Purpose: To teach the family about the importance of the Fall in Heavenly Father’s plan and how we are never too far from Heavenly Father that there isn’t a way back to Him.
Possible scriptures: Daniel 7:9-14; Romans 5:12-21; Galatians 6:7; 1 Corinthians 11:11; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22; Revelations 12:7-9; Revelations 22:12; 2 Nephi 9:6; 2 Nephi 10:23; Mosiah 3:19; Alma 41:3; Helaman 14:30-31; 3 Nephi 18:15; Moroni 7:16-17; Doctrine and Covenants 29:34-44; Doctrine and Covenants 107:54-56; Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28; Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21; Moses 1:34; Moses 6:33; Moses 6:48-68; Abraham 3:25-26
Possible Songs: Choose the Right, Hymn 239; Do What is Right, Hymn 237; Who’s on the Lord’s Side?, Hymn 260; Teach Me to Walk in the Light, Hymn 304 or Children’s Songbook page 177; Follow the Prophet, Children’s Songbook page 110; Dare to Do Right, Children’s Songbook page 158; Choose the Right Way, Children’s Songbook page 160; I Will Follow God’s Plan, Children’s Songbook page 164.
Possible Materials: the maze from this sharing time activity; scripture figures from the story of the Fall (the easy way is to just print out this one, but I don’t like it… I like to keep continuity and use the figures of Adam and Eve from the creation, then I use the trees from the story of the fall above, and then, because I feel it’s important to not forget Heavenly Father and Jesus in the story, I also print use the figures from the first vision); the first page of this article, a picture of Martin Harris.
Preparation: Begin with prayer. Read the suggested scriptures, along with Genesis 2-3 (click the arrow on the right of the text to read the next chapter), Moses 3-5:12, and Abraham 5, as well as 2 Nephi 2 and Doctrine and Covenants chapters 3 and 10. Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Children: Watch this video on Adam and Eve and the video on the lost manuscript.
Lesson:
Discuss how last week’s challenge went.
Introduction: Ask your family what choices they’ve made today? Did they pick what they were going to wear? Did they choose how to spend their own free time? Did they choose to be obedient to their mom or dad? We make choices all the time and sometimes we don’t even think about them! Sometimes those choices are just what we like, but sometimes choices are important, and we must choose between right and wrong. How do we feel when we make bad choices? And good ones? Hold up the maze. Point to Jesus in the middle and remind your family that we will be happiest if we can return to Heavenly Father and Jesus again. Our choices will either bring us closer to or further from Jesus. Ask your family some choices we might make that will bring us closer to Him?
From the Scriptures: Hold up the figures of Adam and Eve. Ask your family who they are and what they remember about them. Tell your family that When Heavenly Father brought Adam and Eve to Earth, he placed them in a garden called Eden. It had lots of flowers and plenty of food and was very beautiful. Adam and Eve were married by Heavenly Father. They did not know the difference between good and bad. Heavenly Father told them that they could eat the fruit from any tree that they wanted, except 1 tree: the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan wanted to mess up Heavenly Father’s plan! He thought he was being clever. He used a snake to trick Eve by telling her that Heavenly Father lied to her and that she wouldn’t die. He also told her that eating the fruit would make her wise, and she would know good and evil like Heavenly Father. This was the only way that Adam and Eve could progress, and Eve began to understand that. When Eve chose to eat, Satan told her to go and get Adam to eat it, too. Then they heard Heavenly Father say that he was coming to the garden. Adam and Eve were scared and hid themselves. When Heavenly Father asked them why they had hidden from Him, he asked them if they ate the fruit. Adam had said that Eve had given him the fruit and Eve said that Satan tricked her. Heavenly Father told them that because they had eaten the fruit when he had told them not to, they had to leave the garden. This meant that they could no longer walk and talk with God! This is called Spiritual death. It is also called the Fall of Adam. They were kicked out of the garden and Heavenly Father placed a flaming sword in front of the Tree of life. He said that if they were to partake of the tree of Eternal life, they would be stuck in their sins and could never come back to Heavenly Father, but because Jesus volunteered to be our Savior, we could return to His presence through the Atonement. He asked Jesus to make clothes out of hide to symbolize the Atonement. Because of the Fall, Adam and Eve were given physical bodies – bodes that would eventually die. Because of the Atonement, we are given the chance to have Eternal Life and be resurrected. We would still be waiting to come to earth if Adam and Eve had never partaken of the fruit; in the garden, Adam and Eve could not have children. After the Fall, plants and animals grew wild and Adam and Eve had to work for their food. Because they had to work for it, they understood better what they had. Read Moses 5:10-12 with your family. Adam and Eve made a hard decision, but because they wanted to love Heavenly Father and return to Him, they could. This made them very happy.
From Church History: Hold up the picture of Martin Harris. Tell your family that this is Martin Harris. He was a good friend and a big help to Joseph Smith while he was trying to translate the Book of Mormon. There was a lot of pressure on Martin Harris and his family wasn’t always helpful. He asked Joseph if he could take the 116 pages that they had already translated home so that he could show his wife. Joseph asked Heavenly Father and Heavenly Father said no. Martin asked him to ask again, and Heavenly Father still said no. But Martin was really struggling, so he asked Joseph to ask one more time. This time Heavenly Father said yes. He was told to only show them to relatives. Martin Harris promised and he took the pages. But Martin did not keep his promise. Martin showed the pages to others, and he lost them. Joseph was sad! He prayed to Heavenly Father to know what to do. Heavenly Father told Joseph that there would be consequences for disobeying him, but that he had already taken care of it. After Joseph had taken time to repent, the work continued and he was able to translate the rest of the Book of Mormon, including a brief description of what was in the 116 pages. Martin used his agency to keep asking something when he already knew the answer. He used his agency to disobey God, but when he was sorry for his actions, Heavenly Father helped the problem. We are never too far in wrong decisions that Jesus and Heavenly Father can’t make it okay. We will still have consequences, but Jesus will help us.
Further Discussion:
Talk to your older family members that because of our agency, we have control over our future. There is no reason to stay stuck because of our circumstances. Ask them to inwardly reflect if there are any choices that are keeping them from where they want to be in the future and how they can begin to change those choices. Also ask if there are some choices that will be made in the future that will change their future. Like if they will chose to get married in the temple. Or live worthily to do so.
Read 2 Nephi 2:11-30 as a family. Talk about what it takes to make a choice. In order to make choices, knowledge is required. There must be options. Also, there must be the freedom to “choose for thyself (see Moses 3:17).”
Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny, by Dale G Renlund; Following Jesus: Being a Peacemaker, by Neil L Andersen; Personal Peace in Challenging Times, by Quentin L Cook; Room in the Inn, by Gerrit W. Gong; Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution, by Dallin H Oaks; Deep in Our Heart, by Douglas D. Holmes
Challenge:
Read the 2nd Article of Faith to your family. Explain any words your family is unfamiliar with. Challenge them to memorize the 2nd Article of Faith. If they have already memorized it, memorize 2 Nephi 2:27 or 2 Nephi 10:23.
Giving due credit: as usual, I read and learned from the Sunbeams Manual Lesson 14, Gospel Principles Chapters 4 and 6, and the Family Home Evening Resource Manual Lesson 8 with the note on Agency, and Gospel Topics from Gospel Library on The Fall of Adam and Eve and on Agency. I also strongly suggest for anyone struggling with the concept of the Fall to read the talk by Elder Holland, entitled “Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet.”
