Same Ol' Stories and Stretched Doctrine

Church today was tough for me to get through.

First of all, the Sacrament meeting talks were all about Pioneer heritage since today is Pioneer Day. To me, those talks are the most boring talks EVER! I do not have pioneer heritage, and no disrespect to those who do (a lot of people in our ward do), but I just don't find those stories interesting. Plus, many of those stories are the same ones I've heard multiple times all my life in the church. It's kinda nice to know that some people have a very deep connection with those early latter-day saints who crossed the plains and went through persecution, but to me there is absolutely no interest whatsoever. Mc has pioneer heritage and so to him I'm sure some of those stories are nice to hear about, especially the ones about his ancestor, but I just can't wait for those talks to be over. I dunno, to me a Sacrament meeting talk shouldn't be story after story of the early pioneers; save it for, oh I don't know, a Pioneer Day celebration. So not only were both talks all about the early pioneers, but the first speaker told so many pioneer stories that she went over her time by 10 minutes and all the church meetings after that were 10 minutes late.

Well, that was Sacrament meeting... but then there was Sunday School. I do not like this Gospel Doctrine teacher, but we sat in his class because it's in the Relief Society room and so in case Baby Girl falls asleep on me I don't want to move her, so I can stay put. Anyway, each week this teacher says things that class members and I don't agree with. This week we were talking about Christ's resurrection, and the teacher was trying to make the point that the women who went to Jesus' sepulchre had more faith than all 12 of Christ's disciples because they were the ones who went to see him, and they were going there to see if he had been resurrected. The scriptures say that they were coming there with spices and ointment after the Sabbath was over to finish the burial process; they were not going there expecting to see Christ resurrected. Mc raised his hand and brought up a scripture to support the truth: that they could come no earlier than the third day because that's when the Sabbath was over, and that they brought these spices with them for Christ's burial. But the teacher was insistent that the women were there because they had more faith than anyone and because they believed Christ was resurrected. Perhaps they did have more faith, I don't know; but that is not the reason they went to the sepulcher. He also said that the women were the ones who stayed by Jesus and that all 12 of his apostles denied him and "went and hid". First of all, Peter was the one who publicly denied him, not the others. Second of all, John the Beloved was there at the cross with Jesus' mother before he died. There were disciples there, they didn't all "run and hide" like the teacher said. I didn't appreciate his slighting the disciples and their love for the Savior. The teacher said he's trying to give the women credit and we were fighting him on it, but here's my opinion: the Church gives women plenty of credit all over the place, and credit where it's due; there's no need to stretch the scriptures to make these women seem more insightful or believing than they were.

This isn't the only time the teacher has done this sort of thing. I haven't been there for a few weeks because we were out of town and I was exhausted, but the last time I was there the lesson was on the Last Supper, and first the teacher spent the first 10-15 minutes of class showing us the layout of the city of Jerusalem. Not important to the lesson at all, but I guess since he's been there he wants all of us to know what he knows. Whatever. But then once talking about the scriptures, this is what he referenced: "And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him [Jesus]; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them." (Luke 22: 2-4). The teacher then said, "Now look at this verse: Satan entered Judas; what is going on here? Let's look at this for what it is," and he was implying that Satan physically possessed Judas and that's why Judas sought to betray Jesus. To Mc I was like, "Um... that's not what this scripture means," and luckily someone in the class steered the teacher away from that line of thinking, so the teacher wouldn't get the class thinking that this passage of scripture was meant to be taken literally. Ugh. The week before that, he also spent the first 15-20 minutes of the lesson on the layout of the city and where the Mount of Olives was in relation to the city. Again, nothing to do with the lesson whatsoever and yet he spent so much time on it. Wasted half of the class time.

Sometimes in classes you'll have one of the class members say a comment that isn't really correct, and it's the teacher's job to not embarrass the person but to steer the discussion back to correct gospel principles. But it's really bothering Mc and me that it's the teacher who is teaching these wrong things and focusing on details that are not important, and that it's the class members who have to get the teacher back on track. And it happens EVERY WEEK.

I thought about it a few hours after church today, and I realized that the best thing to do in a situation like this is to read the lesson beforehand during the week, and then during class share what insights we got from our study of the scriptures, and share them before the teacher can take the lesson in an unimportant direction, or share them once he has taken it in a different direction to help get the lesson back on track. That way the lesson is centered on true gospel principles and the spirit can stay in the room. And hey, even if class members don't get anything from the teacher's lesson, at least maybe they'll get something from our thought-out and insightful comments.