Things as They Really Are

This coming weekend is Ballantyne Girls Weekend and I have been assigned to lead a discussion on Elder Bednar's talk, "Things as They Really Are." It is based upon...

D&C 93:24
"The Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls."

Elder Bednar addresses "things as they really are" in three key points:
1) Key elements of our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness as the doctrinal foundation for knowing and understanding things as they really are.
2) Methods of attack used by the adversary to distract us from or inhibit our capacity to discern things as they really are.
3) The responsibilities that rest upon us to be obedient, to honor sacred covenants, and to discern things consistently as they really are in today's world that grows ever more confused and wicked.

1) Key elements of the Plan of Happiness - Obtaining a Physical Body
a. “Our physical bodies make possible a breadth, a depth, and an intensity of experience that simply could not be obtained in our premortal estate”.
i. tenderness, love, kindness, happiness, sorrow, disappointment, pain, & even physical limitations prepare us for eternity
ii. Spirit + Body = Soul
b. The Devil…
i. his Punishment- no body
ii. wants power over a physical body (prefers pig’s body to none)
iii. Anyone with a physical body has power over those who don’t have a body
1. Devil only has power that we give him
iv. wants all to be miserable like he is
1. can’t marry, procreate
2. won’t participate in the resurrection
c. A physical body is central to the Plan & our spiritual development
i. Satan wants to frustrate our progression
ii. He tempts us to use our bodies improperly
d. The ultimate irony:
i. The adversary is miserable because he has no body
ii. He invites us to share in his misery through the improper use of our bodies.
iii. “The very tool he does not have and cannot use is the primary target of his attempts to lure us to physical and spiritual destruction.”