Young Men Lesson 46: Decision Making

Manual 1; Excerpt from "The Three Rs of Choice," by Thomas S. Monson

Discussion Questions
• What are some important decisions you will need to make in the next few years?
• What are the consequences when a person keeps putting off making important decisions?

Get the full lesson material at LDS.org.

Supplement is an excerpt from "The Three Rs of Choice" by President Thomas S. Monson, October 2010 General Conference:

We are surrounded—even at times bombarded—by the messages of the adversary. Listen to some of them; they are no doubt familiar to you: “Just this once won’t matter.” “Don’t worry; no one will know.” “You can stop smoking or drinking or taking drugs any time you want.” “Everybody’s doing it, so it can’t be that bad.” The lies are endless.

Although in our journey we will encounter forks and turnings in the road, we simply cannot afford the luxury of a detour from which we may never return. Lucifer, that clever pied piper, plays his lilting melody and attracts the unsuspecting away from the safety of their chosen pathway, away from the counsel of loving parents, away from the security of God’s teachings. He seeks not just the so-called refuse of humanity; he seeks all of us, including the very elect of God. King David listened, wavered, and then followed and fell. So did Cain in an earlier era and Judas Iscariot in a later one. Lucifer’s methods are cunning; his victims, numerous.

We read of him in 2 Nephi: “Others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security.”4 “Others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell … until he grasps them with his awful chains.”5 “And thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.”6

When faced with significant choices, how do we decide? Do we succumb to the promise of momentary pleasure? To our urges and passions? To the pressure of our peers?

Let us not find ourselves as indecisive as is Alice in Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You will remember that she comes to a crossroads with two paths before her, each stretching onward but in opposite directions. She is confronted by the Cheshire cat, of whom Alice asks, “Which path shall I follow?”

The cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”7

Unlike Alice, we all know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for by choosing our path, we choose our destination.

Read the full talk, "The Three Rs of Choice."

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