Object Lessons Make Sunday School Exciting

As some of you may know, I used to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher in my single's ward, and I absolutely loved my calling.  I didn't have to worry about getting people to church, I didn't have to go to any special meetings, and I didn't have to bug people about getting their home teaching done.  While on the flip-side, I got the opportunity to interact with members of the congregation and teach lessons, which is something I enjoy doing.

I had an absolute blast with my Sunday school lessons and I hope the people in my class did as well.  I believe that students can tell when their teacher is excited about their subject matter, and that energy rubs off on the students.

I tend to incorporate a lot of pictures, stories, and other attention activities into my lessons; since I always had a tough time paying attention in Sunday School.  Recently I found an object lesson that went along perfectly with a lesson I was teaching on the resurrection of Christ.

I got to the point in my lesson where two angels declare to Mary Magdalene and the other women that Jesus "is not here, but is risen."

The manual points out that President Howard W. Hunter said that those words "contain all the hope, assurance, and belief necessary to sustain us in our challenging and sometimes grief-filled lives."  To illustrate this point, I pulled out a crisp 50 dollar bill that I had withdrawn from the bank a few days earlier:

[Yes, I am aware that that is a 20 dollar bill.  I didn't feel like getting another $50 for the blog.  So use your imagination.]

I asked the class, "who would like $50?"  And of course, most people responded that they would enjoy having an extra $50 in their pocket.

"Well what if I were to wrinkle the bill into a tiny little ball like this?" I said.

The class said that they would still want the money.

"What if I were to stomp the money into the ground and rub on the floor?"

The chorus came again: "I still want it!"

"Well, okay then.  You're making me pull out the big guns."

That's right: Taco Bell Hot Sauce. The class's reaction to this was particularly awesome. I pulled out a paper towel and wiped the excess hot sauce off the bill.  I then held it up--wrinkled, dirty and wet--and asked "who still wants this?"

A few class members said they would still take the money.

"Okay then, you've left me no choice," I sighed.

The class just stared at me in shock.  I remember one of them saying "NOO!"

I asked one last time if anyone still wanted the money.  A few class members said yes, and then another class member said, "No, stop saying you want it! He might light it on fire next!"

I asked someone in the front row why they still wanted the mangled bill.  They said it was because it's still worth $50 to the bank, which is true.

Now let's apply this to the Resurrection with a story.

President Monson once told a story about a time he was in a priesthood leadership meeting with his former stake president, President Child.  President Child was known for his deep knowledge of the scriptures and his probing questions.  When it was his turn to speak, he quoted a well known scripture from Doctrine and Covenants section 18.  If you know your D & C fairly well, you know that the scripture says that "the worth of souls is great in the sight of God."

I'm quoting President Monson's talk now:

"He [President Child] then turned to one elders quorum president and asked, 'What is the worth of a soul?'"

"The stunned quorum president hesitated as he formulated his reply.  I had a prayer in my heart that he would be able to answer the question.  He finally responded, 'The worth of a soul is its capacity to become as God.'"

"Brother Child closed his scriptures, walked solemnly and quietly up the aisle and back to the stand.  As he passed by me, he said, "A most profound reply."- ("Our Sacred Priesthood Trust," April General Conference, Priesthood session.)


In other words, the true worth of a soul isn't who you are now, but it is the potential of what you can become.
In Senatobia, Mississippi, I knew a man who worked for the Federal Reserve.  One day, he brought a giant bag of shredded money to a dinner party we were having.  See, when a bill becomes too worn out for the banks to use, they send it to the Federal Reserve, which shreds the money into hundreds of tiny pieces.

The bag likely had well over $1,000 in it.  The man told me that if anyone were to put a bill completely back together, with the same serial number and everything, the Government would be legally obligated to accept it as legal tender.  This is why the Fed shreds the money into such small pieces.

We as people can be a lot like paper money.  No matter how ripped, wrinkled, or stained that fifty dollar bill was; it was still worth fifty dollars.  And no matter how broken, messed up, or scarred your life is; it is still immensely valuable to our Heavenly Father.

Do not forget that in your dark moments!  You may feel worthless, but to God your worth is infinite.  No matter where you are in your life, He still wants you to return to live with him.  That's the wonderful miracle of the resurrection and the atonement of Jesus Christ: every single thing that was ever wrong on this world can be set right through Christ.  What a wonderfully comforting thought that is.

