“The Worth of Souls Is Great in the Sight of God”
Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–13
10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.
13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!
President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:
“There are many reasons why the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, and why He desires to have them redeemed. First, man is the offspring of God in the spirit; we are His children, and as such He has a deep love and earnest concern for us one and all. It is necessary, however, to bring about His purposes and the salvation and exaltation of His children, that they have the free exercise of free agency, which is a gift from God. Therefore when we come in contact with mortal conditions with all their sin and temptation, many of us fail to continue in the path which leads to glory and exaltation wherein we may become the sons and daughters of God and as heirs have the fulness of His kingdom. It becomes necessary, therefore, that punishments as well as rewards be meted out, and based on the law of justice men will be assigned to the place which they merit because of their actions. In speaking to Enoch the Lord wept because of the wickedness of men. It is not the will of the Lord, as once was taught so generally, that some men are created for damnation and some for salvation. The Lord would have all men to be saved, and the privilege is theirs if they will receive it. Second, it is the privilege of those who are faithful to become like God. The human soul will not only become immortal through the resurrection, but may be exalted to godhood, as a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Man’s possibilities as a son of God are unlimited, because he too, like his father, will be infinite. A soul, therefore, is worth more than a world which is created for his habitation.
“Christ, because of His great love for mankind was willing to come to earth and endure suffering which is beyond the power of mortal men to comprehend. We should show our gratitude to Him and His Father for this great blessing which He gave to us through His suffering and death upon the cross.”
(Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. [1953], 83.)
Randal S. Chase spent his childhood years in Nephi, Utah, where his father was a dry land wheat farmer and a businessman. In 1959 their family moved to Salt Lake City and settled in the Holladay area. He served a full-time mission in the Central British (England Central) Mission from 1968 to 1970. He returned home and married Deborah Johnsen in 1971. They are the parents of six children—two daughters and four sons—and an ever-expanding number of grandchildren.
He was called to serve as a bishop at the age of 27 in the Sandy Crescent South Stake area of the Salt Lake Valley. He served six years in that capacity, and has since served as a high councilor, a stake executive secretary and clerk, and in many other stake and ward callings. Regardless of whatever other callings he has received over the years, one was nearly constant: He has taught Gospel Doctrine classes in every ward he has ever lived in as an adult—a total of 35 years.
Dr. Chase was a well-known media personality on Salt Lake City radio stations in the 1970s. He left on-air broadcasting in 1978 to develop and market a computer-based management, sales, and music programming system to radio and television stations in the United States, Canada, South America, and Australia. After the business was sold in 1984, he supported his family as a media and business consultant in the Salt Lake City area.
Having a great desire to teach young people of college age, he determined in the late 1980s to pursue his doctorate, and received his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Utah in 1997. He has taught communication courses at that institution as well as at Salt Lake Community College and Dixie State University for 21 years. He served as Communication Department chair and is currently a full-time professor at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah.
Concurrently with his academic career, Brother Chase has served as a volunteer LDS Institute and Adult Education instructor in the CES system since 1994, both in Salt Lake City and St. George, where he currently teaches a weekly Adult Education class for three stakes in the Washington area. He has also conducted multiple Church History tours and seminars. During these years of gospel teaching, he has developed an extensive library of lesson plans and handouts which are the predecessors to these study guides.
Dr. Chase previously published a thirteen-volume series of study guides on the Book of Mormon, Church History, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. The series, titled Making Precious Things Plain, along with four smaller study guides on Isaiah, Jeremiah, the story of the Nativity, and the final week of our Lord’s atoning sacrifice, are designed to assist teachers and students of the gospel, as well as those who simply want to study on their own. Several of these books are also available in the Spanish language.
