FHEasy LESSON ON SEMINARY!
For many seminary students, it’s that time again. Time for school and seminary. In honor of this, I’ve made a special FHEasy lesson that focuses on seminary and includes the seven DOCTRINAL MASTERY scriptures not used in my book FHEasy (see below for a note about one of these scriptures).
In February of 2016, Elder Ballard shared that the “Scripture Mastery” program will be replaced by the inspired and timely “Doctrinal Mastery” program. 24 scriptures were changed, the verses are organized into 9 topics, and the focus is on 1) The Lord’s Pattern of Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge and 2) Studying 9 Doctrinal Points. There are 3 guiding principles to be focused on as well
- Acting in Faith
- Addressing ideas and questions with an eternal and faith-based perspective
- Looking to trusted, faith-promoting sources for further knowledge and understanding.
Here’s a Church News article on Doctrinal Mastery and here is a teacher training broadcast that focuses on Doctrinal Mastery. Here is the Doctrinal Mastery manual for seminary teachers which introduces the program, has a section on acquiring spiritual knowledge, a section on doctrinal points, and then lists the 100 scripture verses.
SEMINARY QUOTE FROM PRESIDENT MONSON
I love this quote by President Monson about the possibilities of a person’s experience with seminary. I found it as a video clip on LDS.org and I wanted to share.
Let seminary help build and strengthen your testimony. It is up to you to keep that testimony alive. As with the flame of a brightly burning fire, your testimony–if not continually fed–will fade to glowing embers and then cool completely. You must not let this happen.
When you have the chance to be involved in seminary, take advantage of that opportunity. How grateful I am for the opportunity I had as a teenager to attend early-morning seminary, for it played a vital role in my development and the development of my testimony. Seminary can change lives.
As with anything in life, much of what you take from your seminary experience depends on your attitude and your willingness to be taught. May your attitude be one of humility and a desire to learn. Effort is required, but it is effort you will never, ever regret. – Thomas S. Monson
(Read the talk here. See a video clip with this quote here.)
SCRIPTURE MASTERY VERSE ON BEING PERFECT?
I do want to make one note about one of the scripture mastery verses included in the Free Seminary FHEasy week. It’s 3 Nephi 12:48: Jesus said, “I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” Some people teach that Jesus wasn’t perfect, so I can see how this verse clarifies the Church’s belief that Jesus was and is perfect. However, I’m not sure what “be ye therefore perfect” is supposed to mean. I’ve heard a few theories about what this means, but nothing that I feel I really “get”. I would love to know if there has been an official comment or clarification about what this may mean, so if you have any information about this, please let me know here.
My mother is what many people in the U.S. term a “perfectionist” and her “perfectionistic” tendencies created a lot of stress, sadness, and pain into her life and my family’s lives when I was growing up. Thankfully, she was able to make a deep connection with God and learn how to rely on His love and trust to help her experience joy despite her tendencies. Lest anyone misunderstand and thinking I’m “bashing” my mom, I’m not. I’m thrilled with how she’s changed and even more thrilled that she’s written a book called Confessions of a Molly Mormon and she occasionally does some public speaking to help others in the Church who are dealing with “perfectionism”.
So my note is just to be aware of how you present this scripture to your family and have a discussion about what you think it could mean. But please be wary of telling your kids that this scripture means they “should be” perfect – I’d rather not see people go through what my mom and our family went through in the attempt to be or look “perfect”. It was indescribably painful for me to watch and be influenced by, and I imagine it was even more painful for my mom to live through.
So, please let go of any belief that you or your family need to be perfect, let your hair down, and enjoy …
Happy Home Evenings!
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