Gospel Doctrine Lesson Worksheets

Welcome to LDS sunday school!

2008-09-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

This blog is a repository for my gospel doctrine handouts for LDS Gospel Doctrine Classes and other helpful tools that I've found online.

For those of you new to the blog, the handouts are written in a "worksheet" format, which I have found very useful as a teacher for several reasons:

1.-It is proven that people learn with a different part of the brain (the RNS) when they write things down--the process of writing helps us learn and recall things at a much higher level. Also, when members write things down, they are more ENGAGED in the class.

2.-People are more apt to answer more thoughtfully if they know where the lesson is going, or if the question is written on the handout and they have had time to think about their answer.

3.-Handouts are a simple way to organize my class, and often if I don't finish the handouts, people take them home and finish them on their own.

4. Members in other auxiliaries count on handouts and do the lesson at home--even the librarian who usually misses part or all of class makes sure to get a copy. It truly helps the ward feel more cohesive and the women in primary less isolated.

5. Often, people retain more knowledge and can digest it on a deeper level when they can read it. I find that as a teacher, I can teach multiple levels at once with a handout, simply because I can cover more information, without the class feeling lost.

Of course, the handouts are also a wonderful resource for personal or couple scripture study!

Feel free to use the handouts in any non-commercial way. I just ask that you comment on the blog if you visit or use the handouts!

Caroline Brock

carolinecbrock@gmail.com

Have you Received His Image in your Countenance?

2008-06-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Class! I have just posted lesson 22 on the website. Since I hear many of you were out of town, and I was sick and wasn't able to teach, I hope you will download this lesson and read these great chapters. This lesson focuses on Chapter 5, which is one of the big sermons in the book of Mormon. Alma discusses the process of having our hearts changed, and keeping them pure. He uses rhetorical questions to teach us, which is unique and can help us shift the way we see the topic of "spiritual rebirth". The handout contains 18 questions that Alma poses as a type of "spiritual checklist". I believe regular self-examination is essential in true spiritual growth. I find the quiet moments when I take the sacrament provide me with a great opportunity to "take stock" of my spiritual health and where I'm heading. Please take a moment to review and respond to Alma's 18 questions--

I like this idea of a "spiritual checklist" that Alma discusses. If you were to have a "spiritual checklist" of five things you asked yourself each week during while partaking of the sacrament, what would they be? What things gauge your spiritual well-being? What habits or practices help you to progress spiritually? Please take a moment to comment..... there is a power in the the aggregate of our thoughts and ideas!

"Snatched" and "Harrowed"

2008-06-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I am drawn in by Alma's account, is due to the descriptive, visual words he uses. One word I especially like comes from Mosiah 27:29--"My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more." Snatched is a very unique verb and I was intrigued about the origins of this would and why Alma would put it into his account. I looked up "snatched" on the interlineal Bible and found it was not in the OT or NT, which was a little surprising. I then looked up the word DELIVERED in the OT Hebrew (there are different roots to this word, so I looked up one that spoke about being delivered "from" something.) When I found this root, low and behold, the very first word that came up under the definition of the ancient hebrew word {delivered} was indeed "snatched". This ties nicely into our concept of bondage and deliverance, and that Christ, through the power of the atonement is the person who "snatches" us from the clutches of sin.

The second word study comes from a blog I share conversations on. The following story comes from a blogger who beautifully explains through experience the phrase "harrowed up" found in Alma 36:12 [But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.]

"My grandfather and uncle had a farm together in Southern Idaho (volcanic rock country), and my brothers, my cousins, and I used to work there as kids in the summer. We were assigned one hot July to “pick rocks”. That meant my uncle had plowed up some previously unused pasture land for planting, and we had to go through the plowed field with a flatbed trailer behind a tractor, and pick up all the rocks that the plow had turned up. It was hot, dirty, sweaty work, with lots of smashed fingers and scraped hands. It took us several days to get all through the field, and we had hauled probably five or six trailer loads of rock off to the rock pile. Just as we were getting through with the field, and had gotten all the rocks that we could see, we heard my grandfather come into the field with the disc harrow behind his tractor. Think of some two or three rows of 18 inch round metal plates each, dropped into the plowed earth. As soon as my grandfather dropped the harrow, we began to hear all sorts of clanking and ringing sounds, and realized that the harrow was turning up lots of rocks that were still hidden in the dirt that the plow had not turned up.

We went back for two more days, and now the dirt was fine powder, dust getting into our eyes, mouths, down the necks of our shirts, into our shoes. The work after the harrow was even more unpleasant than after the plowing.

