A presentation on Paul's visit to Athens and the doctrines he taught.

1. Paul’s Visit to Athens
Acts 17

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.