Paul’s Visit to Athens

Acts 17

Acts 17:1-5, 10-15

The three different ways in which people respond to the message of the gospel are one they believe what is taught and join with the followers. Another way people respond to the message of the gospel is they believe but are easily lead away when others contend against it. The third way people respond is that they get angry at those who preach the message unto them.

Acts 17:1-5, 10-15

These verses say that the people of Berea “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so”(17:11). The people in Thessalonica did not search the scriptures so they did that accept the gospel as readily as the people in Berea who searched the scriptures to see if what was being taught to them was true.

2 Nephi 32:3; 33:10 and Alma 31:5

• The affects of studying the scriptures.

When you study the scriptures you learn the words of Christ and you learn what you need to do to return to Him. Studying the scriptures increases your desire to following the Savior and you learn everything you need to do.

Acts 17:16-18

• “What are Epicureans and Stoics?” ( institute student manual, pg. 266)

The Epicureans believed that the world came into existence by chance and was without either purpose or design. They believed that the highest good that man can obtain is that which brought him the greatest pleasures or the greatest absence of sorrow and pain.

Acts 17:16-18

Stoics believed in a supreme governing power in the universe. They believe that all things have been ordered and set in motion by a Divine Mind and a true Stoic is one who accepts the conditions as he finds them. They believed that man is locked in a never ending battle with nature and that the body is a vessel to be ignored.

Acts 17:15-34

• What gods did Athenians know and not know?

The Athenians knew the Greek and Roman gods but they did not know Jesus Christ or The Father.

• How do 2 Nephi 9:28-29 and Colossians 2:8 relate to the practices of Athenians?

The Athenians relied so much on the Philosophers and other learned men in the city that they forgot the true and living God and His teachings.

Acts 17:15-34

• What false gods do people worship today that causes them to forget the true and living God?

Anything that is man made can be a false god. Some of the false gods that people worship are cars, money, school, their job, video games, computers, television, etc.

The Premortal Life• Acts 17:26-27; Deuteronomy 32:8; institute

manual commentary Acts 17:26 (pg. 266).

The Bible is full of scriptures that support the idea of a premortal life. Often the Bible speaks of a time when God appointed men to the nation that they would be born in. They all talk about how God chose what family we would be born to. The idea that God predetermined where we would be born is throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament in the Bible

Acts 17:28-29; Romans 8:16-17

The doctrines taught in these two verses help us to understand the true nature of God in many ways. First we learn that God looks just like use and does not have a body of stone, or gold, or silver. Also we learn that God is not created by man. We also learn that we are the children of God and we are made in his image. We also learn that we are heirs to God’s kingdom if we are righteous because we are his children.

Acts 17:28-29; Romans 8:16-17

It makes a huge difference to understand that we are the offspring of God and not jus His Creation. This because when know we are the offspring of God it puts us on a more personal nature with God. Knowing that we are his offspring helps us to obey His word because we know that God as our Father would give us no commandment without a good reason. Knowing that we are His offspring also helps us to be able to know that he will listen to us when we pray. This is because we know that if we are His offspring then He would want to listen to us and help us with our problems like any good father would.

The Doctrine of the Resurrection

• Acts 17:32

• According to Acts 17:32 when the people heard the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead some responded by mocking him while other responded by wanting to hear him again concerning the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

The Doctrine of the Resurrection There are many scripture in the Bible and other place that support the doctrine of the resurrection. The earliest record of the doctrine of the resurrection is in Hanna’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:6 where she says “6 The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” This is the earliest record of the doctrine of the ressurection. Job asks “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14) Later on Job says “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:26) Paul constantly speaks of the doctrine of the resurrection in his epistles. The last testimony in the Bible of the doctrine of the resurrection is in Revelation 20:6 which says “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants also has many testimonies of the doctrine of resurrection of the dead.