“No Contentions and Disputations”

Church Educational System
There have been times when certain peoples of the earth have been willing to listen to the voice of God, when they have had among them prophets to teach them, when they have been directed by constant revelation, when their hearts have been set upon righteousness, and one condition of that kind we read of very briefly in the Bible. But there are very few sentences recorded regarding it. It was during the time of Enoch. So righteous did his people become that the Lord took them from the earth. [ Gen. 5:22–24; Heb. 11:5; Moses 6; 7; 8.]

Upon this continent there was another time of peace and righteousness that prevailed when people were willing to listen to the voice of the Lord. We do not know just how far this influence and this righteousness has prevailed among other peoples from the beginning, because our history is so brief. But upon this continent, for 200 years following the crucifixion of our Redeemer, the people lived in this state of righteousness… .

What a glorious time that must have been when everybody was happy, when everybody was at peace, when everyone loved his neighbor as himself, and above all he loved God, because we are informed here that the thing which brought about this condition of happiness was the fact that the love of God was in the hearts of the people. There never will be a time of peace, happiness, justice tempered by mercy, when all men will receive that which is their right and privilege to receive, until they get in their hearts the love of God.

(Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:319–20)

Book of Mormon Student Manual (1996 Edition)

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