Comments on: How We Taught This Lesson in the Past: Lesson 41: “I Have Made Thee This Day … an Iron Pillar”

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:52:25 +0000

It might be worth a separate post on the valid, if old fashioned, practice of written devotional prayers, including these "suggestive" prayers (yeah, Nate, the very word is now suggestive!). For now, all that is relevant is that these "suggestive" prayers in this old manual were never intended to be recited or read aloud as prayers at the end of a class in lieu of benedictions. They are exactly what they are called: "suggestive." They were meant to suggest to the minds of the students ways in which a particular lesson was relevant to the student's life. They are patterns, summaries, wrap-ups. They are devotions, focal tools, not benedictions. Researcher, I guarantee I would sit up and take notice if such language really were used in a meeting!

By: Researcher

Researcher — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:41:27 +0000

It’s probably awful of me to find it amusing when random people call Ardis to repentance….

But I do appreciate them in a roundabout way; I haven’t been able to read much recently, and without these comments I never would have read this gem of a prayer. Can you imagine someone standing up in church nowadays and praying that we are pygmies compared to Jeremiah?

Excellent!

By: Nate W.

Nate W. — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:32:59 +0000

I snorted when I read “suggestive” closing prayer rather than “suggested” closing prayer. I guess all the references about whoring after Babylon caused a Freudian slip… (on the original author’s part, not your part, Ardis).

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:11:14 +0000

Derek (whoever you are, a complete stranger who has never participated here):

The irony, of course, is that you chastise me for chastising someone (another complete stranger) who chastised me for something I did not do.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:13:47 +0000

Elizabeth, if you had read the title of this post, or the introductory paragraph, you might have realized that this is a verbatim transcription of a lesson that was, in fact, adopted by the Church for use by the seminaries in 1930. I guess that’s the answer to your question “Since when does this church ever use written prayers?” A little less condemnation, a little more careful reading, is called for — as well, perhaps, as preparation of your lesson a little earlier than Googling around at 10:10 on Saturday night would suggest is your wont.

And the word you want is “tenets” rather than “tenants.”

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 05:10:00 +0000

As a teacher, I appreciate the insights of others on this sometimes difficult material. But as a Latter-day Saint, I'm a little confused about the "suggestive closing prayer". Since when does this church ever use written prayers? We have always depended on guidance by the Spirit rather than rote prayers. You should know that! To even consider such a thing for a normal occurrence like Gospel Doctrine class is to completely disregard one of the most basic tenants of our faith and to revert back to the very processes the Lord has counseled us against. How disappointing.