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Here are the results of my search at lds.org to see how much the manuals focus on following the Prophet and how much they focus on Jesus and Gospel principles – like forgiveness. In the case of forgiveness, I looked at how it was presented. 1) In the
Young Men’s manual, Chapter 13 is titled, “Lesson 13: Receiving Forgiveness As We Forgive” – and the “objective” is: Quote:Each young man will understand that the process of repentance includes forgiving others and that
if he does not forgive others the Lord will not forgive him. In that same manual, there is
onelesson on “Follow the Prophet” – and there are eightlessons that are focused exclusively on Jesus in one way or another. (“Becoming More Like Our Savior”, “Feasting on the Words of Christ”, “Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ”, etc.) 2) The lesson on forgiveness in the
Young Women’s manualis focused on helping the Young Women realized the need to forgive themselves ( which is interesting, in and of itself, given the tendency of many women to be so self-critical), but it also mentions in two places that we are required to forgive others in order to be forgiven. One of the sections is focused on understanding the priesthood; the rest are focused on divine characteristics and principles.
3) The
Nursery manualhas one lesson on obedience and one lesson on following the prophet – and it has nine lessons that mention Jesus Christ in the title. It also has one lesson called “I Will Say ‘I’m Sorry'” – which is the nursery version of repentance – and includes the idea of trying to show kindness to everyone in order to be like Jesus. 4) The focus in the
Senior Primary manualis the New Testament. There are no lessons about forgiveness, specifically, but there also are no lessons on following the prophets, specifically. However, the lesson on the Sermon on the Mount obviously includes the verses about forgiveness. 5) The
Sunday School manualsare divided between the Church Presidents for ages 12-13 and the New Testament for everyone else. Obviously, the ratios are different, with “Prophets” being emphasized more in the 12-13 manual than in the NT manuals. 6) There are multiple “manuals” for Priesthood and Relief Society, including General Conference issues of the Ensign, Gospel Principles and additional lessons as directed by the local leaders. Obviously, the content will vary radically from unit to unit.
Maybe I missed it Ray — but I didn’t see ONE lesson that focuses on FORGIVING OTHERS. Yes, we have a ton of stuff related to FORGIVENESS — which is related to REPENTANCE. Do we REALLY have to combine those two principles EVERY time we teach? Those are two entirely different topics IMO. That was my point. Our correlation teachings are almost void of lessons focused on this principle. Here are a handful of lessons specifically directed toward forgiving others. There were more but I just wanted to show that the topic is and has been covered at every level of instruction. Primary:
Youth:
Adults:
For those preparing to enter the temple:
mercyngrace wrote:Here are a handful of lessons specifically directed toward forgiving others. There were more but I just wanted to show that the topic is and has been covered at every level of instruction.
I don’t want a lesson about REPENTANCE and forgiveness and forgiving others. I want a lesson on forgiving others without all the guilt that insinuates that the one is somehow unworthy and part of the problem. When I taught this lesson, I was specifically looking for a lesson to give to a girl who was sexually assaulted – and I DON’T WANT it to be about REPENTANCE, and the need to forgive others so one can be forgiven. TWO different precepts entirely.
But, I’m going to look at everyone one of these lessons – and if they are dealing with repentance with a small section of forgiving others – I’m calling BS and I’m going to be very unpleasant on this thread because I just wasted a lot of time trying to prove a point arguing something I’m 90% sure about already. If i am wrong, I will apologize and admit it right here.
mercyngrace wrote:Here are a handful of lessons specifically directed toward forgiving others. There were more but I just wanted to show that the topic is and has been covered at every level of instruction.
Primary:
Youth:
Adults:
For those preparing to enter the temple:
Primary Lesson 23 = NO. It’s specifically named
Jesus loves us and forgives us.==== repentance Primary lesson 30 = YES. decent lesson, deals with Joseph forgiving his brothers.
youth lesson13 = NO. Receiving forgiveness as we forgive others. ===== repentance
Adults lesson 9 = OKAY. About a third of the chapter deals with, “We must forgive others to be forgiven. ===== repentance
Adult lesson 16 = YES. Decent lesson on forgiving others.
Okay. So what do we have? We have one primary lesson, and one Adult lesson dealing with the temple on forgiving others. TWO LESSONS ON THE NEED TO FORGIVE OTHERS. Where is the youth lessons at? Do they not need to learn this precept? Is two and a half lessons on forgiveness from Primary through adult through Temple manuals out of the whole correlated church curriculum really enough?
I’ll call it a push and NOT get unpleasant
🙂 , but I’m not “apologizing either.As far as Prophets/obedience vs gospel principles — I’ll let someone else fight that battle. I’m just dealing with this specific issue, since it’s my fault Ray had to start this thread to begin with.
😈 Primary Lesson 40: I can forgive others (you misnamed lesson 23 btw, It’s titled Forgiving One Another– what you cited was a subheading for a single section of the lesson) Joseph Smith Manual RS/PH The Power of Forgiving
cwald,
Every lesson manual instructs the teacher to be guided by the Spirit in preparation to meet the needs of his/her class. If a student has a particular need, you modify the lesson. Separating forgiveness and repentance is not the normal presentation because those principles are linked (see the Lord’s Prayer) but it is always encouraged and explicitly stated that a teacher may modify the lesson as needed.
There are plenty of reasons to be frustrated wih some aspect of Mormonism, in my book, this isn’t one.
MnG
PS For a young person who has been abused, I would prayerfully adapt Elder Scott’s talk Healing the Tragic Scars of Abuse. It discusses forgiveness as a part of the victim’s healing and states emphatically that the abuse is not the fault of the victim.
http://lds.org/general-conference/1992/04/healing-the-tragic-scars-of-abuse?lang=eng Obviously, there’s a difference of opinion about this one, and I’m not sure there can be more constructive discussion about it, given the way I framed the post. I probably should have done that differently. If anyone wants to shift this to a discussion of HOW forgiveness should be presented, especially if repentance and forgiveness should be presented together or separately, that might be a discussion worth having. I am going to lock this for now, but send me a Private Message if you want it re-opened. I’m ok either way.
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