3 Nephi 7-9

3 Nephi 7-9 Study Guide – to be discussed Nov. 6
Day 1: Read 3 Nephi 7:1-14; 2 Peter 2:9-10, 21-22
1. List the results of disunity in the 30th year.


2. Compare 3 Nephi 7:1-3 with 2 Peter 2:9-10, 21-22. List three ways in which the Nephites fit the pattern described by Peter.



3. What united the various tribes of people? What divided them? What was the name of the “king of the dissenters?



BONUS: What was wrong with the “peace” that existed?


Day 2: Read 3 Nephi 7:15-26
4. List three things of which Nephi was a special witness.



5. What miracles did the people witness? What was the general reaction? What was happening in Judea at the same time these events took place on the Western Hemisphere?



6. In what way(s) was Nephi’s mission successful? Why could the people NOT disbelieve Nephi’s words?



Day 3: Read 3 Nephi 8:1-11; Helaman 14:20-27; Alma 50:13
7. How do we know Nephi was “a just man” – cleansed from iniquity?



8. Compare 3 Nephi 8:5-10 with Helaman 14:20-27. List the fulfillments of Samuel’s prophecies. How much time had the Nephites had to repent and prepare for the storm?



9. According to Alma 50:13, where was the city of Moroni? What happened to this city?


Day 4: Read 3 Nephi 8:12-25; D&C 88:4-13
10. Was the most damage incurred in the north or the south? Were any cities listed as untouched?



11. How dark was it? For how long?


BONUS: Read D&C 88:4-13. What is the source of all light? How does light create hope?



12. Why did the people howl and weep?




Day 5: Read 3 Nephi 9:1-8; 1 Nephi 19:11-12
13. Was it still dark when the people heard the voice of Christ? What was the first counsel given by the Lord? Do you think the people were ready to listen?



14. List the cities named by the Lord and how they were destroyed. What reasons did the Lord give for their destruction?




15. Was the destruction random or at all haphazard? Why or why not?



Day 6: Read 3 Nephi 9:9-14
16. Were those who were spared perfect? In not, why were they spared? (See also 3 Nephi 10:12.)



17. How does the Lord heal us?



18. Identify one command and the associated promise(s) in 3 Nephi 9:14.



Day 7: Read 3 Nephi 9:15-22; D&C 21:9; D&C 97:8
19. List names of Christ in 3 Nephi 9:15-28.



20. What sacrifice did the Lord require instead of blood sacrifices and burnt offerings? Read also D&C 21:9, 97:8. How are we to accomplish this sacrifice?




21. From 3 Nephi 9:21-22, what was the Savior’s reason for putting on mortality? Compare these verses with 3 Nephi 9:15-18. Who was this Jesus of Nazareth? Who is he to you?

3 Nephi 4-6

3 Nephi 4-6 Study Guide: To be discussed November 6??
Day 1: Read 3 Nephi 4:1-10; 1 John 4:15-18
1. Why couldn’t the robbers exist except in the wilderness?



2. What was the Nephite strategy and why was it so effective?



3. Read 1 John 4:15-18. Why weren’t the Nephites afraid of Giddianhi and his terrible army?



Day 2: Read 3 Nephi 4:11-23; Alma 16:9-11; Alma 28:10-11
4. Read Alma 16:9-11 and Alma 28:10-11 with 3 Nephi 4:11. By comparison, how terrible was the slaughter in the 19th year after the signs of Christ’s birth?



5. Review 3 Nephi 3:21. Why didn’t Gidgiddoni attack first? Do you think the Nephites would have been victorious had they not waited for the robbers to attack?



6. List 3 reasons why the siege by the robbers was unsuccessful.



Day 3: Read 3 Nephi 4:24-33; Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Matthew 27:3-5; 1 Nephi 11:35-36
7. Does it sound like Gidgiddoni had spies among the robbers? What was his strategy? Did he show mercy?



8. Read Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Matthew 27:3-5 and 1 Nephi 11:35-36. What symbolism can be found in the manner of Zemnariah’s death?



9. Look up the word “Hosanna” in the Bible Dictionary and tell what it means. Why did the Nephites use the word “hosanna” in their rejoicing?



Day 4: Read 3 Nephi 5:1-13
10. How many times is the word “knew” used in 3 Nephi 5:1-2? What did the Nephites KNOW? What did that knowledge cause them to DO?



11. Describe the two-pronged rehabilitation process used by the Nephites.

12. From 3 Nephi 5:10-13, what did Mormon KNOW and bear witness of?



Day 5: Read 3Nephi 5:14-26; Mormon 9:30-33
13. From 3 Nephi 5:14, list two reasons why Mormon compiled his record. Upon what two sources did he rely?



14. Read Mormon 9:30-33. Why did Mormon write in reformed Egyptian? How did he feel about his record?



15. List promises made to the “remnant of the seed of Jacob. Who is meant by the remnant of Jacob’s seed?





Day 6: Read 3 Nephi 6:1-16; Review 3 Nephi 3:22
16. Compare 3 Nephi 6:1 with 3 Nephi 3:22. How many years did the Nephites spend garrisoned in the Zarahemla area before returning to their own lands? How did they establish peace and order?



