Posted by joespencer on July 3, 2008
I think I will ignore the “From the Life of Joseph Smith” section of the lesson entirely this time and jump immediately into the actual teachings of Joseph Smith. By the way, this lesson quotes extensively from one source that is clearly not the words of Joseph Smith: the last two paragraphs of p. 163 and everything from the last paragraph of p. 164 through the end of the lesson come from an 1834 epistle entitled “The Elders of the Church in Kirtland, to Their Brethren Abroad,” and it is quite clear that the words were written by one of the other early leaders of the Church. That is not, of course, to say that they aren’t quite interesting and helpful, but there is good reason, I think, to separate these teachings off from the others. I’ll take the lesson in two parts, then: the words of others, and then the words of Joseph. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Misc. | No Comments »
Posted by BrianJ on June 27, 2008
Open any Church teaching manual and you’ll find instructions on how to ask students good questions. Unfortunately, following these instructions causes some teachers to ask lots of “good” questions that are actually really bad. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in On teaching | 32 Comments »
Posted by BrianJ on June 24, 2008
Posted in Lessons:Sun. School | 15 Comments »
Posted by BrianJ on June 17, 2008
Posted in Misc., Scripture topics | 8 Comments »
Posted by Robert C. on June 12, 2008
[Karl was sadly released from his calling as Sunday school teacher a few months back, but he was asked to sub this week so I'm cross-posting his lesson notes here--thanks Karl! (The notes notes are also available at his blog here, or in the pdf file.]
PDF version of the lesson notes.
I. Big Picture
Posted in Lessons:Sun. School | 1 Comment »
Posted by BrianJ on June 7, 2008
As part of our scripture study, my daughter (7) told me that in Primary she learned that “we must be perfect to go to heaven.” Sparing you all the details, I found myself saying that, “If it weren’t for the Atonement, then we would have to be perfect.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Scripture topics | 11 Comments »
Posted by Robert C. on June 7, 2008
[Gregorio has kindly written in again with some helpful links and comments about other online scripture study resources. Thanks Gregorio!]
I have downloaded hundreds of Biblical PDF files from the resources that follow below. These include Hebrew and Greek lexicons, grammars, a large number of commentaries, including some that are quite rare, historical books, and so on. I believe that the words the Lord gave the Prophet Joseph Smith about the Apocrypha may well be applied to these books:
There are many things contained therein that are true … There are many things contained therein that are not true, which are interpolations by the hands of men … Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth … And whoso is enlightened by the Spirit shall obtain benefit therefrom. (D&C 91: 1-5)
1. Google books. http://books.google.com/ You may install an icon on your browser to find these books. May I suggest that as soon as you get into Google books, that you go to “advanced book search” and click “full view only” rather than “all books.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in On studying | 5 Comments »
