Men of Athens, I love and revere you. But I will obey God, rather than you

The Death of Socrates: the murder of Virtue? or its birth?

#todo:

1. Read of listen to Plato’s Apology of Socrates
   
   Either your parents already bought the book or you can read it online here:
   
   http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html
   
   Or read/listen to it here (it has the scrolling text on screen during the reading):
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XUHhe9-s5E
   
   Or all three — the more the merrier
   
   This is a pretty short work (the audiobook is a little over an hour), but a very important one. In it, one of the greatest pre-Christ* teachers of morality and virtue is on trial before the corrupt and foolish (and therefore dangerous) governing body of ancient Athens.
   
   Of what is the old man charged?
   
   “Socrates is a doer of evil and a corrupter of the youth; he does not believe in the gods of the state and has other new divinities of his own.”
   
   Really?
   
   He himself was surprised by the accusation and undertakes in this dialogue to defend himself.
   
   
   
   (*of course, there are no “pre-Christ” teachers — Jesus has always been The First and has been influencing and guiding every man of conscience since the very the beginning)
   

Additional/recommended projects/activities:

1. Read this paper that was published in the Nauvoo newspaper Times and Seasons while Joseph Smith was editor. I don’t know if it was written in part or in its entirety by Joseph, but the fact that it was published while he was the general editor of the paper leads me to believe that he at least approved of the content. And he may well have written it:
   
   https://josephsmithfoundation.org/docs/try-the-spirits-joseph-smith-times-and-seasons-1-april-1842/
   
   In it, the writer explores the very important topic of inspiration — the topic of being led by a guide that invisible to others — and about how to know whether you are being led by a truthful spirit or a deceptive one.
   
   One of the most important lines in the article is this: “Nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit, when they think they have the spirit of God.”
   
   Thinking we are right when we are actually wrong — thinking you are heeding good counsel when it is actually bad, trusting a false leader when you think him a godly one — will lead to some of the most damaging thinking and behaviour in your life.
   
   Nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit, when they think they have the spirit of God.
   
   I say again: one of the reasons it will be so important for you (for your whole life) to spend abundant time in the Book of Mormon and the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is so that you will know the voice and sound and feel of Jesus and be able to identify when something is from Him and when it is not.
   
   In this President Nelson (and others before him) spoke truly: In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.
   
   That day has already arrived.