I taught in church today

[Pelado]

I prepared to share mostly from the first epistle of John with some Revelation at the end if I needed more filler.

I was surprised to find that my co-teacher was present and had prepared the lesson. I had been told he would not be there, which is why I prepared.

It worked out just fine. Neither of us got to Revelation.

[Katy Lied]

This past Sunday I taught from 2 Ne 1-5. We were going over the members of Lehi's family, in preparation for discussion on who got what blessings from Lehi before he died (ie: "my firstborn in the wilderness"). We went over the number of females in the family, pointing out that Sariah died by now, so she didn't get a blessing, and I asked how many girls were in the family. (Answer: At least 2). Then I asked the class why we don't know how many and what their names were, the brightest kid in the class raises his hand and says "Because they weren't important?"

[Green Monstah]

This past Sunday I taught from 2 Ne 1-5. We were going over the members of Lehi's family, in preparation for discussion on who got what blessings from Lehi before he died (ie: "my firstborn in the wilderness"). We went over the number of females in the family, pointing out that Sariah died by now, so she didn't get a blessing, and I asked how many girls were in the family. (Answer: At least 2). Then I asked the class why we don't know how many and what their names were, the brightest kid in the class raises his hand and says "Because they weren't important?"

Ha. A few months ago, I was subbing for early morning seminary. The manual covered the resurrection, so I did some research on the accounts of mary discovering the empty tomb, relaying the angels message to the Apostles and their mostly lethargic response (I think in one account Peter gets his hustle on). One Christian commentator postulated that the lack of response was because at the time, the testimony of women was disregarded. I used this in class to demonstrate that church leaders don't exist in a vacuum, but sometimes they're prone to cultural biases and attitudes of their time, so when we read a BY quote that bugs us, or if we feel disregarded because of gender, we can have faith that things will get better and that these people don't speak for the Lord in that instance. The co-teacher (WTF am I asked to sub when there's another called teacher in the room?) got super defensive and stated that the women were disregarded because of the size and seal of the stone and that he didn't want a class full of social justice warriors.

I'm cool with it, though. No subbing requests since then (it may help that I live in another city during the week too).

[LVAllen]

The co-teacher (WTF am I asked to sub when there's another called teacher in the room?) got super defensive and stated that the women were disregarded because of the size and seal of the stone and that he didn't want a class full of social justice warriors.

I'm confused at the reasoning here.
Women:
Dudes! We went to the tomb, and the stone wasn't there anymore! The seal was broken! And there was totally an angel there!
11 (possibly 12):
Ha ha. Yeah right. I'm sure you just didn't see it right, since it's too big, and it's easy to mistake a big hole covered by a stone with a hole not covered by a stone. No, we're not going to go look at it. But it was there 3 days ago!

[Pelado]

Okay, here's the general outline of the lesson. A little bit of this got cut because of time, and I phrased it slightly different here, but this is pretty much ow it went. Hilariously fun - and word of mouth traveled so fast out of the room that before the class had all left people who weren't able to come were asking me for the notes.

To start off, I mention that I've been teaching the class for about year, and ask everybody how it's going. We know each other pretty well now, and you're used to my unorthodox style. Now, let's be honest: do I make you a little bit uncomfortable sometimes? (A few people sort of nod). I see people squirming in their seats, I say, and that's okay. Making you uncomfortable is intentional - it's a trait from law school, where they do that to make you think and be able to refine your own opinions as well as support them. This class isn't true Socratic, but there are some elements.

Why mention that this week? Well, of all weeks, this week is the one in which some of you will be most uncomfortable. It's by design, and you've got to trust me. Because this week is Word of Wisdom Week! Now, as we get going, please remember a couple of things: First, I'm not telling you what I'm doing or what anybody else is doing. But I'm going to push all the ideas we talk about, poke a bit to see where the difficult areas are. Second, I'm not trying to justify any acts, and you shouldn't use anything I say to do that either. But we'll talk more about that at the end.

Okay, so, first, the history. We all know the general story: Emma is tired of cleaning up after Joseph's instructional sessions - the chaw spit and the tobacco smoke. And she's always been against alcohol. So she asks for a revelation. That's the familiar story. But there's more to it. This wasn't a pillowtalk conversation, apparently - this was real time at the location with all the brethren around. And it looks like - my take - there's some sarcasm here. Emma's saying, geez, this is a mess and I'm sick of cleaning, go get a revelation against the booze and tobacco already. And one of the brethren - not clear who - responds in kind by saying, "and while you're at it, get something against the tea and coffee the women love so much why don't you?" Meant as a dig against Emma. So imagine all of their surprise when Joseph comes back with this - everybody loses!

Let's talk implementation. We can't talk about the entire story because of time, but this didn't become a "commandment", a TR question, until 1921 under Heber J. Grant. But if you want to know, there's a great article written by a BYU prof, a little dated, but still very relevant. (Available at http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-co..._V14N03_80.pdf).

