The Lesson Manual Only?

I recently received the following e-mail from a concerned sister:

Dear Bro Beardall,

I teach the Gospel Doctrine class in my Ward, and have done so for the past four years. There are many elderly people in our Ward who do not have access to the internet, so each week I have prepared a newletter for them with comments from the Gospel Doctrine site. I am very careful to check those comments to make sure there is nothing that is doctinally unsound.

The class members really enjoy the newsletter, some have even commented that they show this to non-member friends to explain some of the principles of the Church.

Arecent move-in attended the class, was very outspoken in his opinions and then went to the Bishopric to complain about the contents of the newsletter and that I was using these comments in the class and not teaching directly from the manual. A Bishopric member sent me an email, very thoughfully and kindly expressing that I needed to use only the manual and only official Church approved statements. eg. the Ensign [which I frequently use anyway].

What advice can you give about this situation? I have already replied and said I would bow the knee to Priesthood Authority and do as asked, but I feel hurt that this could have been done and that my class members will suffer a loss of something they really enjoyed.

How would you respond to this e-mail? I will share my own thoughts in the future, but was wondering how others would respond.

Seeds and Adversity

Last Sunday I taught Lesson 9, God Will Provide Himself a Lamb, which contains the story of Abraham's near sacrifice on the altar of Elkenah and Isaac's near sacrifice at the hand of his father. I teach the 16 to 18 year old youth in our ward and we had a wonderful discussion.

After reviewing Abraham's near sacrifice, we talked about what Abraham may have learned from the experience. I then shared two of my favorite quotations:

Napoleon Hill: "Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit."

Harriet Beecher Stowe: "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

As we continued our discussion about Abraham and Isaac, these two quotations became a theme for the lesson. Abraham faced adversity when he lay upon Elkenah's alter, yet his faith did not waiver. He hung in there with faith in God and as Ms. Stowe indicates in her quote, when it seems that you cannot hold on a minute longer, that is the time and place the tide will turn. The tide turned for Abraham and he was saved. What if he had denied God to save his life? Things would have been much different for him and his posterity. The great blessings he received would have been given to another. Within that challenge lay the "seeds" of a much greater benefit, the Abrahamic Covenant and all that it entailed.

This was true one again as Abraham obediently took Isaac to the altar of sacrifice. The tide turned again at the last moment, Isaac was saved and Abraham passed the test. He knew that he was willing to do whatever God asked and he was blessed for all eternity.

These principles were also true many times in the life of Joseph Smith. As Joseph spent the winter of 1838-39 in Liberty Jail he remained faithful during a difficult time. He called out, "O GOD, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?" (D&C 121:1). It was a dark time. Joseph, Hyrum, Sydney, and other Church leaders were in jail. The Saints were being driven out of Missouri in the cold of winter. Yet this adversity carried with it the seeds of greater benefits. When things seemed darkest, the tide turned. Joseph received the great revelations contained in Sections 121-123. The Saints were watched over. Ultimately, they all joined together in Nauvoo and built a great city.

After discussing Abraham and Isaac, we discussed the idea that Isaac's sacrifice was a similitude of the Savior's great atoning sacrifice. We then compared it to Mr. Hill's and Ms. Stowe's quotations. The Savior faced great adversity in his life. Indeed, no one ever faced what the Master faced in Gethsemane and on Calvary. Yet within that great adversity lay the seeds of a much greater benefit: the resurrection of all mankind and eternal life for those who follow the Savior's path.

The adversity faced by the Savior during his last hours of life was indescribable. As he hung on the cross, he was required to carry out his sacrifice alone. "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:45-46). At the darkest moment in all history, the Lord was alone. Yet he carried his mission to conclusion and the tide turned and the seeds of adversity bore fruit for all mankind.

I reminded the young people in my class that adversity does bear the seeds of great things as demonstrated throughout the scriptures and that when our challenges are the toughest and it is difficult to hang on, that is when the tide will turn.

The Gospel Doctrine Class Blog

In 1971 I received a call to the Oklahoma Mission. As most returned missionaries will agree, the two years of service was an incredible experience. One of the great blessings of my mission was gaining a love for the study of the gospel, a passion that remains a part of me some 35 years later.

In 1989, my journey in gospel study took a new turn when I was called as the teacher for the Gospel Doctrine class in the Federal Way 4th Ward (Federal Way Washington Stake). I found that my personal study changed as I prepared for the weekly class and I was rewarded with new insights. I continued to serve as a Gospel Doctrine teacher until 2005 (with a couple of small breaks). In September 2005 we moved from Auburn, Washington, to Centennial, Colorado. Shortly after arriving in Centennial I was called to teach the 16 to 18 year old youth. Once again, I am challenged with new ways of studying and presenting the teachings of the gospel.

One of the challenges of preparing for the weekly Sunday School class is attempting to compress the material into a 40 minute presentation. I found I could not do it. For a period of about two years (while teaching in the Federal Way 7th Ward), several class members gathered together for an informal discussion group one Sunday each month to further discuss principles touched upon during the class presentation. We had a wonderful time, but decided it was more important to be with our families on Sunday evening whenever possible.

The next opportunity for expanding on the Sunday School class came when I discovered the Internet. I was fascinated by the idea of building webpages and sharing ideas with a wider audience. In 1998, I began posting my Sunday School outlines on the web for the benefit of those in my weekly class. They thought it was a great idea and it became a catalyst for better preparation, both by myself and by class members.

Somehow word about the website leaked out and others started visiting. I began receiving e-mail thanking me for my efforts and encouraging me to continue the website. Thus, some eight years later I am still posting my outlines to the Gospel Doctrine Class on a weekly basis. In those eight years, people have written me from 49 of the 50 states, 7 Canadian provinces, and 44 countries. It has been a wonderful journey for myself as I have communicated with brothers and sisters from California to Chile, New York to Singapore, and Utah to Ghana.

This blog is intended to provide a place for discussion of those things covered in the weekly Sunday School lessons, the gospel in general, the Church, and the great blessings that come from membership in the Lord's kingdom. Please feel free to join with me in sharing your thoughts and experiences.