Nine Dollars

The other day while walking home from work, I found nine dollars on the side of the road.  Provo had been somewhat stormy all day, so the money was gently fluttering in the breeze.  I quickly picked all the bills up before a stronger gust came through. 

As a bit of background, I am as broke as. . . well, a starving college student--so it was nice to see a little bit of luck come my way.  Then I saw a receipt right next to where I found the bills.  It was for a three entree meal at Panda Express, which was about 25 yards from where I was standing.  The person paid for their meal with a $20, and received $9.24 in change. According to the time on the receipt, they paid for it about ten minutes before I found the money.

I looked around for this mystery Panda Express customer and couldn't see anyone.  Then I walked into the Panda Express and looked for someone that had a three entree meal, and I couldn't see anyone that fit that description either.  At this point I decided that whoever it was that dropped the $9 was probably long gone and I should just keep the cash.

Is it weird to feel slightly guilty about this?  

I mean, I was basically rewarded for not finding the owner of the money.  I could have asked the cashier if they remember who got the three entree meal.  I could have left the money with them in case the customer came back for it.

But truthfully, I doubt that person would have gotten their money back regardless of my actions, so perhaps my guilt is coming from a similar, but different, source.  Maybe I'm just feeling guilty for not doing enough random acts of service lately.  After all, I could  be doing a better job of holding the door open for people, I could do the dishes in my apartment more often, and I could be more diligent with my New Year's Resolution of giving out five compliments a day.

I recently taught a Sunday School lesson title "As I Have Loved You, Love One Another."  The lesson focused mainly on the last supper and Jesus' final discourse to His apostles before His death.  One of the big points of the lesson was Jesus' example of service by washing the feet of his disciples.

The commandment Jesus gave right after performing this act of service was "That ye love one another; as I have loved you," (John 13:34).  Do you realize what a tall order this is?

Only a chapter or two later, Jesus says "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

"Ye are my friends," (John 15: 13-14)

Kind of makes my five-complements-a-day resolution seem somewhat insignificant in comparison, doesn't it?

It's Probably Been Too Long Since I Shared a Spiritual Thought

I apologize for not updating this blog as regularly as I should.  I really wanted to get this up before Easter, but things have been a little nuts lately with finals last week, and then this week my body decided to go crazy with allergies, which left me a sniffling, eyeball-watering, mess for most of the time.  Classes start again tomorrow, so hopefully things clear up by then.

This post is mainly directed at a man named John who is currently the only person cool enough to have left any comments on the post I wrote back in November titled "A Talk I Recently Gave on Baptism."   John requested that I answer a couple of questions about the LDS church, which I am more than happy to do--especially since he asked so nicely.

So here is my response:

John,

In the brief conversation I've had with you, I mentioned that "We are unique among Christian churches as being the only one that claims to receive its doctrine by revelation from God, and then we use the Bible and other scripture to confirm what we believe."

In response to this, you asked: "What is the revelation of doctrine LDS has received from God?"

Before I get to that question, I have a quick side-note:  I feel that one of the root causes of all the contention between Mormons and much of the Christian community is that both sides spend too much time talking about why they are different from each other and not enough time talking about the beliefs and goals they have in common.  I came to this conclusion while serving a mission in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi.  My companion and I would of run into people who had a built-in mistrust of Mormons, which when coupled with our different terminologies, would lead to some deep misunderstandings.  I usually left these encounters with lots of negative energy and also feeling spiritually empty.

Me as a missionary in Senatobia, Mississippi

One of the biggest arguments that we ran into was that we taught a different Gospel--one in which we worked our way into Heaven without relying on Jesus.  This is simply not true.  While we do believe that "faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone," (James 2:17)  we likewise believe that works without faith is just as dead.  I soon came to realize that most churches believe the same thing, with some noteworthy exceptions. 

So first of all, here are the basic steps of the Gospel that we believe:

1. We believe that having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary to salvation and that no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without it (Acts 16:31).
2. We believe that no unclean thing can dwell with God the Father, therefore, repentance from our sins is the second major step of the Gospel (Luke 13:3).
3. We believe that as a witness of our willingness to follow the Savior, and as a saving ordinance, baptism by immersion is required (John 3:5).
4. We believe that after baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost is received by the laying on of hands (Acts 8: 14-20).
5. We believe that it is important to endure to the end--meaning that we continue to exercise faith in Jesus Christ and to strive to be more like him throughout our lives (Titus 3:8).
6. All of this is possible only because of the infinite and eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  He is the only way into Heaven (John 3:16, Isaiah 53:3-5).

