I taught in church today

[SCcoug]

I'Ve been asked to teach EQ tomorrow. The lesson is on being good teachers. I need some good teaching anecdotes. Ready, go!

Why not from your own life? You've started preparing asking the internet to do your lesson for you the night before instead of during the opening hymn of sacrament meeting. How many EQ teachers can claim that?

[Moliere]

Did they just ask you to teach. Maybe you could point out that having time to prepare helps.

[Commando]

I'Ve been asked to teach EQ tomorrow. The lesson is on being good teachers. I need some good teaching anecdotes. Ready, go!

There's a couple in the New Testament. :highhorse:

[DrumNFeather]

Alright friends. I've been tabbed with teaching a lesson in EQ on everyone's favorite topic: Porn. I'm supposed to use the talk from this past GC that Sister Reeves gave. After an initial reading...woof, there's not a lot there. I'd like to get away from the general echo-chamber that we hear on the subject because I don't think that serves anyone, and I prefer that my lessons have a more practical application. I'm gonna steal from my previous month's lesson and try to focus more on addiction (understanding, of course that many don't believe that porn "addiction" meets the clinical definition).

Just a few short month's ago, we had a 5th Sunday lesson on the very same topic. We were instructed beforehand that it would not be interactive and there would not be questions or comments allowed (the bishop was not in attendance for this). So, the whole experience soured a bunch of people...largely due to the approach of the teacher (who herself had previously divorced her husband due to porn issues - and I'm sure other issues, not just that). In any event...it was a mess, and it caused a lot of problems in the ward. (Several people vowed to not return to 5th Sunday lessons...only to come back for the next one about the Pathways program...whoops!) I'd like to avoid that. In fact, I want the lesson to be as practical as possible and avoid any of the normal echo chamber shaming that is involved with a typical lesson on this subject.

So I ask the collective wisdom here what would your approach be? I know we have some supporters/consumers of porn...so what's the most effective tactic here?

[Paperback Writer]

Alright friends. I've been tabbed with teaching a lesson in EQ on everyone's favorite topic: Porn. I'm supposed to use the talk from this past GC that Sister Reeves gave. After an initial reading...woof, there's not a lot there. I'd like to get away from the general echo-chamber that we hear on the subject because I don't think that serves anyone, and I prefer that my lessons have a more practical application. I'm gonna steal from my previous month's lesson and try to focus more on addiction (understanding, of course that many don't believe that porn "addiction" meets the clinical definition).

Just a few short month's ago, we had a 5th Sunday lesson on the very same topic. We were instructed beforehand that it would not be interactive and there would not be questions or comments allowed (the bishop was not in attendance for this). So, the whole experience soured a bunch of people...largely due to the approach of the teacher (who herself had previously divorced her husband due to porn issues - and I'm sure other issues, not just that). In any event...it was a mess, and it caused a lot of problems in the ward. (Several people vowed to not return to 5th Sunday lessons...only to come back for the next one about the Pathways program...whoops!) I'd like to avoid that. In fact, I want the lesson to be as practical as possible and avoid any of the normal echo chamber shaming that is involved with a typical lesson on this subject.

So I ask the collective wisdom here what would your approach be? I know we have some supporters/consumers of porn...so what's the most effective tactic here?

I'd focus on objectification of women rathar than addiction.

[Pheidippides]

Alright friends. I've been tabbed with teaching a lesson in EQ on everyone's favorite topic: Porn. I'm supposed to use the talk from this past GC that Sister Reeves gave. After an initial reading...woof, there's not a lot there. I'd like to get away from the general echo-chamber that we hear on the subject because I don't think that serves anyone, and I prefer that my lessons have a more practical application. I'm gonna steal from my previous month's lesson and try to focus more on addiction (understanding, of course that many don't believe that porn "addiction" meets the clinical definition).

Just a few short month's ago, we had a 5th Sunday lesson on the very same topic. We were instructed beforehand that it would not be interactive and there would not be questions or comments allowed (the bishop was not in attendance for this). So, the whole experience soured a bunch of people...largely due to the approach of the teacher (who herself had previously divorced her husband due to porn issues - and I'm sure other issues, not just that). In any event...it was a mess, and it caused a lot of problems in the ward. (Several people vowed to not return to 5th Sunday lessons...only to come back for the next one about the Pathways program...whoops!) I'd like to avoid that. In fact, I want the lesson to be as practical as possible and avoid any of the normal echo chamber shaming that is involved with a typical lesson on this subject.

So I ask the collective wisdom here what would your approach be? I know we have some supporters/consumers of porn...so what's the most effective tactic here?

I got nothing. I think the obsession with porn makes the problem far worse than it actually is. Maybe I'd spend some time talking about what is addiction and what is not, and then have a screening of Don Jon.

[Pelado]

I'd focus on objectification of women rathar than addiction.

Yes, this. With examples.

[DrumNFeather]

I got nothing. I think the obsession with porn makes the problem far worse than it actually is. Maybe I'd spend some time talking about what is addiction and what is not, and then have a screening of Don Jon.

