Lesson 9a – Genesis 5; Moses 6-7 Written Records and Enoch’s Call

“and a genealogy was kept of the children of God” (6:8) Why do we do genealogy? – Historical purposes – Temple Work – Keep old members of the church busy :)

“and a genealogy was kept of the children of God” Why did the people in Adam’s time do genealogy? (book of remembrance) – “moved upon by the Holy Ghost” (6:8) – Preservation of language, history, culture, religion (6:6) – Because man is in the image of God. – What does that have to do with ancestry? Malachi 3:16-17 – Names of those who “feared the Lord” – Does God know this already? Does your name need to be in a book? – Why did they need it? – What books are our names in?

Is Genealogy just about names and dates? Adam’s book of remembrance, written by the spirit of inspiration, included “their faith and works, their righteousness and devotion, their revelations and visions, and their adherence to the revealed plan of salvation” -Bruce R McConkie

Example: No Written Records Native Americans Disparity of history/culture between tribes What happened when they were almost wiped out? What do we know about them today? What is left of their unique culture? Many of their traditions we know were actually imposed by Europeans. (Ex: scalping)

Example: Written Records The Jews Written history goes back through the Old Testament Culture/Belief is almost uniform, only a few specific branches What happened when they were almost wiped out? With written record, people of the Jewish culture can rediscover their heritage and history, restore it.

How important are written records, eternally? 1 Nephi 4:13. Context? They keep a nation from perishing in unbelief 2 Nephi 25:23,26 They can help bring our posterity to Christ through our testimony D&C 128:7 Salvation of the dead

Notebook Ideas Think of a story from your own life that you want preserved for your posterity.