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The dog ate my scriptures
- 1. The Dog Ate my Scriptures Excuses, Agency, Responsibility http://johnhiltoniii.com Buy the Talk on CD at: http://deseretbook.com/item/4940509/The_Dog_Ate_My_Scriptures_Excuses_Agency_and_Responsibility
- 5. Doctrine and Covenants 1:38
- 7. Moses 4:3 (Page 9) “ Because…Satan…sought to destroy the agency of man…I caused that he should be cast down” Why do you think that making excuses weakens our agency?
- 10. Excuse: It’s just a little thing Read Alma 57:21 and look for how it relates to this excuse
- 12. Excuse: Everyone else is doing it Read Alma 39:4 and fill in the blanks: “Yea, she did steal away ____ _____ _____ _____, but this was no excuse for thee, my son.”
- 13. Alma 42:30 (Page 313) “ Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in the least point.”
- 14. Alma 39:13 (Page 306) “ Acknowledge thy faults and that wrong thou hast done.”
- 20. Accepting Responsibility for the Consequences of our Actions
- 22. Accepting Responsibility for our Gospel Learning
- 23. Alma 62:41 (Page 366)
- 24. What would you do if you were in a boring Sacrament Meeting?
- 29. Accepting Responsibility for our Emotions
- 38. Accepting Responsibility For 1. Our choices. 2. The consequences of our choices. 3. Our gospel learning. 4. Our emotions.
- 41. No Excuses! I will never make Another excuse Again
Editor's Notes
- It would be good to listen to your CD and reread the text of the talk.
- The Savior sacrificed His life so that we could have the power to choose and still return to our Heavenly Father. Now, here is the key: when we make excuses, we deny our power to choose. We deny our power to choose because by making an excuse we say that we don’t have a choice in the thing we are making an excuse for. For example, at a stake dance a boy asks a girl to dance—“Will you dance with me?” And she says, “I’d love to dance with you but I can’t. I have to talk to my friend about something.” Can you see how by making an excuse this girl is denying her agency? She is saying, “I don’t have a choice, I HAVE to talk to my friend. I’d love to dance with you if I could but I CAN’T.” That just isn’t true. She doesn’t HAVE to talk to her friend. She CHOOSES to talk to her friend. By making an excuse, she denies her power to choose. Here’s another example: Let’s say you’re my Bishop and you notice that I don’t come to church on Sunday. You call me and ask, “Hey, why weren’t you at church?” I say, “Well, I wanted to go to church, but I have this big assignment that’s due tomorrow, and so I HAD to stay home and do it.” Do you hear how by making an excuse I say that I don’t have the power to choose? “Sorry Bishop, if it were my choice, I would have come to church, but I HAD to do my homework.” That isn’t true. I did have a choice. I didn’t HAVE to do my homework, I CHOSE to do my homework. Making excuses weakens our agency. This may seem like a minor point, but it’s not. In Moses 4:3 we learn why Lucifer, a son of the morning, became the devil. In this verse the Lord says, (listen carefully), “Because…Satan…sought to destroy the agency of man…I caused that he should be cast down.” One of the reasons Satan was cast out of heaven was because he tried to destroy our agency. Our power to choose is that important—it’s what the war in heaven was all about—and that war continues today on earth. Satan still wants to take away our agency. One way that he tries to do this is to addict us to things. He tries to addict us to tobacco, drugs, alcohol or pornography. If he can do this, he hopes to strip away our power to choose not do those things. A more subtle way that Satan tries to weaken our agency is to trick us into making excuses for our actions. If we always make excuses we will eventually come to believe that we don’t have the power to make decisions, that we are not free to choose. For example, I recently heard somebody say, “I can’t go to church. I have to work on Sundays.” This person has been subtly deceived into thinking that he does not have the power to choose whether or not he works on Sunday. Often when we make excuses, it’s because we don’t want to accept responsibility for our decisions. For example, what if the guy asks the girl to dance: “Will you dance with me?” And the girl says, “No, I choose not to dance with you!” Can you hear how rude that sounds? Nobody would say that! The girl who is asked to dance but says no gives an excuse because she doesn’t want to look mean. If the Bishop calls to see why I wasn’t at church, I don’t want him to think that I’m a bad person. So I make an excuse. Since I HAD to work on my assignment I’m not the bad guy—the assignment is. People who say, “I have to work on Sunday” may not want to face the fact that they choose whether or not they keep the Sabbath day holy. I used to think it was fine to make excuses. That changed when a General Authority, Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Quorum of the Seventy visited my mission. At a mission conference he taught us something I will never forget. He said, “Any time you blame [or] point a finger it will hurt you.” I’m going to say that again. “ Any time you blame [or] point a finger it will hurt you .” He went on to teach, “Even if you’re right it will hurt you to make an excuse.” I love that phrase. “Even if you’re right it will hurt you to make an excuse.” Even though it may seem that by making an excuse I’m saving face, or look better, I lose. When you make an excuse, you lose. Always. Here’s a case study. Suppose you’ve done something bad, and your mom grounds you for the weekend. It’s Friday night and a friend calls you up and says, “Can you come over to my house?” You say, “I can’t. I’m grounded.” Is that legit? [Get crowd response.] Is it really true to say, “I can’t come over”? Couldn’t you run away from home? Would that be a wise choice? I’m not recommending you make that choice, only pointing out that you are free to choose.
- I first learned the doctrinal concept of not making excuses from Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the 70…Mission story
- M Story, etc.
- I first learned the doctrinal concept of not making excuses from Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the 70…Mission story
- Have the youth come up and read the slips of paper. Pair share on “why were you home so late?”
- Mark story,
- Laurel president not wanting to talk to a Bishop, crab story.
- M Story, etc.
- Have a real egg and carrot for this object lesson.
- M Story, etc.
- M Story, etc.
- Focus on “if you enter a meeting…” and ask students to write down things they could do to enter a meeting with their heart prepared to written on it by the Lord (let them have some time to silently write).
- M Story, etc.
- M Story, etc.
- Time to ponder on what they will do to accept responsibility for these things.