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Well, the Bishop has approached us about ordaining our son to be a priest. I was wondering if anyone knows what questions he might ask him. My son is willing to go through the interview and discuss it with the Bishop. But he wondered what the Bishop might ask him…anyone know?
Leadership roulette. LDS.org https://www.lds.org/church/news/first-presidency-releases-new-guidelines-for-interviewing-youth?lang=eng ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://www.lds.org/church/news/first-presidency-releases-new-guidelines-for-interviewing-youth?lang=eng Quote:Key matters for discussion during these interviews “include the growth of the young person’s testimony of Heavenly Father, the mission and Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the restored gospel.”
The bishop and his counselors “emphasize the importance of keeping baptismal covenants. They teach youth to prepare to make and keep temple covenants through daily righteous living. Bishopric members encourage youth to pray regularly in private and with their family and to study the scriptures. They also encourage youth to stay close to their parents.”
But the truth is I think you could get anything, which was Br. Young’s issue. I don’t think questions about chastity, including porn and masturbation, are off limits in the minds of some (many?) bishops (particularly since this is a “worthiness” interview). I don’t know your inclinations nor your son’s but I might offer to be present.
I’m sure it’s pretty open ended, but I’d expect him to cover a few of the basics from the TR interview, while expounding, going into specifics, and pressing for further details even on a “yes” response”. At least that’s what I’ve found for any big event “worthiness interviews” (priesthood, first time endowment, mission, marriage, leadership callings, etc). Quote:They encourage youth to stay close to their parents.”
Some also include an admonition to look both ways before crossing the street and never to talk to strangers!
I was frank with my children (most now grown) about bishops interviews when they were younger. There was one bishop I was concerned might be ‘overzealous’ in his questions. I certainly don’t think a bishop should ask direct questions about masterbation or porn, I’ve heard too many shady stories. Fortunately with all of them there were no issues. I agree I would give him the option of you being there (most kids I think would say no especially at 16), but the option is there. Also it might be a good opportunity to go over the tr questions and have a dialog on what they mean, your views, etc.
Wish I knew also. I was hoping to have a chance to have a fatherly conversation about what advancement in the priesthood is all about and where it goes. My son doesn’t turn 16 until later in the year, yet on Jan 2 the ward exec secy was already hot to trot to schedule the interview. I asked for time to again have a father conversation about this with my son, and the response was – “ok, how about a day or two after that?”.
People we need to SLOW DOWN all of this automatic social progression. It has lost its meaning to young men other than turning a certain age and having to have a scary interview with a stranger.
???
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lotsofgray wrote:
People we need to SLOW DOWN all of this automatic social progression. It has lost its meaning to young men other than turning a certain age and having to have a scary interview with a stranger.
I can speak to the timing issue a bit. The instructions, as I understood them, were that all advancements were to take place in January. That was the instruction in the letter. Just as many other things that are enforced in the church are based on the instructions in the handbooks. That said, there is no reason you should NOT be given time to be comfortable with the process and the result. There were a couple of kids in our ward that we did not advance for one reason or another, mainly based on their mental capacity or social comfort/anxiety.
For our family, my deacon-aged son was advanced this past Sunday. He has a summer birthday and is the youngest in his group by 4 months. We were going to advance him (not ordain, but send him to the teachers quorum) anyways in a month or so. We did the same when he was in primary and all the other boys his age were in deacons. I should say that we did not ask permission to do this, we simply told the YM president and Bishop that this was what we wanted to do, and they were willing to accommodate. I’m not sure what we would have done had they said no.
Yesterday, 11 year old DS, DW and I met with the bishop regarding his advancement. Roy Jr. is on the autism spectrum but is considered highly functioning. He gave mostly one word non-committal answers “no” and “yeah” There were several interviews scheduled in 15 minute increments. Bishop would ask Roy Jr. if he knew about a given topic and then would provide some explanation and commentary. Priesthood, responsibility, etc. There was a good amount of reading from the D&C which I could follow sortof but I imagine was way over the head of DS. Bishop extrapolated from those verses that the duty of a Deacon was to Pass the Sacrament, take sacrament to “shut-ins”, and to be a helper to the bishop if he needs an errand during SM. Bishop asked Roy Jr. if he wanted us parents to remain and Roy shrugged. DW volunteered to leave and for Roy Jr. and I to remain. Bishop then proceeded to go over the TR questions. Roy Jr. said “no” in response to if he knew who RMN or JS were or what the BoM or the atonement or the WoW is. Roy Jr. did say that he believes in Jesus Christ and he is a full tithe payer. In regards to the question of the law of Chastity Bishop looked at me for help in knowing what we had discussed with Roy. I explained to Roy Jr. on the spot that God wants us to have babies only in family units where a man and a woman are married. At the end of the questions Bishop said that Roy could now go to the temple with youth groups. Roy asked what is done in temples and I explained that we do “forever” marraiges and baptisms on behalf of dead people that may have never had the opportunity for baptism in this life.
