school?

Apply what you learned

Remind students of their divine identity as children of loving heavenly parents. This is a part of who they are, including at school. As they follow Jesus Christ and act with honesty and integrity, these attributes will distinguish them from the rest of the world.

President Russell M. Nelson taught:

Your precious identity deserves your precious integrity! Guard it as the priceless prize that it is. (Russell M. Nelson, “Integrity of Heart” [Brigham Young University devotional, Feb. 23, 1993], 7, speeches.byu.edu)

To help students consider how they will protect or increase their honesty and integrity, ask them to respond to some or all of the following questions in their study journals.

What have you felt today about integrity in education that you want to remember?
What did you learn about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that will help you when you are tempted to act with dishonesty?
What are one or two actions you will take to increase your honesty and integrity at school?

Consider inviting a few willing students to share their responses. Testify of the truths you have discussed, and encourage students to act on their plans.

Additional Resources

How does honesty relate to learning?

Heavenly Father wants His daughters and sons to always be learning. You have both temporal and spiritual reasons to seek and love learning. Education is not just about earning money. It is part of your eternal goal to become more like Heavenly Father.

Living with integrity means that you love truth with all your heart—more than you love personal comfort, popularity, or convenience. It means doing what is right simply because it is right. (For the Strength of Youth: A Guide For Making Choices [2022], 31)

How can I continue to develop personal integrity?

President Russell M. Nelson taught:

A good time for introspection is during private personal prayer. In the morning it might include a prayer for honesty, chastity, virtue, or simply being of service to others. In the evening there may be another quick checkup on all of those attributes. First, you pray for the preservation of your spiritual integrity, and then you work for it. Should any flaw be found, you will want to begin the process of prompt repair that will protect further disintegration of that threatened cord. (Russell M. Nelson, “Integrity of Heart” [Brigham Young University devotional, Feb. 23, 1993], 4, speeches.byu.edu)

Why should I act with honesty and integrity in my schoolwork?

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught about how academic dishonesty can affect us:

Cheating in academic work is unprincipled, dishonest, and a form of self-deception and betrayal. No student can hope to ultimately succeed in a career or profession if he or she builds upon a foundation of fraud. (David A. Bednar, “Be Honest,” New Era, Oct. 2005, 6)

President James E. Faust (1920–2007) of the First Presidency explained:

We all need to know what it means to be honest. Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving. …

I wish to speak to you frankly about being honest. Honesty is a moral compass to guide us in our lives. … However, the tremendous push to excel in secular learning sometimes tempts people to compromise … their honesty and integrity.

Cheating in school is a form of self-deception. We go to school to learn. We cheat ourselves when we coast on the efforts and scholarship of someone else. (James E. Faust, “Honesty—a Moral Compass,” Ensign, Nov. 1996, 41, 42)

Supplemental Learning Activities

Standing with integrity

To help students understand the importance of standing with integrity, consider displaying the following.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Where do you stand today? Can the Lord count on you and your integrity as a true member of His Church? …

As we see the standards of the world collapsing in every direction, we are often required to stand strong, defend our faith, and uphold the integrity of the gospel. Remember the admonition in Helaman that when you are built “upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God,” the approaching “mighty storm … shall have no power over you to drag you down … , because of the rock upon which ye are built [Helaman 5:12]. (Ronald A. Rasband, “Integrity of Heart,” [Brigham Young University devotional, March 13, 2018], 4, speeches.byu.edu)

Engage students in a discussion about ways they can stand strong with integrity in today’s world.

Draw a stick figure or a picture of a student on the board, or ask a student willing to share their artistic talent to draw it. Explain that this figure can represent the students.

Ask students:

What are some of the standards collapsing in the world today that you are faced with? (Write their answers all around the drawing of the student, with arrows pointing to the student figure as if to show the many things facing students today.)
What characteristics of Jesus Christ can help you stand with integrity? (Write their answers at the feet or below the student figure on the board.)

Encourage the students to follow the example of Jesus Christ as they face challenges that test their integrity.

What is plagiarism?

If students need help understanding what plagiarism is and how it relates to integrity in education, you could share the following explanation and chart.

Using someone else’s words as your own without giving them credit or mentioning the original author is called plagiarism. Plagiarism is dishonest and a form of cheating. Some students have received failing grades or have even been asked to leave school because they have plagiarized. People have also lost jobs because of plagiarism.

Make two columns on the board. Label one What Plagiarism Is and the other What Plagiarism Is Not. Consider printing the following chart and cutting each of the situations into squares. Have students place the squares in the appropriate columns.

What Plagiarism Is	What Plagiarism Is Not
What Plagiarism Is Copying something you find on the internet or on someone else’s assignment and saying you wrote it.	What Plagiarism Is Not Using someone else’s words and including a reference to who said the words.
What Plagiarism Is Copying someone’s words and changing one or two words in the paragraph.	What Plagiarism Is Not Reading about a topic and writing what you learn in your own words, including a reference to the original author.
What Plagiarism Is Including specific facts or statistics that you find from other sources without giving those sources credit.	What Plagiarism Is Not General statements that are not specific words someone said, such as: The sky is blue. God loves you.
What Plagiarism Is Using only the ideas and thoughts of others in your writing.	What Plagiarism Is Not Using mostly your own thoughts or ideas.