Later, reading the Book of Mormon and its several references to harrow or being harrowed up, has helped me to understand. We would have been happy to quit after the first pass, leaving many rocks still uncovered and not dealt with. But the harrow uncovered all the hidden incompleteness of our work. That’s why for me, this is such a great symbolic use of harrow for repentance. All of the unseen and undealt with issues will eventually be uncovered, and have to be addressed. Harrowed up is not a distant reality for me, either figuratively or in reality."

For a better picture of a harrow of the type I remember, go here: http://www.bwimp.com/products_item_disk_offset_3point_wheelharrow.php

How do these word studies help you gain greater meaning and insight into Alma's account, and a greater testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon?? Please comment!

Bondage and Deliverance Scripture Chain!

2008-06-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

Hello All-

I thought it would be fun to create a scripture chain online this week regarding bondage and deliverance. People have commented privately that they are unsure or reluctant to comment online because they don't want to sound "stupid". So- I thought this scripture chain might be a good way for us to have a no stress opportunity to look up a scripture they like and add it to the chain. I will be printing out a copy of the chain for our class next Sunday. Remember, if you want to remain anonymous or make up a fake username THAT's FINE! What's not fine is not participating!! I hope everyone will realize that our class is not about sounding "smart" but about sharing and relating experiences and insights, because EVERYONE has something unique to contribute.....

Now- the first two scriptures on the chain that we started in class 4 weeks ago are:

1. 1 Nephi 1:20 "... But behold, I Nephi will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

2. Mosiah 7: 33 "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye will do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."

Something I have been pondering recently is this idea of serving God with "all diligence of mind". This phrase is intriguing to me, and led me to a wonderful talk written by John Welsh (the former dean of the BYU law School and the man who found chiasmus in the Book of Mormon in 1970s). He talks of this idea of serving God with all "diligence of mind" and gives some great, very practical examples of how we might accomplish this. One that I liked was that it takes diligence of mind to learn the names of everyone in our ward--this goal can be a form of serving God, when we approach it in such a manner.

The link to the talk is on the blog if you'd like to read it!

Please add to our chain, by pressing the comment button under this post, and typing in a scripture you like regarding bondage and deliverance. It would be great if you could type out the scripture, so we can all read it, but any comments about the scripture are completely optional. Please help our chain grow!!

The Olive Tree

2008-04-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have just posted the link to the handout for lesson 13. I rearranged and added some things for those of you who wanted additional information. The handout now contains more detail and explanation about the diagrams of the trees we discussed at the end of class. I wish we had more time to talk about that particular element together. Perhaps after completing your diagrams, you can comment on what you learned about Christ, or about yourself in the process.

Something I've been thinking about is that, as I've grown and matured, just like the olive tree, I'm sending out these little "shoots" to grow up around my trunk (my children). How am I partnering with the Lord of the vineyard to be the "servant" to my children and help nourish them individually, diligently and at different levels? This is something I constantly battle with amidst the "busyness" of everyday life. At the same time, in looking back on my prayer journal, I have seen the most profound answers to prayer have come as I have written down my prayers about my children, and have committed more consciously to parenting with Christ's help. It is truly humbling......

Please respond and let us all know what you learned about Jacob Chapter 5. It is in the conversation that we can add a deeper dimension of insight as we seek to "unfold the mystery" of the Olive Tree together.

(note: For all "new bloggers" out there, to respond or to read everyone's comments, just click on the green "comments" link below this line!)

Responses Needed!

2008-03-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

One of the aims of having a blog for our class is that we can engage in a dialogue that will revitalize our efforts to feast on the words of Christ, and to grow closer as a ward as we talk and search these truths together.

Today two questions were asked that I think could start the conversation in an interesting direction.

1.) This class member is from the tribe of Manasseh. He is wondering if his mission is different than the tribe of Ephraim, and if so, how?

2.) We spoke today of Jacob's words in Jacob chapter 1:19 about his efforts to preach to his people so the blood would not be on his garments. This class member has been thinking about the significance of blood--what are the connections between the sacrifices, the atoning blood, and that when resurrected, our bodies will have no blood. Has anyone studied this in depth? Please comment!

Welcome!

2008-03-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hello All! I have created this blog in hopes that some of us may have a place to ask questions, discuss additional topics and comment on issues brought up in the class.

In this first post I'd like to ask any who attended Lesson 11 on easter to comment about the envelope that was sent home with them, containing the pictures of the garden tomb, the living Christ testimony and the Christ worksheet. Did you fill out the worksheet? what was your experience?