This, in a super-condensed nutshell, is the Gospel.  It is unchanging and cannot be added upon. Based on what you wrote, I think we have very similar ideas on what God requires of us--believe, repent, be baptized, and keep the commandments.

With Mormons also believing in modern-day prophets, temples, abstaining from alcohol, and new scripture; it can sometimes become easy to lose focus on what is at the center of all that we do.  The Prophet Joseph Smith once declared that all things “which pertain to our religion are only appendages” to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Carl Bloch's Gethsemane

 There are very few members of the church, if any, that do not understand how important the doctrine of Christ's sacrifice is.  But like I said before, I think we sometimes spend too much time focusing on what sets us apart from everyone else.  You mentioned that members of the Mormon church that you knew often appear to pedal their church rather than Christ.  Regardless of whether that was intentional or not, it is truly unfortunate.  I hope that everything we do and say would be a proper reflection of our beliefs and our testimonies of the living Savior.

This might lead you to ask why things like the Book of Mormon or a living Prophet are necessary if the basic steps of the Gospel never change.  This is because people are imperfect, and if there is something in the scriptures that can be misunderstood, people will misunderstand it.  That is the reason there are so many different churches on earth today.  They all started with someone saying something along the lines of "I think we're doing <blank> wrong," or "this is what the scriptures really meant."

The Book of Mormon adds another witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Much like how the four different Gospels in the New Testament support each other, the Book of Mormon helps confirm what is written in the Bible.

For example, here is a passage out of the Book of Mormon that talks about Jesus Christ and his infinite and eternal sacrifice:

“Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah. …

“Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.

“Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.”-2 Nephi 2:6-9

This is just one of many examples of the doctrine taught in the Book of Mormon.

The living prophet, on the other hand, helps keep the doctrine that has been set forth in the scriptures pure.  His main calling is a teacher of the Gospel.  He also gives us council that applies specifically to our day and age, and warns us of the consequences of sin.

Since it is the Easter season, I figure it would be appropriate to share this video produced by the LDS church.  It shows one of our apostles, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, sharing his thoughts about the death and resurrection of Christ:

The full text of his talk can be read here.

I hope this answers your questions, John.  I know it's not exactly scholarly writing, nor is this very comprehensive, but I think it at least answers your questions.

Sincerely,

-Jake

P.S.  I love answering questions about the LDS church, so feel free to ask away.  However, I will not answer any questions that have malicious intent, and I will  delete any comments I deem to be negative or belittling of what I (or anyone else, for that matter) believe.

What's in a Name?

I decided to write another spiritual post on here, since it appears that the ones I've written in the past have been getting abnormally high amounts of traffic lately.

One of the things I noticed as a missionary was that missionary apartments had a way of collecting weird objects.  I don't know why, but I think that it has something to do with "one man's garbage is another man's treasure," or something like that.  Here are a few examples of what I found over the course of two years:
- A collection of empty bottles of chocolate milk forming a pyramid
- Copies of the LDS Church's 'Ensign' magazine dating back to the early 80's
- Happy meal toys found on the sidewalk
- Tech-Deck fingerboards
- An awful orange corduroy couch from the 70's that was falling apart
- A makeshift weight bar constructed from a broomstick and milk cartons filled with water, all held together by ratty socks

My favorite random missionary apartment item, though, would have to be the giant dictionary in the Jonesboro, AR apartment.  This is the kind of dictionary that English teachers keep on a pedastel at the front of the classroom, and that you could use as a bench-press if you wanted to.  It was unabridged and was originally published in the later 70's.

One day I was bored and decided to start browsing the dictionary.  After looking up a couple of different words, I thought it would be fun to look up my own name (Elder Jacob Low).  This was a dictionary that was comprehensive enough to list "An office of the Priesthood in the Mormon Church" under the definition of "Elder."

Jacob, as you know, comes from the Biblical character in Genesis, and the name means "a supplanter," or "usurper: one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another."  In the Bible, Esau believes Jacob supplanted his birthright as well as his blessing, which is why he angrily exclaims "is not he rightly named Jacob?  for he hath supplanted me these two times!" - Genesis 27:36

...But what really took the cake was the definition of "Low."  This dictionary had over 50 different definitions of the word, taking up an entire column.  Here are some of my favorites, along with my thoughts on them:

 1. Not high or tall.

(Can't really argue with that one.  At least I'm not the shortest [I'm wearing the red tie].)