But we'll hit a few highlights:

• Joseph Smith was a fan of wine, and drank frequently. In fact, when the mob came in Carthage, he'd just shared a bottle with his fellow prisoners, and in fact had just sent the guard down with the empty when the mob came up.
• Amasa Lyman and others tell a story of Joseph giving a very fervent sermon on the WoW, and then riding his horse down the street smoking a cigar afterwards - speculating that he wanted people to follow the principle and not him.
• Joseph also installed a bar for Porter Rockwell, his childhood friend, when Porter got back from Missouri and the trial for the attempted assassination of Lilburn Boggs. Originally this was in the Mansion house until Emma saw it - she'd been visiting family - and threatened in no uncertain terms that either the bar went or she did. So Porter ended up across the street.
• Porter himself was known for his love of the bottle, and in fact the bar he started still stands in Lehi, I believe.
• Mark Twain famously said that Brigham Young had the best stocked liquor cabinet west of the Mississippi.
• There's a picture of the Salt Lake Temple from the early 1900s that clearly shows the spittoons. (http://dialoguejournal.com/wp-conten...e_V29N03_9.pdf).

We'll share some more stories about the early and middle era of the WoW later, but the idea is that it wasn't practiced anything close to the way we do now. There's plenty of sermons about it, that's for sure, but it looks like it was very much a moderation concept. Public drunkenness was bad, but plenty of the 12 served alcohol, liked currant wine, etc.

So let's hit the actual books and go through some elements - but be careful about what the actual text says! I'm going to call you on it.

First three versus principle with promise, not by way of constraint, etc. - this was the early approach. New edition of the scriptures have indicated that JS actually authored these three versus as part of the revelation - there was some dispute before. So let's look at the dos and dont's.

V. 5-7: no wine or strong drink. (I pulled a half-full bottle of rum out at this point and set it on the table - hey, I've got props!). Okay, so wine and strong drink. We get wine - that's easy (and they stopped using it for sacrament, at least the the Qo12, in 1906). What's strong drink? I know what I'm going to hear - first answer, I know it, it's wrong! Alcohol you say? That's not what this is! Strong drinks - we're talking distilled spirits here. Strong liquor, not just run of the mill stuff. Remember that - we'll see why this matters later.

So this rum, that's a strong drink. Pretty much agreed that just drinking this is no good. Okay, what about this? (I pull out a bottle of vodka that has chopped up vanilla beans in it that we use for various stuff). What about not drinking this; what about using this for cooking? Or maybe use the rum for some bananas foster, use that, a little banana liquor, flambe, over ice cream? Or any number of tasty sauces you get at just about any restaurant? What about that?

Oh, the alcohol cooks out, does it. Yeah. No. Here's the government's official stats, straight from the FDA:

• Alcohol added to boiling liquid, then removed: 85% remains
• Flambe: 75%
• Alcohol in, just leave it over night, no cooking: 70% (yes, less than flambe!)
• Stick it in, don't stir, bake for 25 minutes: 45%
• Simmer: 25% after an hour, 2.5 hours to get to 5%.

(At this point, a lady had a crazy comment about some letter from the first presidency back before most of us were born telling us we shouldn't even cook with it because our kids will develop a taste for it and become drunks - so I countered with the below).

David O. Mckay, was at an event where rum cake - this is not cake made with rum in it, this is caked soaked in rum - was served, and everybody waited to see what he did. He started eating, and one lady said, President Mckay, don't you know that has rum in it? And then Pres. Mckay said, we're told not to drink it, not to eat it, and continued on. (This is from page 23 of David O Mckay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism).

Okay, so that's something to think about. But what about dealcoholized wine? (I pull out a bottle of Ariel Merlot, a 0.005% alcohol content). I've had plenty of situations at work where there's some party or celebration, and people knowing my religious background will go out of their way to get me this, or dealcoholized champagne - what about that? I'm not telling you what I do (side note: of course I drink it, duh) but what about that?

[Part 2 coming - I usually have 1.5 pages of notes for lessons, but I had 4 for this one]

Word of Wisdom lesson for the Valiant 9-10 Primary class. Should I follow Pheidippides' lesson plan?

[Moliere]

Word of Wisdom lesson for the Valiant 9-10 Primary class. Should I follow Pheidippides' lesson plan?

Ha, I was thinking about this as well as my family read D&C 89. Good old Nikuman. I miss that guy.

[Pelado]

Ha, I was thinking about this as well as my family read D&C 89. Good old Nikuman. I miss that guy.

Is that a yes?

[Moliere]

Is that a yes?

It depends on your church ambitions. If you want to be bishop someday, then don't do it. If you want to be an ex-mo that rides a green Harley, then go for it.

[Northwestcoug]

It depends on your church ambitions. If you want to be bishop someday, then don't do it. If you want to be an ex-mo that rides a green Harley, then go for it.

Does Pheidippides have a Harley?
I missed that step in the progression.

[Pelado]

It depends on your church ambitions. If you want to be bishop someday, then don't do it. If you want to be an ex-mo that rides a green Harley, then go for it.

Does it have to be green? Have to be a Harley? Or even a motorcycle?

In spite of my lack of church ambition, I abstained from Niku's methodology.

[Copelius]

I've maxed my church ambitions now that I'm section leader. Never mind. I would like to continue past 60 as a vocal coach, but Mack's wife is the current one and she has a doctorate. Similar to the university I'm probably capped with my lowly BM

[chrisrenrut]

I've maxed my church ambitions now that I'm section leader. Never mind. I would like to continue past 60 as a vocal coach, but Mack's wife is the current one and she has a doctorate. Similar to the university I'm probably capped with my lowly BM

Don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure your BMs are tremendous.

[Copelius]

Don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure your BMs are tremendous.

I only have one BM. I wasn't good enough at the tuba or trombone to double major.