Gospel Learning and Teaching

Every time we teach a lesson, whether it’s in Gospel Doctrine, Relief Society, our quorum meetings, FHE, one-on-one with a child, or speaking from the pulpit, there are three lessons to consider: the lesson we prepared, the lesson we gave, and the lesson we wish we would have given when we think back on it. Ideally, these three lessons are one and the same.

The Holy Ghost can help us through each of these three phases of the lesson. First, we prayerfully consider the material and the needs of each individual in the class. In the classroom, we create an environment where the Holy Ghost is able to join us and touch the hearts and minds of the members of our class. Afterwards, as we reflect on the lesson, the Holy Ghost can help us to identify what worked well and where we can improve our abilities as a teacher.

The assistance and guidance of the Holy Ghost is so essential to our efforts as a gospel teacher that without Him, “[we] shall not teach.” (D&C 42:14) The degree to which we are able to work with the Holy Ghost depends largely on our preparation as a teacher. Brother David M. McConkie speaks to four principles we can apply in preparing ourselves (not the lesson) to teach:

1. Immerse yourself in the scriptures. We cannot love that which we do not know. Develop a habit of daily scripture study outside of lesson preparation. We have to treasure up the word before we can declare it. Studying the scriptures trains us to hear the Lord’s voice.
2. Apply in your life the things that you learn. We must keep the commandments with all our might, mind, and strength.
3. Seek for heaven's help. No class is so large that we cannot pray for inspiration regarding how to reach each student.
4. Act, without delay, in accordance with the spiritual promptings you receive. We must not be afraid to exercise agency and act. We may feel awkward at first. The sweetest experiences as teachers come when we humble ourselves and follow the Lord's gentle counsel. Experience strengthens our faith and gives us greater courage to act in the future.

To illustrate the importance of studying what the Lord has already revealed before seeking personal guidance, Brother McConkie shared how he had learned that lesson as a newly-called stake president.

Soon after I was called to be a stake president, our stake presidency received training from an Area Seventy. During the training, I asked a question to which he responded, “That is a good question. Let’s turn to the Church Handbook of Instructions for the answer.” We then went to the handbook, and there was the answer to my question. A little later in our training, I asked another question. Once again he responded, “Good question. Let’s turn to the handbook.” I did not venture to ask any more questions. I thought it best to read the handbook.

I have thought since that the Lord could give a similar response to each of us as we go to Him with concerns or questions. He could say, “That’s a good question. If you will review Alma chapter 5 or Doctrine and Covenants section 76, you’ll remember that I have already spoken to you about this.”

Brothers and sisters, it is contrary to the economy of heaven for the Lord to repeat to each of us individually what He has already revealed to us collectively. The scriptures contain the words of Christ. They are the voice of the Lord. Studying the scriptures trains us to hear the Lord’s voice.

I love this testimony he shares at the end:

You must not be afraid to exercise your agency and act upon the thoughts and impressions that the Spirit of the Lord puts into your heart. You may feel awkward at first, but I promise you that the sweetest and most gratifying experiences you will have as a teacher will be when you submit to the will of the Lord and follow the promptings you receive from the Holy Ghost. Your experiences will strengthen your faith and give you greater courage to act in the future.

“Gospel Learning and Teaching” by Brother David M. McConkie, First Counsellor in the Sunday School General Presidency.

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The Mediator

This was a favorite video we used on my mission to explain the Atonement. I also kept a copy of the text tucked inside the front cover of my scriptures. It’s taken from Elder Packer’s talk in the April 1977 General Conference (aka, the May 1977 Ensign), and it’s included in the Gospel Principles manual in Chapter 12 (pages 63-65).

The parable of Justice and Mercy:

There once was a man who wanted something very much. It seemed more important than anything else in his life. In order for him to have his desire, he incurred a great debt.

He had been warned about going into that much debt, and particularly about his creditor. But it seemed so important for him to do what he wanted to do and to have what he wanted right now. He was sure he could pay for it later.

So he signed a contract. He would pay it off some time along the way. He didn’t worry too much about it, for the due date seemed such a long time away. He had what he wanted now, and that was what seemed important.

The creditor was always somewhere in the back of his mind, and he made token payments now and again, thinking somehow that the day of reckoning really would never come.

But as it always does, the day came, and the contract fell due. The debt had not been fully paid. His creditor appeared and demanded payment in full.

Only then did he realize that his creditor not only had the power to repossess all that he owned, but the power to cast him into prison as well.

“I cannot pay you, for I have not the power to do so,” he confessed.

“Then,” said the creditor, “we will exercise the contract, take your possessions, and you shall go to prison. You agreed to that. It was your choice. You signed the contract, and now it must be enforced.”

“Can you not extend the time or forgive the debt?” the debtor begged. “Arrange some way for me to keep what I have and not go to prison. Surely you believe in mercy? Will you not show mercy?”

The creditor replied, “Mercy is always so one-sided. It would serve only you. If I show mercy to you, it will leave me unpaid. It is justice I demand. Do you believe in justice?”

