Moroni 8
Reading Assignment for Class on Tuesday: Moroni 8
Learning Activities:
1) Introduction
Moroni 8 is an epistle (letter) Mormon wrote to his son Moroni about why little children do not need baptism. In the epistle, Mormon also taught about how we can prepare to dwell with God. He concluded by expressing concern for the wickedness and impending destruction of the Nephites.
2) What does this chapter teach about baptism, little children, the Atonement and repentance?
3)Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
explained why little children cannot commit sins: “We understand from our doctrine that before the age of accountability a child is ‘not capable of committing sin’ (Moro. 8:8). During that time, children can commit mistakes, even very serious and damaging ones that must be corrected, but their acts are not accounted as sins” (“Sins and Mistakes,” Ensign, Oct. 1996, 65).
4) How could this chapter give hope in a situation like this?
President Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
“Two missionaries were laboring in the mountains of the southern United States. One day, from a hilltop, they saw people gathering in a clearing far below. The missionaries did not often have many people to whom they might preach, so they made their way down to the clearing.
“A little boy had drowned, and there was to be a funeral. His parents had sent for the minister to ‘say words’ over their son. The missionaries stood back as the itinerant minister faced the grieving father and mother and began his sermon. If the parents expected to receive comfort from this man of the cloth, they would be disappointed.
“He scolded them severely for not having had the little boy baptized. They had put it off because of one thing or another, and now it was too late. He told them very bluntly that their little boy had gone to hell. It was their fault. They were to blame for his endless torment.
“After the sermon was over and the grave was covered, the elders approached the grieving parents. ‘We are servants of the Lord,’ they told the mother, ‘and we have come with a message for you’” (Boyd K. Packer, “And a Little Child Shall Lead Them,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 7).
Want More?
Moroni 8:8. “The curse of Adam is taken from them in me”
Some people believe that because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, newborn babies come into the world tainted with sin. President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) explained that this teaching is false:
“All those who believe that man, yes, even newly born infants, are tainted with ‘original sin,’ (in other words the transgression of Adam,) deny the mercies of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible (as well as our modern scripture) teaches that Jesus Christ is in very deed, the Redeemer of mankind from the fall. He paid the debt that mankind became heir to through Adam’s transgression. The mortgage upon our souls was fully paid. It left no hangover penalty which required some act by, or in behalf of, any living creature, to free him from ‘original sin.’ The doctrine that infants come into this world under the curse of ‘original sin,’ is an abominable doctrine in the sight of God, and denies the greatness and mercy of the atonement. (See Moroni Chapter 8.)” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation: A Course of Study for the Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums [1949], 4:99).
Moroni 8:10. Age of accountability
Repentance is for those who are accountable. “Little children cannot repent” (Moroni 8:19). Children younger than eight years old are not accountable before God (see D&C 68:25–27), so they have no need for repentance. Persons who have intellectual disabilities and cannot knowingly repent may also be considered as not accountable.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:
“We understand from our doctrine that before the age of accountability a child is ‘not capable of committing sin’ (Moro. 8:8). During that time, children can commit mistakes, even very serious and damaging ones that must be corrected, but their acts are not accounted as sins” (Dallin H. Oaks, “Sins and Mistakes,” Ensign, Oct. 1996, 65).
Moroni 8:8–24. Infant baptism
The Prophet Joseph Smith (1805–1844) taught that little children do not need baptism:
“‘Do you believe in the baptism of infants?’ … No. … Because it is nowhere written in the Bible. … Baptism is for remission of sins. Children have no sins. … Children are all made alive in Christ, and those of riper years through faith and repentance” (Manuscript History of the Church, vol. E-1, p. 1666, josephsmithpapers.org, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling standardized).
