Lesson

Sources of Truth

“We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”

— Paragraph 1, The Family: A Proclamation to the World

Objective

To teach the Family Proclamation, Paragraph 1, as it relates to where truth comes from — and how to recognize reliable sources of truth.

Materials needed

• Tags or simple signs for each participant (some may have multiple), labeled with various sources of “truth,” for example:
  • Word of God
  • Teachers
  • Social Media
  • Friends
  • Songs
  • Movies
  • Influencers
  • (and other unwise sources of truth as desired)

Introduction

Read Aloud: If you have a question, where do you usually go for an answer? (Among other things, it’s likely “Google” or “Siri” will be mentioned.) There are powerful search engines, but they don’t really have all the answers. Even if you ask Siri whether there’s a God, she answers, “It’s all a mystery to me.” So who can clear up the mystery?

Main activity

Read Aloud: When answering that question, we need to be careful of our sources, because truth can easily become distorted. We’re going to play a game to illustrate that.

This is a twist on “Telephone.” The facilitator/teacher wears the “Word of God” sign and whispers the message to the first person; each person whispers it to the next until everyone has participated. You may repeat the cycle. At the end, compare the final message to the original.

Suggested message: “We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”

Discussion questions:

• How different is the final message from the original? How is this similar to the way truth gets warped as it passes through different sources? (Possible answers: truths from God get interpreted and passed along; well-meaning people might not understand or hear correctly; some people purposely skew the message.)
• What is the result of unreliable sources of truth? (Possible answers: confusion about what’s actually true; decisions made on bad information; drifting further from what God originally said.)
• What happens if our only sources are the ones on the signs? (Possible answers: we’re left with only imperfect, secondhand versions of the truth — missing the one source, God Himself, that the message was supposed to come from.)
• What can we do to understand each other better in conversations?

Read Aloud: According to the video, what can we do when we start to disagree about how people see things or use certain words? (Ask them how they define those words, so you can talk about it more productively.) No matter how we hear a message, God is always willing to help us understand, so we can know the truth.

Read the following together:

“There is one source of truth that is complete, correct, and incorruptible. That source is our infinitely wise and all-knowing Heavenly Father. He knows truth as it was, as it is, and as it yet will be (Doctrine and Covenants 93:24). … We have His promise that if we seek Him diligently, we will find Him (Deuteronomy 4:29; Proverbs 8:17; Acts 17:27; D&C 88:63).”

— Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “What Is Truth?,” BYU Devotional, January 13, 2013

“We find Him through established sources that include the light of Christ, the Holy Ghost, the scriptures, parents, and Church leaders. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — the Lord’s prophets upon the earth today — are a vital source of truth. The Lord has chosen and ordained these individuals to speak for Him.”

— CES, Doctrinal Mastery, 2018

“What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken; … whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”

— Doctrine and Covenants 1:38

After reading the quotes, ask participants to share how they have come to know truth with God’s help.

Deep dive

Read Aloud: When a word’s meaning is intentionally changed, and then used to advocate for the opposite of what the word actually means, this practice is called “linguistic hijacking.” Let’s examine some of the language used in popular culture and compare the secular or cultural definition with God’s definition as conveyed through His prophets. Let’s discuss how the popular meaning of each word has drifted from what it actually means:

• Marriage
• Truth
• Love
• Choice
• Family
• Gender
• Spiritual
• Identity

Read Aloud: Why would the adversary find linguistic hijacking useful? (Possible answers: so that unrighteous practices look acceptable to the mainstream; so that more people will engage in spiritually harmful behavior; to confuse people and make them feel like they are in the minority for still believing the real meaning of the word.)

Reflection

Read Aloud: As we have discussed, God’s revealed truth is something we discover, not invent. Let’s review where we can find His truth. (Possible answers: through the Holy Ghost in prayer, scriptures, living prophets.) What can we do if something we thought was true goes against the Lord’s truth? (Possible answers: pray for our hearts to change; pray for our will to align with His; talk to others who have testimonies of that particular truth for strength; study the words of the prophets, both in scripture and from modern prophets.)

Testify

“Without help from Heavenly Father, truth can become distorted and important things lost, but … there really is such a thing as right and wrong and absolute truth — eternal truth. The pure doctrine of Christ changes the life of everyone who understands it and seeks to implement it.”

— President Russell M. Nelson, “Pure Truth, Pure Doctrine, and Pure Revelation,” October 2021

Share an experience of how you have accepted truth, and the blessings and peace you have felt and seen from following the Savior as the ultimate source of truth.