“I believed in justice when I signed the contract,” the debtor said. “It was on my side then, for I thought it would protect me. I did not need mercy then, nor think I should need it ever. Justice, I thought, would serve both of us equally as well.”

“It is justice that demands that you pay the contract or suffer the penalty,” the creditor replied. “That is the law. You have agreed to it and that is the way it must be. Mercy cannot rob justice.”

There they were: One meting out justice, the other pleading for mercy. Neither could prevail except at the expense of the other.

“If you do not forgive the debt there will be no mercy,” the debtor pleaded.

“If I do, there will be no justice,” was the reply.

Both laws, it seemed, could not be served. They are two eternal ideals that appear to contradict one another. Is there no way for justice to be fully served, and mercy also?

There is a way! The law of justice can be fully satisfied and mercy can be fully extended—but it takes someone else. And so it happened this time.

The debtor had a friend. He came to help. He knew the debtor well. He knew him to be shortsighted. He thought him foolish to have gotten himself into such a predicament. Nevertheless, he wanted to help because he loved him. He stepped between them, faced the creditor, and made this offer.

“I will pay the debt if you will free the debtor from his contract so that he may keep his possessions and not go to prison.”

As the creditor was pondering the offer, the mediator added, “You demanded justice. Though he cannot pay you, I will do so. You will have been justly dealt with and can ask no more. It would not be just.”

And so the creditor agreed.

The mediator turned then to the debtor. “If I pay your debt, will you accept me as your creditor?”

“Oh yes, yes,” cried the debtor. “You save me from prison and show mercy to me.”

“Then,” said the benefactor, “you will pay the debt to me and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison.”

And so it was that the creditor was paid in full. He had been justly dealt with. No contract had been broken. The debtor, in turn, had been extended mercy. Both laws stood fulfilled. Because there was a mediator, justice had claimed its full share, and mercy was fully satisfied.

 

“The Mediator” by Elder Boyd K. Packer April 1977 General Conference Watch | Listen | Read

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Conference Extras (Release Candidate 2)

Timing is everything.

Just as I was getting ready to publish the Conference Extras (née “Conference LP”) Release Candidate 1, Apple released version 3.0 of the AppleTV software, with support for iTunes Extras. With a couple tweaks, I was able to get RC1 loaded on AppleTV. One problem – it didn’t work very well. The design looked good in iTunes, but was unnavigable on AppleTV. You couldn’t scroll, the background gradient looked like the Target logo, and most importantly – you couldn’t actually play anything. Back to the drawing board.

The new design works on AppleTV and still works in iTunes. Videos will now play full-screen or full-window. The content is still streamed from lds.org, so you’ll need a broadband internet connection. The one caveat is that you’ll need to use the keyboard to navigate in iTunes (arrow keys, enter, and escape). The mouse isn’t supported yet. Why not?

Well, it’s that timing thing. I started out designing this from the ground-up for AppleTV because it seems to be the more finicky platform to target. Adding mouse support was the last thing on the list, and the only thing remaining when Apple released actual documentation for developing iTunes LPs and Extras.

Instead of delaying the next release until I’ve had a chance to incorporate best-practices from the documentation, I figured I’d release it as-is – everything except the mouse support – so you can try it out.

Instructions:

1. Download ConferenceExtras2009Oct-1.0rc2.zip.


2. Double-click the resulting 179th Semiannual General Conference.ite file. iTunes will import the Extras to the Movies section of iTunes.


3. In iTunes, double-click 179th Semiannual General Conference. Use the arrows to navigate, Enter to select, and ESC to exit.

The Purifying Power of Gethsemane

This was Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s final testimony, given in General Conference on April 7, 1985. Elder McConkie passed away 12 days later, on April 19.

I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.

But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.

I love the personal foundation of the testimony he shares.

In speaking of these wondrous things I shall use my own words, though you may think they are the words of scripture, words spoken by other Apostles and prophets.

True it is they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine, for the Holy Spirit of God has borne witness to me that they are true, and it is now as though the Lord had revealed them to me in the first instance. I have thereby heard his voice and know his word.

This echoes Alma’s witness of how to gain a testimony in Alma 5:45-6: “And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety? … Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might these things of myself.” Alma, who saw an angel (Mosiah 27:11), gained his testimony through prayer and fasting and the witness of the Holy Ghost. Laman and Lemuel saw angels (1 Ne 17:45) but didn’t pray for a witness as Nephi did (1 Ne 11:3).

It’s a beautiful and powerful testimony. Someone has pieced his address together with video from The Lamb of God. They go together quite well.

“The Purifying Power of Gethsemane” by Elder Bruce R. McConkie
April 1985 General Conference

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The Atonement Can Clean, Reclaim, and Sanctify Our Lives

Both the regional airport and Freeman Park in Idaho Falls were built on reclaimed landfills.