2. Situated or passing below the normal level or surface (isn't this kinda the same thing?).

3. Not loud.

4. Humble in status (sort of a compliment except for the 'in status' part).

5. Weak, also: depressed (Ouch).

6. Stricken, prostrate.

7. Less than usual in number, amount or value; also: of lesser degree than average.

8. Falling short of standard (Somebody get some ice for that burn!).

9. Unfavorable.

10. Providing little nourishment or strength, as a diet

 (now I feel like you're insulting my figure, as well as what I eat.  That's low, man)

11. Of inferior quality or character.

12. Mean, base, disreputable (you've hurt my feelings and now I'm crying.).

13. Struck or delivered below a contestant's belt [in boxing] (It's hard to hit above the belt when you're "not high or tall")

14. Dead (Whaaa...?  Is this some kind of threat?)

So yeah, that's the name I wore on my nametag for two years.  Elder Low.  I have a wonderful legacy.  Anyway, everbody's name has divers meanings attatched to them--mine just happens to be more conspicuous than most peoples'.  I bring all this up so that we can compare and contrast in just a moment.

Now let's switch to a different dictionary and a different name:

"Christ: The anointed (Gk.) or Messiah (Heb.).  Jesus, who is called Christ, is the firstborn of the Father in the spirit and the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh.  He is Jehovah, and was foreordained to his great calling...before the world was.

"...He lived a sinless life, and wrought out a perfect atonement for all mankind by the shedding of his blood and his death on the cross.

"...brought to pass the bodily resurrection of every living thing and the salvation and exaltation of the faithful.

"He is the greatest Being to be born on this earth--the perfect example--...He is Lord of lords, King of kings, the Creator, the Savior, the God of the whole earth, the Captain of our salvation, the Bright and Morning Star.

"....His name is above every name, and is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved..."


(LDS Bible Dictionary, pg. 633, emphasis added).

Beautiful, isn't it?  That's quite a stark contrast from the definition of my name.  Webster's Dictionary would be quite a page turner if every definition was this eloquent.

So like I was saying earlier, I wore the name "ELDER LOW" in big bold letters on my shirt pocket everyday for two years.  But underneath that were the words "The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints."  Emphasis was put on "Jesus Christ,"  making it the second most visible part of my nametag.  I wore that name everyday for two years as well.  If I were to engage in some disorderly conduct and someone saw it, I promise you that one of the first things they would notice is the name on shirt pocket.  That person's opinion of that name and everything it represented would likely have been greatly diminished.

Now, I may have taken upon myself the name of Christ in a more conspicuous manner, but everyone who has been baptized has taken upon themselves the name of Christ in a much nore meaningful way:

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

-Mosiah 18: 8-10 (emphasis added)

These verses display some of the promises that we make when we are baptized, and is one of many examples in the scriptures where the importance of taking upon yourself the name of the Lord is mentioned.  Alma 5 and Kings Benjamin's address in Mosiah 2-4 are two other excellent examples found in the Book of Mormon. 

What does it mean to take upon yourself the name of Christ?  It means that you covenant that you will "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death."  In other words: you might as well be wearing a nametag that says 'Jesus Christ' on it all day long.

How do you think the Savior feels when people do stupid stuff in his name?  Could it be possible that this is one of the ways that we break the third commandment?

I would like to challenge you to remember that you are a representitive of Jesus Christ, and that there are people who are looking to you as an example.  Please, please, please don't anything to tarnish the name you carry.

A Talk I Recently Gave on Baptism

I've actually been meaning to write on here for a while, but have had a bit of a writer's block on what to actually write about.  

...Come to think about it, I've had a writer's block on everything I've been wanting to write about.  I couldn't even think of an appropriate Facebook status to report the other day  (you know things are boring when you can't even write a sentence about what's going on right now).

