First time for everything.....

For the first time, I had someone in my Gospel Doctrine Class, just come flat out and say "You're wrong". What might be surprising is that this is only the first time - ha, ha!! I know that not everyone is going to agree with me. And I welcome discussion in a big way in my class, because I feel this is what makes a classroom exciting and we all learn from each others comments etc. However in this situation I tried to explain my point, but felt that I got cut off before I could even really explain, or given a open mind to try and see where I was coming from, and the class room on Sunday is not where you want to have a debate, so I just moved on and left out about 8 minutes of the next part of my lesson because I really didn't know where to go from there. The most interesting thing is I felt like, and others said as well, we were both trying to say the same thing but this individual was hung up on semantics!

I have several sources that I use in studying the scriptures when preparing my lessons - first and foremost I use the GD Manual, but I also check into my old seminary lessons and handouts, and I also use the lesson helps on LDS Living - which is where I found this insight. And thought it a new way to look at 2 Nephi 1:10 about people who dwindle in unbelief, lose their belief in 1) The creation by God of the earth and all men. 2)The scriptural record of the great and marvelous works of the Lord. 3) The possibility to do things by faith. 4) The commandments. 5)The infinite goodness of the Lord. 6)The Messiah.

The argument was, that these are the blessings we are promised - Agreed! But we also don't go from being righteous and receiving all those blessings to dwindling in unbelief in the Messiah without first dwindling in unbelief in his gospel, his scriptures, his marvelous works, faith, commandments etc... until finally the Messiah.

Now I was worried if I had made everyone uneasy in my lesson but I got this email the other day that has helped me to see.......even when someone disagrees, the spirit can still be in the room, and maybe it makes class members go home and study for themselves to see what they think....

"...When we had FHE together last night, I told (my husband) about what happened Sunday, & we studied a little bit 2 Ne 1:10, the scripture in question."

".....like you said, it's all a matter of semantics, pure & simple. If people have rejected their Redeemer, then they certainly have stopped believing in His Gospel, which includes a knowledge of the creation of the earth, power to do all things by faith, etc. The very fact that they had been BLESSED with these things and in their "dwindling" now reject their Redeemer & the BLESSINGS they obviously took for granted & finally stopped believing -- that situation is really worse in my view than not having had the gospel blessings in the first place -- to me it shows they are more hardened than if they had never had these blessings & therefore out of ignorance didn't follow the gospel. I fear that this very situation of rejecting the Savior and the blessings is occurring in our country, & it worries me greatly."

"Anyway, I, for one, appreciated your "different angle," which I'd never really considered before til this whole thing came up & then (my husband) & I discussed it last night."

"So see how much contemplation and delving into the meat & real meaning of the scriptures happened as a result of your lesson Sunday? It's a very good thing!"

I really appreciated this friend sharing with me her experience!!

Another thing I used in my lesson for teaching about Agency from a CES symposium a long time ago when I was a seminary teacher and then saw again on LDS Living. The acronym POLKA

Requirements of Agency:

P: Power to choose (2Nephi 2:16)
O: Opposition, that gives us opportunity to choose. (2Nephi 2:11)
L: Laws, God gave us laws so that we would know what He wants us to choose. (2Nephi 2:13)
K: Knowledge - we are taught the difference between good and evil - between obeying and breaking the law. (2Nephi 2:5)
A: Agency - put together everything - power to choose, opportunity to choose, laws that help us to know what to choose, and knowledge of what is good and what is evil - we call it Agency!! (2Nephi 2:27)

Then one of the class members said: "I thought for sure you were going to say 'A' was for Atonement - '...The Messiah cometh in the fulness of time that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever' 2Nephi 2:26"

He felt that saying A = Agency was redundant, but that our joy, our happiness, and being free forever was because of the Atonement.

I loved that and changed my POLKA acronym to A=Atonement.

So even though I worried and wondered if I had fulfilled my calling of having the spirit with us in class and helping everyone feel the love of their Heavenly Father and Savior, I believe they did. And it was a great learning experience for me as well. Which once again just proves, how much we are all loved and watched over and that we can feel "encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" 2Nephi 1:15