I have lived in Idaho Falls nearly my whole life. I have contributed a lot of garbage to those landfills over the course of more than 50 years.

What would the city fathers think if on a given day I showed up on one of the runways of the Idaho Falls airport or the middle of one of the grassy fields in Freeman Park with a backhoe and started digging large holes? When they asked me what I was doing, I would respond that I wanted to dig up the old garbage that I had made over the years.

I suspect they would tell me that there was no way to identify my personal garbage, that it had been reclaimed and buried long ago. I'm sure that they would tell me that I had no right to dig up the garbage and that I was destroying something very beautiful and useful that they had made out of my garbage. In short, I don't think they would be very pleased with me. I suppose that they would wonder why anyone would want to destroy something so beautiful and useful in an attempt to dig up old garbage.

That last bit reminds of Elder Holland’s CES fireside back in January. “If something is buried in the past, leave it buried.”

Elder Bowen continues:

Just as the landfill requires dedicated work and attention, laboriously applying layer after layer of fill to reclaim the low-lying ground, our lives also require the same vigilance, continually applying layer after layer of the healing gift of repentance.

Just as the city fathers in Idaho Falls would feel bad about a person trying to dig up his old garbage, our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, feel sorrow when we choose to remain in sin, when the gift of repentance made possible through the Atonement can clean, reclaim, and sanctify our lives.

“The Atonement Can Clean, Reclaim, and Sanctify Our Lives” by Elder Shayne M. Bowen, of the Seventy
October 2006 General Conference

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October 2009 Conference iTunes Extras

I’m please to share with you the 179^th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – as iTunes Extras.

For now, the Extras will only work in iTunes 9 (Mac and Win). I’m still working on getting support for the AppleTV 3.0 update released last week.

You’ll be able to watch all five sessions of the October conference, as well as the General Relief Society Meeting held on September 26, 2009. (Soon, I’ll release an update that will include the text of the talks, so you can read along as well.) Browse through the sessions, search for your favorite speakers, and enjoy the music of the choirs. Just download, unzip, double-click, and enjoy!

179th Semiannual General Conference iTunes Extras.zip

The Challenge to Become

In the 170^th Semiannual General Conference (October 2000), Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke of the educational process we’re currently going through. My favorite quote:

[T]he Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts–what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts–what we have become.

This is followed closely by the parable of the rich man explaining his son’s inheritance:

That which I have I can easily give you, but that which I am you must obtain for yourself. (Emphasis in the original)

I love the perspective and insight that these give. First, the importance of enduring and pushing onward. Second, the insight into why personal experience is necessary for us to learn. We’re going to make mistakes – that’s fine. It’s part and parcel with this mortal probation. Learning to make choices means that we’re going to make some bad choices along the way. Our Heavenly Father understood this, so He provided a Savior for us.

There is no tally at the end. We’re not going to stand before the judgement bar of the Almighty and cross our fingers while angels count the good and bad deeds we’ve done, hoping that the good outnumbers the bad. (“Sometimes the Ups outnumber the Downs… but not in Nottingham.”) It’s going to be an acknowledgement (I love that word there) of who we have become as the result of the deeds we’ve done.

I recently faced a tough decision. I carefully weighed the alternatives. Would the activity be worth the money I’d spend? What about the time I’d need to invest? How would this affect my wife? With all of these assessments, I could justify either decision. Finally, my mind rested upon a new question: “If I do this, will it take me closer to the man I want to be, or further away?” Once I framed the question in those terms, all doubt left my mind, and I was able to clearly see the better choice.

What will you do today to bring yourself closer to being the person you want to be?


“The Challenge to Become” by Elder Dallin H. Oaks
October 2000 General Conference

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Conference LP (Release Candidate)

I decided to package the 179th Semiannual General Conference as an iTunes LP. This new format – which requires iTunes 9 – lets you package together audio and video files in an immersive environment.

So why an LP and not just download the files from the web site or use the podcast? For one thing – it's a lot of files. The entire Conference takes several GB of video, and it adds up quickly. Podcasts are designed to be temporary – episodes come and go, and they're not designed for browsing archived content. If you download the files, you're taking up hard drive space and you've got to make sure everything is meticulously tagged.

The LP streams the videos from the Church's web site, so they're not taking up space on your hard drive. (The LP itself is only about 1MB.) The downside is that you may have to wait for a few seconds while the video buffers, but it’s probably better than waiting for a multi-gigabyte file to download.

Instructions:

1. Download 179th Semiannual General Conference LP and unzip it.
2. Double-click the .itlp file.

iTunes will import the LP. (You can now throw away what you downloaded.)

PS–I’ll be the first to admit I’m not an artist.

Safety for the Soul

A powerful testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

First, holding Hyrum Smith’s dogeared copy of the Book of Mormon, Elder Holland declares the character of Joseph and Hyrum:

As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

He then continues, sharing his testimony of The Book of Mormon:

For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.” …

I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my own oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. … I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days.

“Safety for the Soul”, by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
October 2009 General Conference

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