So I decided to share with you some thoughts that I recently shared at my BYU student ward a couple of weeks ago.  For those who are not members of the LDS faith; we don't have a regular paid clergy at our church, and the weekly sermons come from different members of the congregation week to week.  It helps each of us learn from each others' thoughts on various subjects, and if you don't like the current speaker, you can take comfort that he's only going to be talking to us for the next 15 minutes.  I'm grateful for every opportunity I have to speak to a congregation because I'm pretty sure that I actually learn a lot more from preparing a talk than the congregation does from listening to it.  Plus, I get to practice some public speaking skills that I may need for future world domination plans.

This last time, I was asked to speak about the broad topic of baptism.  As a missionary, I probably gave seven talks on this topic and taught countless lessons on it during my last two years.  But this time, I really struggled with something to say.  Most of the males in the congregation had been on missions as well, and also had lots of experience on the topic of baptism.  So I naturally wanted to say something that was new and a little bit unique.

Well, during my mission and through a couple of other study sessions, I found some interesting little facts here and there.   Most people who are familiar with the Bible know of story of Jesus' baptism:

 "The cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him...And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."--Matt 3: 13, 16-17.

So that's pretty familiar stuff to most of Christianity.  Now, a while ago I was browsing the Bible Dictionary, which is found at the back of the LDS edition of the Bible.  The Bible Dictionary is exactly what its name implies--a dictionary for Biblical terms.  I find reading it fascinating (side note:  the unsaid suffix to any usage of the word 'fascinating' are the two words 'to me').  Anyway, there's a little entry in there titled 'Gospels, Harmony of.'  In this entry, you'll find something that looks like this:

In the left-hand column, you'll find a chronological listing of the events in Jesus' life, followed by their location, and then a scriptural reference where you can find this event in the four main Gospels.  As you can (barely) see from the above photo, some events occur in multiple Gospels, others occur in only one.

Now, at the end of the Gospel of John, we read: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."  So if we take that statement at face value, that means that the stuff we read in the Bible is really only scratching the surface of the ministry of Jesus.  So we're going to assume that because an event has been written by one of the four Gospel writers, it must be an event that was somewhat more important to that writer than some of the other events in the life of Christ.

In the Harmony of the Gospels table, we'll see 315 events in the life of Jesus listed (yeah, I actually did count that number up--like I said earlier; my life is not that exciting).  Of those events, only 29 were deemed important enough to be written of in all four Gospels.  Some of these events include feeding the five thousand, the triumphal entry, and the betrayal of Judas. 

Now, in this table, we'll find one last column that I haven't mentioned yet: Latter-Day Revelation.  This column lists spots that these various events are mentioned in scripture unique to Latter-Day Saints (i.e.: The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, etc.).  Of the 29 above events, only three are found in all four Gospels and in Latter-Day Revelation--according to this table.  Those events are: John the Baptist's Prophetic Ministry, The baptism of Jesus, and The crucifixion.  The reason the resurrection of Jesus isn't one of the three is because it is actually listed as a couple dozen individual events, but it is covered in all four Gospels plus Latter-Day Revelation (it's a similar story with all the events leading up to Jesus' death, including his suffering in Gethsemane).

So if we were to go off the Harmony of the Gospels' table, it would be fairly safe to say that the three most written about events in the life of Jesus Christ would be:
1.) His baptism and the ministry of John the Baptist.
2.) His death and the events surrounding it.
3.) His resurrection.
(side note 2: Yes, I did count all these things up myself.  No, I do not have a social life.)

Why is it that Jesus' baptism is important enough that every source we've talked about found time to write about it?  I personally believe (and this is just my musings)  that the key rests in the word 'covenant.'  When any of us is baptized, we make a covenant to God that we will keep His commandments and take the name of Jesus Christ upon us.  Jesus has always been the perfect example to each of us, and his example would not be complete without showing us that we need to follow him and be baptized as well.  By being baptized, Christ is essentially telling each of us that there is a path to follow, and that being baptized if one of the very first steps.

I took this covenant upon myself over thirteen years ago.  And I'm sorry to report that sometimes I kind of trample on it or forget about it.  As I was doing this research, I realized that this was pretty important stuff.  It's almost as if the scriptures are saying "these things are important.  I keep repeating them so you don't forget them!"  May we all continue to remember the promises that we have made, and keep them.

Anyway, that's all an outline of some of the things that I spoke about  a couple of weeks ago.  You know, for someone with writer's block, I sure did ramble for a while there.  My congratulations to you if you're still reading this. I know it's kind of a long post, but I found it fascinating [to me].  Please, feel free to comment and share some of your thoughts, I would love to hear from you!