Posts Tagged ‘ Old Testament; Sunday School ’

The Virgin and the Whore: Thinking Beyond Dinah and Potiphar’s Wife

March 10, 2010
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The Virgin and the Whore: Thinking Beyond Dinah and Potiphar’s Wife

OT SS Lesson #11 Lesson 11 in the Old Testament manual employs several stories from Genesis 34-39 to develop the theme of sexual morality. Joseph’s actions embody the “Lord’s standards” for morality and are contrasted with the actions of Shechem, Reuben, and Judah. You may notice that the featured characters in the lesson are all male. What shall a woman do with a lesson like this? I think the idea is for women to identify with Joseph — to be virtuous when facing temptation. But Joseph is a man, his responses are male-oriented, and intentionally or not this approach...

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Jacob’s Ladder: More on Faith Vs. Works

March 3, 2010
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Jacob’s Ladder: More on Faith Vs. Works

OT SS Lesson #10 Though it’s only an “additional teaching idea” in Lesson 12, Jacob’s ladder has captured my imagination due to some conversations I’ve recently had with Christian evangelicals. Jacob’s Dream woodcut, Lubeck Bible 1494

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Bad, Worse and Worst

February 25, 2010
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I would like to use Genesis 12 (and an interesting post by Aaron B from BCC) to examine the inverse of Elder Oak’s famous talk ‘Good, Better and Best’.  Simply stated Abraham was married to Sarai (who was apparently pretty hot!) and Pharoah was going to want to marry her.  His choice: either die as her husband and have his wife forced into marriage (in effect raped) or live as her ‘brother’ and have his wife forced into marriage (and in effect raped).  What to do?

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Putting an Edge on Abraham

February 24, 2010
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Putting an Edge on Abraham

OT SS Lesson #9 This story is so very, very familiar to us that I think it’s important to look at it with a fresh perspective.  So in this post I am including some pieces from media and the arts that force us to think about Genesis 22.  I promise you in advance that some of these might be disturbing to you.  Probably you will disagree with the portrayal of Abraham’s sacrifice in at least one, if not all, of these pieces.  I hope you will share your reactions in the comments.

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Where the Lord Annihilates all the Gays

February 17, 2010
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Where the Lord Annihilates all the Gays

OT SS Lesson #8 “The Genesis passage is very clear, that the sin of Sodom that brought on the destruction of the city was indeed linked to homosexuality.” (R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Seminary) “Saying that the last recorded acts of the Sodomites — the demands for same-gender sex — are proof that they were destroyed for homosexuality is like saying that a condemned man cursing his guards on the way to his execution is being executed for cursing the guards. Sodom was judged worthy of destruction before the incident with Lot and the angels.”...

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Sod, Seed, Salvation: Abrahamic Covenant and the Claim to Palestine

February 10, 2010
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Sod, Seed, Salvation: Abrahamic Covenant and the Claim to Palestine

OT SS Lesson #7 Sod, seed, and salvation — it’s how I like to describe the Abrahamic Covenant. There were three promises in the covenant. The first was a land promise, where the Lord gave Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. The second was the promise of a great and numerous posterity. And the third was the blessing of the everlasting Gospel: the priesthood and the promise of exaltation, to come to the world through Abraham’s lineage. (see Genesis 17)  But just look at how often the covenant was renewed!

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Joseph Smith Didn’t Believe in Watchers

February 6, 2010
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Joseph Smith Didn’t Believe in Watchers

OT SS Lesson #6 Hidden in our scripture reading for this week is a strange little passage which many modern Biblical scholars say was originally intended to explain the rise of the giant race of antiquity by the union of angelic beings with human wives.  These verses in Genesis stirred a lively debate among early Christian theologians as they struggled to explain why God felt it necessary to cleanse the Earth with a worldwide Flood.  It all starts with this odd passage inserted in the account before Noah built his vessel, the great ark.

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Why I want to Live the United Order

January 27, 2010
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Why I want to Live the United Order

OT SS Lesson #5 I have often thought that had I not joined the Church at age 19 I would have liked to have joined a kibbutz in Israel, or to have lived on “the Farm” in Tennessee (back when it was more hippie-like), or at least to have been a part of an intentional community. As I began investigating the LDS Church, and in particular reading the passages in Moses under consideration in our Sunday School Lesson #5, I was drawn to the strong emphasis on cooperative community which began under the direction of Joseph Smith and continued...

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Adam & Eve as UFOs (Unidentified Figurative Objects)

January 20, 2010
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Adam & Eve as UFOs (Unidentified Figurative Objects)

OT SS Lesson #4 Although our SS lesson for this week presents Adam and Eve as two literal, physical characters, the temple ceremony hints that we can benefit by viewing their story as figurative. I am often dismayed that symbolism, while given lip service, is so little understood in LDS circles. Since the majority of Mormons believe in a literal Adam who will return to the earth in his physical resurrected body and fulfill a major role at Adam-ondi-ahman, there is little reason to investigate the allegorical aspects of the Adam and Eve story. Thus, they have become “unidentified...

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The Creation Accounts — Unharmonized

January 13, 2010
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The Creation Accounts — Unharmonized

OT SS Lesson #3 Several years ago I did a study of Joseph Smith’s different accounts of the First Vision. It was fascinating to see how the accounts changed over time and according to his audience. I reflected that I had told my own conversion story many different ways and with different emphases over the years. It was reasonable to me that Joseph would make different points when he recounted his vision to a Jew than to a Christian minister. And it seemed natural that his story would change over time, as he gained life experience and greater depth...

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Chosen or Posin’ ? Abraham, Buffy, and Other Choice Spirits

January 8, 2010
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Chosen or Posin’ ? Abraham, Buffy, and Other Choice Spirits

OT SS Lesson #2 This was an interesting lesson to read after last year’s brou-ha-ha over an alleged “generals in the war in heaven” quote. On the 25th of February 2008, the Church issued an official statement from the Office of the First Presidency to all General Authorities, Area Seventies, Stake Presidents, Mission Presidents, District Presidents, Temple Presidents, Bishops and Branch Presidents which read: A statement has been circulated that asserts in part that the youth of the Church today “were generals in the war in heaven . . . and someone will ask you, ‘Which of the prophet’s...

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This is my Work and my Game Plan

January 1, 2010
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This is my Work and my Game Plan

OT SS Lesson #1 With Jeff’s interesting introduction to the OT course of study, I’m sure many of you have peeked at the first OT lesson for the new year. Correlation really likes to start the year off with the Plan of Salvation, and OT year really lends itself to this if you start with the book of Moses. I hardly ever use the LAME attention-grabber suggestions in the manual, and the Plan of Salvation rather bores me after so many times through. But I was actually intrigued by the suggestion in this lesson: Select two class members and...

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Time to Study The Old Testament…Again – Part 2, The Books

November 20, 2009
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In this part 2 of the Studying the Old Testament series, we will discuss the books of the Old Testament, how they were organized, different books contained in different bibles, and extra-biblical books.

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Time to Study the Old Testament……..Again – Part 1 – Introduction

November 12, 2009
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Time to Study the Old Testament……..Again – Part 1 – Introduction

As part of the four-year LDS Sunday School study cycle, it is time to open up that voluminous book known as the Old Testament. Many in the Christian community, including LDS, question the value of even studying the Old Testament. After all, they say, “we have the New Testament, which is Christ’s teachings to us.”  And, the LDS have additional scripture that have Christ’s teachings as well. Is that true?  Is the Old Testament “Old,” and thus not as relevant as other scriptures?

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