17. List the steps that led to disunity – the destruction of peace and order.




18. What did inequality among members do to the church?



Day 7: Read 3 Nephi 6:17-30; Mosiah 3:11-12; 1 Samuel 8:1-7
19. How many years had passed between the time when there was “not a living soul among all the people of the Nephites who did doubt in the least the words of all the holy prophets who had spoken” (3 Nephi 5:1) and the “state of awful wickedness” described in 3 Nephi 6:17?



BONUS: Read Mosiah 3:11-12. How is willful rebellion worse than ignorance?



20. Of what did the prophets testify in teaching the fallen Nephites? Why were the chief judges, high priests and lawyers angry?



21. Read 1 Samuel 8:1-7. Who are people rejecting when they ask for a king? Why?

3 Nephi 1-3

3 Nephi 1-3 Study Guide: To be discussed October 16
Day 1: Read 3 Nephi 1:1-9, with headnote; Alma 45:18-19; D&C 63:7-10
1. Who wrote the book of Third Nephi? Who was his grandfather? His grandfather’s grandfather?



BONUS: According to Alma 45:18-19, how was Nephi’s departure similar to that of his great-grandfather?



2. How do you think the unbelievers could disregard the “greater signs and greater miracles” (v.4)? Read D&C 63:7-10. Which comes first, signs or faith?



3. Why were the believers sorrowful? Did they lack faith?



Day 2: Read 3 Nephi 1:10-19; Zechariah 14:6-9; 1 Nephi 1:5-12; Mosiah 26:12-17
4. Why was Nephi so sorrowful? List specific words and phrases from 3 Nephi 1:10-12 describing the intensity of Nephi’s prayer.



5. What answers did Nephi receive after his heart-felt prayer?



BONUS: Compare Nephi’s prayer and answer with Lehi’s prayer in 1 Nephi 1:5-12 and Alma’s prayer in Mosiah 26:12-17. How were these prayers similar?



6. In what year did the signs take place? Read Zechariah 14:6-9. When will a similar sign again occur?



Day 3: Read 3 Nephi 1:20-30; Review Helaman 14:3; Matt. 2:2; Moses 5:12-13
7. Why was a new star in the heavens a good way to signal the birth of the Savior?



8. Read Moses 5:12-13. Why did Satan ramp up the lies at this point in history? Was he successful? Why or why not?



9. Do you think the Gadianton robbers saw and understood the signs of Christ’s birth? What caused some of the youth of the church to be led away?



Day 4: Read 3 Nephi 2:1-9
10. How long did it take before the people began to “forget” the signs and wonders?


11. Why did the people begin to be “hard in their hearts and blind in their minds”?



12. What new system of recording years was initiated in the 100th year of the reign of the judges?



Day 5: Read 3 Nephi 2:10-19; 2 Nephi 5:20-24
13. What united the Nephites and Lamanites?



14. Read 3 Nephi 2:14-16 with 2 Nephi 5:20-24. What curse was removed from the righteous Lamanites?



15. According to 3 Nephi 2:18-19, why were the Nephites so sorely afflicted?



Day 6: Read 3 Nephi 3:1-10
16. What does Giddianhi’s letter tell you about his personality?



17. List the terms of Giddianhi’s truce.



18. Do you think Giddianhi would have honored his promises had the Nephites surrendered? Why or why not?



Day 7: Read 3 Nephi 3:11-26; D&C 98:33
19. From 3 Nephi 3:11-17, what can you tell about the character of Lachoneus? Can you apply his reaction to sin to how we can prepare ourselves against the adversary today?




20. What eternal principle did Gidgiddoni teach the people regarding defensive and offensive warfare? (See also D&C 98:33.)



21. From 3 Nephi 3:25, list three ways Lachoneus’ people “did fortify themselves against their enemies.”

Quotes from lesson on Helaman 10-13

In 1787 Edward Gibbon completed his noble work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Here is the way he accounted for the fall. 1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. 2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace. 3. The mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more and more exciting and brutal. 4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within the decadence of the people. 5. The decay of religion – faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people. (Ezra Taft Benson, God, Family, County, 363-364)


Hugh Nibley: “The Prophet Samuel the Lamanite sets forth the interesting rule that when ‘the Economy’ becomes the main and engrossing concern of a society--or in the routine Book of Mormon phrase, when ‘they begin to set their hearts upon their riches’--the economy will self-destruct. This is how he puts it: ‘Ye do always remember your riches; . . . your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, . . . envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions and murders, and all manner of iniquities’ (Helaman 13:22). Note well the sequence of folly: first we are well pleased with ourselves because of our wealth, then comes the game of status and prestige, leading to competitive maneuvers, hatred, and dirty tricks, and finally the ultimate
solution. Where wealth guarantees respectability, principles melt away as the criminal element rises to the top: ‘For this cause hath the Lord God caused that a curse should come upon the land, and also upon your riches’ (Helaman 13:23).” (The Prophetic Book of Mormon, p. 349)