I am not sure that Roy Jr. is ready or wants the priesthood and he has shown no interest in passing the sacrament. I feel that we can ordain him and then have him not pass the sacrament if he doesn’t want to. It does not have to be an all or nothing deal. I feel that the bigger risk would be for us to exclude him from what his peers are doing without a compelling reason.
I am somewhat nervous about the white shirt and tie part. Roy has never come to church in a collared shirt because of sensory issues. We will see how big of an issue this becomes as we move forward. It might be a non-issue in that Roy decides he does not want to pass the sacrament or a non-issue if Roy can tolerate wearing it just for the sacrament portion and then removes it as soon as it ends.
We are planning on sustaining Roy’s Advancement on Sunday and ordaining him after church. There was no discussion on who would do the ordination which I believe indicates that I am tacitly approved to perform the ordination (I have not paid tithing in many years but am otherwise temple worthy).
Overall the Bishop is a good man and I believe that he is doing his best to implement the recent changes.
As an aside, D&C states that a teacher is to “take the lead in meetings” where and elder or priest are not present. Is it really doctrine that a 13 yr old teacher would preside at a meeting where the stake RS presidency was present?
It sounds like it was an overall positive experience. I hope it becomes a positive thing in Roy Jr.’s life. Roy wrote:
As an aside, D&C states that a teacher is to “take the lead in meetings” where and elder or priest are not present. Is it really doctrine that a 13 yr old teacher would preside at a meeting where the stake RS presidency was present?
I think so. Which would explain why a member of the FP is always present at the General Women’s Session of general conference. They wouldn’t want a 13 year old to casually walk in and start calling the shots.
:crazy: After our church meetings last Sunday, I ordained Roy Jr. to the Aaronic priesthood in the office of a deacon. There did not seem to be any question that I would perform the ordinance. It was just my wife, my daughter, my son, the bishop and I in the office. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to participate in this coming of age milestone for my son. My heart is full right now. Roy wrote:
After our church meetings last Sunday, I ordained Roy Jr. to the Aaronic priesthood in the office of a deacon. There did not seem to be any question that I would perform the ordinance. It was just my wife, my daughter, my son, the bishop and I in the office. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to participate in this coming of age milestone for my son.
I have had very similar experiences and likewise am grateful to have participated in rites of passage that were important to my boys (and wife) even though they were not important to me and I do not necessarily believe in priesthood power or authority. My biggest regret is the rites I did not participate in because of my own foolishness.
The part I don’t get is that somehow, my son got interviewed. No one asked me about it personally, I wasn’t aware of when the interview happened — my son was simply sustained in Sacrament meeting so I thought ‘I guess they held an interview and he passed it’. I was really surprised when he stood up after his name was called as I knew nothing about it, other than the Bishop had asked my wife if it was OK if he interviewed him. We said yes, but then I heard nothing from anyone, not my wife, or my son, after that, until he was sustained in sac meeting. I think it’s partly my Bishop. His wife engineered an extremely emotionally violent mutiny against me years ago, and our Bishop is a kind of passive aggressive, avoiding-of-conflict sort of guy. He’s mild mannered, but definitely assertive, but in ways I find annoying. I suspect my Bishop dreads a conversation where I explain the role his wife had in my own demise in the church. It was significant. I don’t think he’s “out to get me”, but if he could work through my wife with no involvement from me, he would do it. My Bishop never asked about my TR when my wife went to him wanting one so she could be at my daughter’s temple wedding a year or two ago.
And my son is very quiet and uncommunicative with me personally. My wife — I guess she thought we’d agreed to it and just worked with the Bishop to make the interview happen.
So, now I wonder — when will he be ordained? Who will do it? Has it already happened? I am completely out of the loop. Need to have a conversation with the wife when the moment is right to see what she knows.
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