One of the thoughts that I'd had...speaking to the addiction, is to cover addiction, but also to cover habits...if we're talking about what is easier to break, a bad habit (if one has it) doesn't seem as daunting to overcome as an addiction. That's the spin I'd prefer to put on it at least.

[Katy Lied]

My thoughts, which are worth about a penny:

The reason why Porn is so hard to teach is because your classroom discussion is so assymetrical; the women will line up to share why porn has infected and debilitated their lives and their relationships (always with regard to their husbands or "friends husbands," never their sons--you'll hear the women heap blame on the men, but no relief society sister ever had a young or teen aged son with the problem--that invites a little too close an inspection of their parenting skills).

You'll never hear the brethren stand and talk about why porn is a temptation, and what drives them to seek it out. Because porn is too shameful, so the men don't talk, and the women don't learn about how it works. So women still don't understand that some porn consumption is related to escapism, and seeking relief from pressures of a family and kids and job, and they still see it as rejection of their femininity and rejection of their sexual attraction. And the men wont share because they see it as being disloyal to their wife whom they love very much. Because porn brings down censure on both parties- the man obviously, but the woman as well, because she is condemned for not being woman enough to keep her husband interested.

As a consequence, porn becomes a problem that happens to someone else. No one can identify with the causes and consequences of porn because no one knows someone personally fighting the battle, or if they do know someone, it is hushed up in shame. Since women dont know causes and how it progresses, they have an unrealistic definition of porn, and label it addiction or obsession for even the most casual forays. This exascerbation of porn as a threat to the family is magnified by definitions from the pulpit that even the slightest nano-second exposure to a girls gone wild pix will burn neural pathways in your brain that will make you hunger for fetid, rotten and evil acts. For the rest of your life.

I do happen to think porn is a problem, but I dont think that shaming or shunning works to cut it out of our community when it is so readily available. Thaty just pushes it out of sight.

[Northwestcoug]

Just show them the video. The ominous visual effects will scare them straight, at least until the next time they look at porn

[Moliere]

You won't do this, but it would be funny to satircally mock the modesty lessons that the YW/RS get. You could talk about the length of shorts that men should wear. Then you can discuss whether it's okay to be shirtless while exercising. Maybe talk about wearing shirts that are too tight, you know, so they don't emphasize your pecs too much. Then you can cap it off by testifying that you know that if we follow these modesty rules that we won't be unintentionally causing the females at church or at work to have bad thoughts.

[Katy Lied]

There is definitely a double standard. I should put this in the punography thread, but this is my last post on this.

I had a friend who rented a house and had roommates, but all the bills were in her name. She came to me for help deciphering her cable bill, because in the past 3 months it had blown up to hundreds of dollars a month. I called the cable company and they told me someone in the house was renting pay per view porn movies at night, and the activity log showed that some nights 2-3 movies were watched, for hours at a time. My friend determined that one of her roommates, a stand up returned missionary, was watching porn late at night with the volume turned way down. This had been happening for 3 months, and the roommate was hiding the cable bill when it arrived. (My friend was not the most prompt utility payer.)

So about 90 days, 3-5 nights per week, sometimes 2-3 movies a night. That sounds like an addiction to me. My friend confronted her roommate, and her roommate confessed, and set up a repayment plan to pay for the porn. My friend also demanded that her roommate go talk to the bishop as well. This seems a little strong, but you know how women are.

Also, you should know that this returned missionary roommate was a sweet spirit. She was very homely looking and quite overweight. (Although she had a really sparkling personality and was a ton of fun.) This will figure into the end of this story.

gotta go for a bit. be back.

[BigPiney]

You won't do this, but it would be funny to satircally mock the modesty lessons that the YW/RS get. You could talk about the length of shorts that men should wear. Then you can discuss whether it's okay to be shirtless while exercising. Maybe talk about wearing shirts that are too tight, you know, so they don't emphasize your pecs too much. Then you can cap it off by testifying that you know that if we follow these modesty rules that we won't be unintentionally causing the females at church or at work to have bad thoughts.

That would be awesome.

DNF- have you thought of talking about the technical issues of safeguarding the home. Setting up OpenDNS, or some soft of web filtering for protection. Make it practical.

[Topper]

I'd focus on objectification of women rathar than addiction.

I'd focus on Katy Lied's ideas.

That porn is not understood because it is "a dirty little secret" and the ideas floated over the pulpit are too simplistic. In many ways porn might be linked to escapism more than only lurid thoughts.

[DrumNFeather]

That would be awesome.

DNF- have you thought of talking about the technical issues of safeguarding the home. Setting up OpenDNS, or some soft of web filtering for protection. Make it practical.

I definitely want to bring that element into it...there are very practical reasons to avoid it as a (hobby?)...it is or can be expensive, it's a time suck, it exploits women, I would say (my opinion) it can lead people to have an unhealthy view of women.

So yeah, I definitely want to bring a more practical element into the discussion, which is why I believe (without trying to make people uncomfortable or at least too uncomfortable that I'd prefer to view it as a habit versus an addiction, unless there is overwhelming evidence in individual cases that it is more than that).