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Ann wrote:On Own Now wrote:
“I now say – That Joseph Smith is the one to whom all men must look in this day to learn the truth about Christ and his gospel.” I don’t know how to get around my discomfort with this one, too.
I feel your pain Ann. I teach EQ and love my calling. It is probably the only reason I stayed in the church there for a while. This sounds terribly arrogant and prideful but I really felt that the only spiritual nourishment I got all week was from the lesson that I was teaching. (again, might sound arrogant but it is truly the way I felt).
This year I was excited to teach from JFS. I have enjoyed gradually testing the waters in class then slowly ratcheting up what I was and wasn’t willing to share in class. Last week it bit me in the butt when the EQ Pres jumped in and made a very canned, TBM response to a mildly controversial comment about the nature of God that I made (putting me in my proverbial ‘place’).
I would love to use this quote in my lesson but swap out the words so is reads “Joseph Smith is a man to whom men should look in this day…” then say “But who else can we look to to learn about Christ?”
I don’t dare though. I can only imagine the commotion that would result of me insinuating that Pope F has been effective of late at teaching the truth about Christ.
I think I’d go for it if it were me… but I don’t live near the mormon corridor. My only worry is that the suggestion might turn the discussion into a comparison to the great and abominable. That risk might be reason enough for me to avoid it. I do love the pope suggestion though, it can be tempered with “people that exemplify love and charity. Who exemplifies love and charity? You can toss in Thomas Monson to take any edge off, maybe even mention “our parents.” I know the tendency will be for people to list off all the modern day prophets but initiating the discussion by providing a small list of people where at least one of the people you mention isn’t a member of the church would hopefully get people to think outside the box.
Heck, any suggestion that would take the focus off of deifying JS would be a step in the right direction.
Our parents are the ones to whom all men must look in this day to learn the truth about Christ and his gospel. Turn it into a lesson about how we as parents can provide the truth to our children.
How would you like your child to say:
My dad has done more, save Jesus only, for my salvation than any other man that ever lived in it.
To be fair, JS DID do a lot, an amazing amount for such a young man… but weighed in the balance against, say, Luther, St Paul, Abraham, Moses etc, it’s hard to make such a claim.
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