What impact would this have on your church engagement?

I would agree with that. I have done that a few times in HPG meeting. I even heard a last minute substitute in GD a few months ago give an impromptu lesson on what her therapist had taught her.

It seems like many of these more “practical” lessons could have a thread of some gospel topic put in them without any issue. It seems to be more of, “keep re-reading the same old stuff from 1970 that you have heard tens of times before.” :yawn:

SD, yes I agree. I find practical lessons more compelling and memorable than talks about doctrine or even feel good talks light on doctrine but which help us feel good about ourselves. Still there is potential to drift into sensitive territory and I think in practical lessons we have to continue to remember that not everything applies to us.

My ward and stake have had “how to” type of lessons in some very interesting topics like saving for retirement, getting out of debt, gaining an education without debt, improving your marriage. There have been a couple that went over like a lead balloon: teaching your children modesty (girls = walking porn came up) and disciplining your children (debate ensued about spanking).

I agree that this would be helpful. I believe that if the class is on marriage or parenting or finances – then it could be offered outside of the block.

Having taken these sorts of classes in and out of an LDS context, I find it interesting that for the LDS every point seems to need to be supported by a quote from a GA. I remember thinking that it would be nicer to have information from financial planners or family therapists. Perhaps results from actual clinical studies on marriage or finances would be helpful. It is strange that we seem to rely on quotes from GA’s to tell us the value of the principle we are reading about.

Dande48 wrote:

It’s the first lesson I’ve ever chosen to walk out on. It infers that those who are rich, whose life is filled with temporal blessings, are the most righteous. It causes us to look down on the poor and needy, and see their struggles as self deserving. And it discourages the poor and the needy. An example of this comes from my wife. We have struggled with infertility in the several years since marriage, and there are so many times when my wife will break down and cry and tell me, “I am such a terrible person. I am a terrible wife. Do you think God is punishing me? Is that why I can’t have children?” Now, this is from the MOST angelic woman I have ever known. She is fully active in the Church, magnifies her calling; she is the most caring, selfless, charitable person I know. And this gospel principle has brought her a lot of heartache.

What a terrible thing for you and your wife to be going through. In church and in life, there is so much talk of rain falling equally on the righteous and the unrighteous. Yet people turn right around and state that random positive events were somehow EARNED. I have no words to fix your pain or balm that will soften the blows that life castes upon you. I wish I could hand you 20 years of experience that would give you more understanding into the idiocy that moves people to speak before thinking. Know that if they had understood the pain they caused, most would’ve chosen to be silent. I wish I could write ALL would choose silence.

Consider the source and be kinder than they deserve. Cyber Hugs heading your direction

I too bought into that part of the prosperity gospel before my FC. I’m sorry you have had to endure this Dande.

In fact, I don’t believe the pride cycle is actually a princple taught in the Book of Mormon. A lot of good people in their stories suffered, struggled, and died.

Assuming the Church still recognizes those other books as something other than ballast for the BoM and D&C, it’s hard to reconcile Job’s suffering with the idea that wealth indicates righteousness. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find any of the most righteous people in the Bible or BoM who didn’t suffer significant hardships for extended periods.

I would like to know whether the following would increase your engagement at church.

Unlike what many of us experience now, when you go to church, you come away with a TON of PRACTICAL advice about how to increase self-discipline, honesty, unity at home, effectiveness in leadership, effectiveness in your work, effectiveness in your relationships with others etc. Basically — advice that helps you increase your ability to achieve the object and design of our existence — joy.

I find that so much of what we talk about is conceptual. We talk about the importance of goodness, mercy, forgiveness, but we are very short on practical advice — unless it is the scripture/prayer/family home evening/serve in the church narrative.

I love it when I have lessons like this. I think it happens less frequently because teachers are not clear and/or listeners are not getting the “your mileage may vary” caveat, so the majority choose the “safe” route.

For example, I get a ripple of excitement in the classes I teach at church when I lace the lesson with a healthy dose of novel, practical advice from self-help books….examples are below the asterisk line at the end of this post.

So, if you came to church and found there were more practical helpers for you to increase the joy in your life (consistent with gospel principles), would this increase your engagement with church?

When I was asked to teach R.S. I went out of my way to use additional resources as I felt guided to do so. Sometimes it meant less time in the manual and more time discussing a quote from Chieko Okazaki. Another time I ignored most of the General Conference talk and showed the class the “Patterns of Light” videos from Mormon Channel. I must have been doing something right because while I taught R.S. for 4 Sundays in a row the entire time I was a R.S. teacher, the 2nd Counselor in the R.S. Presidency (who was a librarian before she retired) was really, really sad when I was released and called to Primary teacher.

In my current Pathways class, my partner and I are assigned 10 of the Isaiah/2 Nephi chapters – and I came up with an engaging, meaningful activity that should engage all the learners (visual, audio, kinesethetic, with a stab at catching the logical as well). The activity also manages to uphold my integrity in being asked to teach something I am not so sure of.