Tonight I taught Moses 8 in our Pearl of Great Price class. We previewed the context and then I spent the rest of the time on verses 14-15. The verses talk about Noah's granddaughters who were, of course, members of the Church of Jesus Christ marrying aside the church. It was one of the reasons God sent the flood. The exact words are "the daughter of thy sons have sold themselves." We had a lively discussion about marrying outside of the church and the problems that caused. I told them that the best way to keep from marrying outside of the church is to never date a nonmember. These Fijian youth are respectful. No one argued with me, but there were many of them who could not/ would not look at me. One girl just sat and shook her head 'no'. Then I said that pain is the only outcome for dating a nonmember. The pain that would come in the break up or the pain they would live with as they tried to stay active in the church with a nonmember spouse. I reminded them that their moms and dads may have had to marry nonmembers but there were plenty of wonderful LDS men and women in Fiji from whom they could choose.
It was interesting to hear the conversations as they left the institute. Some of the guys even told on their friends who were dating nonmembers. I just laughed and told the offender to either call the missionaries or to drop the girl.
I felt the Spirit and know that at least one person in that room needed to hear that message. I am grateful for that.
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