I taught in church today

[jay santos]

I think it's a bad idea to

a. attempt to go into any historical detail on Joseph's martyrdom without giving the complete story on how the hostile environment came to be
b. go into detail about Joseph's sexual shenanigans which was created the huge hostile environment in Nauvoo

The church says over and over "we don't teach history". So I don't think you should. Do what the manual tells you to do, which is probably just to hit some warm and fuzzy highlights like the singing of "Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". By going the "edgy" route and teaching more history than they tell you to do in the manual, you actually do more harm than good to the potential Swedish Rescue types because they're trusting you to teach a full account of the history which is impossible to do without getting escorted out of the building.

[Katy Lied]

Oh brother.



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[All-American]

Oh brother.



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That's a good point. Hyrum seemed pretty anxious to go back, too. He thought they would be fine.

[Katy Lied]

That's a good point. Hyrum seemed pretty anxious to go back, too. He thought they would be fine.

Hah!

[Katy Lied]

I should put this in the Correlation Thread, but I'm too lazy. I have the opposite problem with correlation; sometimes things are cut out or de-emphasized as non-faith promoting, but the true story is really inspirational. In this category are any inspirational stories too closely linked with polygamy (can't have teachers emphasizing that part of our history) or other extremism (The Mormon Reformation).

The lesson that I am teaching this Sunday covers the first missionaries to Samoa, Hawaiian Elders Kimo Pelio and Samuel Manoa. They were sent by Hawaiian church leader Walter Murray Gibson*. When Brigham Young discovered that Walter Murray Gibson was implementing such interesting practices as selling Church ordinations and leadership positions to men (and women!), and had the odd habit of purchasing church assets which he then registered in his personal name, BY sent Joseph F Smith and Lorenzo Snow over to the Pacific, pronto, to excommunicate WMG.

After being excommunicated, WMG saw no need to follow up with the Church to let them know that two of their ministers were out on a savage island on their own, and Elders Pelio and Manoa stayed in Samoa for another 25 years before someone in Utah thought to send the "first" elders there. Palagi elders Brother and Sister Dean arrived to find the church already established, Elder Pelio dead (of natural causes; he was sent in his 40s), and Elder Manoa married to a local women with a passel of kids.

The lesson manual skips over all this interesting stuff, saying merely:

The gospel was also preached in Polynesia. Two Hawaiians, Elders Kimo Pelio and Samuela Manoa, were sent to Samoa in 1862. They baptized about 50 people, and Elder Manoa continued to live in Samoa with his converts for the next 25 years. In 1887 Joseph H. Dean of Salt Lake City, Utah, received a call to serve a mission in Samoa. Elder Manoa and his faithful wife opened their home to Elder Dean and his wife, Florence, the first Latter-day Saints from outside Samoa they had seen in more than two decades.

Besides being a lot more interesting, I think the actual story is more faith promoting. Imagine being sent on a mission and never hearing from the Church again. Would you give up and return? Would you lose your enthusiasm for preaching the word? Much more interesting discussion. But because someone thought WMG* was an embarrassing chapter of church history, we don't get to learn about this.

*For many years, Walter Murray Gibson has been depicted as a scoundrel, conman and delusional. For example, See book by James Michener, Rascals in Paradise. I've actually started reading some of his books and letters, and I'm thinking his reputation needs a little resuscitation. He was an unfailing defender of native rights, and was beloved by the Hawaiian people, whom he spoke to in fluent Hawaiian. (Take that Sanford Dole and Charles Reed Bishop!). His crime (as the Prime Minister of Hawaii, we're not talking about his exMo ways) was that he resisted American influence and encouraged King Kalakaua to set up his own Pacific federation and not live under the "protection" of one of the colonial powers. WMG died in poverty in San Francisco, expelled from Hawaii by the Hawaiian League (see Stephen Dando-Collins, Taking Hawaii: How Thirteen Honolulu Businessmen Overthrew the Queen of Hawaii in 1893, With a Bluff.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

Ugh. I'm scheduled to teach EQ next Sunday. I've been assigned to use Elder Andersen's, "It's a Miracle" talk from April conference. Webster defines "miracles" as...So I get about two paragraphs into the talk before it becomes clear that not only is the talk NOT about the Roger Waters song or even miracles generally, but the whole thing focuses on all 15 minutes discussing missionary work. As a man of science, I was looking forward to discussing miracles, but considering yesterday's lesson was 40 minutes of Lorenzo Snow agony on this very subject, it's going to take a miracle just to find any remaining white field ready to harvest (no sickle thrusting).

Missionary lessons are tough to get much interaction from people. Missionary lessons two weeks in a row? It could get awkward.

[TripletDaddy]

Ugh. I'm scheduled to teach EQ next Sunday. I've been assigned to use Elder Andersen's, "It's a Miracle" talk from April conference. Webster defines "miracles" as...So I get about two paragraphs into the talk before it becomes clear that not only is the talk NOT about the Roger Waters song or even miracles generally, but the whole thing focuses on all 15 minutes discussing missionary work. As a man of science, I was looking forward to discussing miracles, but considering yesterday's lesson was 40 minutes of Lorenzo Snow agony on this very subject, it's going to take a miracle just to find any remaining white field ready to harvest (no sickle thrusting).

Missionary lessons are tough to get much interaction from people. Missionary lessons two weeks in a row? It could get awkward.

Mix it up and focus on the lyrics to Culture Club's, "It's a Miracle." There is some good stuff for lessons in that song.

[cougjunkie]

Mix it up and focus on the lyrics to Culture Club's, "It's a Miracle." There is some good stuff for lessons in that song.

Or the movie "Miracle" Kurt Russell has a great speech in that movie.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Or the movie "Miracle" Kurt Russell has a great speech in that movie.

Miracle on Ice. Break down the big hockey win and try to draw parallels for life.

[jay santos]

From the primary lesson I taught yesterday:

Some enemies of the Church believed that if they got rid of Joseph Smith, the Church would fall apart. These men started a newspaper in which they told many vicious lies about Joseph Smith. The members of the Church were angry about these lies. Joseph Smith, who was mayor of Nauvoo at the time, called a meeting of the city council, which was composed of both Church members and nonmembers. The city council declared the newspaper a “public nuisance” and ordered the town marshal to destroy the printing press used to print the newspaper.

What exactly are the "vicious lies" told in the Expositor?

[SCcoug]

From the primary lesson I taught yesterday:



What exactly are the "vicious lies" told in the Expositor?

I hope you set those little kids straight.

[jay santos]

I hope you set those little kids straight.

Nah, I'm a good teacher. The purpose of my teaching is to uplift the kids in my class and give them a positive, spiritual experience. I don't think Sunday lessons are the time for this kind of discussion and certainly not with kids.

[Jeff Lebowski]

From the primary lesson I taught yesterday:

What exactly are the "vicious lies" told in the Expositor?

They said he was secretly practicing polygamy.

[splitbamboo]

From the primary lesson I taught yesterday:



What exactly are the "vicious lies" told in the Expositor?

How about that Joseph does not practice faith, hope, virtue and charity?

[Dwight Schr-ute]

They said he was secretly practicing polygamy.

And the man of polyandry didn't want to get lumped in with those perverts.