Welcome to Class Before We Start Enjoy this
Welcome to Class! Before We Start… • Enjoy this music: “Mercy Tree, ” by Lacey Sturm • Tell your neighbor what you have been thinking about doing for your research paper. • Don’t forget to turn in the Weekly Report today!
Catch Up and Open Pedagogy The following are the learning outcomes for this lesson: • • • Feel the Holy Ghost Identify and act on at least one specific thing you will do in your life as a result of our discussion today. Be able to answer the questions from today’s class period (see QR code)
A Fixed or a Multi-Faceted Symbol? A key question is as follows: Does then-Elder Hinckley’s statement in 1975 “But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ. ” Represent an unchanging fixed doctrine or a principle for that specific time and place? A lot has changed in the Church since 1975. Is how “we” interpret the symbol of the cross one of them?
“I don’t wear a cross for God. I wear a cross for YOU, and my other brothers & sisters! Jesus & God know who I am. Those I meet on the street don’t. My wearing of the cross lets other followers know that they can hold me accountable to the laws of Christianity. ”
Dr. Elliott Wise, an assistant professor of art history and curatorial studies at Brigham Young University “Far from being bothered or uncomfortable by images of Christ on the cross, I am profoundly moved and inspired by those depictions. The representation of his agony and blood is not disrespectful—there is no better way of communicating his descent below all things. For me, the cross manifests the depths of his eternal, living love, love that we are to emulate. ”
Elder Edward Dube, “Gaining My Faith One Step at a Time, ” New Era, April 2020 Elder Edward Dube described one of the “defining moments” of his life occurring at the age of ten, while inside a Catholic Church in his native country of Zimbabwe: “I saw paintings with scenes from the Savior’s life pasted on the wall: scenes of Jesus Christ’s birth, teaching in the temple, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, carrying the cross to Calvary, being crucified at Golgotha, and His Resurrection.
Elder Edward Dube, “Gaining My Faith One Step at a Time, ” New Era, April 2020 It really made me feel sad to see those nails and thorns. By the time I got to the painting of the Crucifixion, my eyes were filled with tears. And each time I would cry and say, ‘Hey, He really went through a lot, just for me. ’”
Elder F. Enzio Busche and Tracie A. Lamb, Yearning for the Living God: Reflections from the Life of F. Enzio Busche (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2004), 52. Before Elder F. Enzio Busche of the Seventy joined the Church, he was hospitalized with a serious liver infection. Believing he was about to die, he began to panic, realizing that he had not prepared himself to meet God. He wrote, “On the wall of my [hospital] room was a cross with the crucified Christ on it. It was the only object on the wall, and as I focused upon it, I developed a tremendous hope:
If it were true that there was a Son of God named Jesus, who died for me also, then this was the greatest news ever spread in the history of mankind. Elder F. Enzio Busche and Tracie A. Lamb, Yearning for the Living God: Reflections from the Life of F. Enzio Busche (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2004), 52.
Alonzo Gaskill “After my baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I continued to wear my cross, under my shirt, as I always had. On a couple of occasions, while at church, the cross peeked out from between two buttons on my shirt, and a member saw it. In each case, I was chided and told that it was a “pagan” symbol and—as a member of the Church—I should not be wearing it any longer.
Alonzo Gaskill “Embarrassed that I had been wearing this “pagan” symbol, I took the cross off and sold it for its gold. Thirty-five years later, I have such regrets that I did that. What I was told was not true. The cross had always been a reminder to me of the tremendous price Jesus had paid on my behalf. It continues to be a reminder of that to me today—even though I no longer have that cross that I received at my baptism, and which I had worn and cherished for nearly two decades. ”
Doctrinal or Cultural?
Three public statements by General Authorities (plus President Mc. Kay’s journal entry) have specifically discouraged individuals from the wearing or displaying of crosses. Sixteen public statements by General Authorities have specifically discouraged drinking caffeinated beverages. Are these cultural or doctrinal issues?
Real life impact
Number of Latter. Christians in World day Saints in World 2, 300, 000 17, 000 (less than 1% of total Christians).
A pastor at a Christian church in Provo, Utah, said, “We can always tell when one of your wards has a lesson about the cross because on Monday our kids pay the price for it on the playground. ” He described some Latter-day Saint boys who at recess told a girl from his congregation that wearing a cross necklace was of the devil. She had to see the school nurse after the boys violently ripped off her necklace.
A colleague shared with me how, when teaching missionary preparation classes, he would role-play with students. When students pretending to be missionaries would ask him (acting as an investigator) if he knew about Christ’s Atonement, he would say, “Yes, I saw that Mel Gibson movie about Christ dying for our sins on the cross. ” At least half of his students would correct him, stating that Christ atoned for our sins in Gethsemane, but not on the cross. What a lost opportunity to build a bridge of understanding!
“I was raised attending a Lutheran church. As with most Protestant churches, the cross was a central and revered symbol. When I was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, I learned about the suffering Christ experienced in Gethsemane, which greatly added to my understanding and appreciation of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
“I moved to Utah to attend BYU one week after being baptized. I had studied, taken lessons, and contemplated my baptism for a year, so I think I had a decent understanding and foundation for being a new convert. I regularly wore a necklace with a small cross pendant that my grandmother had given me. On campus, I had a few experiences where students would start talking to me in a really kind way and I realized they thought I was not a member, probably because of my necklace. One of my friends even asked me to stop wearing the necklace.
“I know that the Savior suffered on the cross. I have hesitated to share my thoughts and experiences about this, always wondering if my testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ was not enough because I had a different balance between both Gethsemane and his Crucifixion. ”
You Now Know More About the Cross as a Symbol than Many Other People. What is the Takeaway for Each of Us?
“The enquiry is frequently made of me, ‘Wherein do you differ from others in your religions views? ’ In reality and essence we do not differ so far in our religious views. . Christians should cease wrangling and contention with each other and cultivate the principles of union and friendship in their midst; and they will do it before the Millennium can be ushered in, and Christ takes possession of his kingdom. ”
“A merchant man. . . found at last the perfect pearl. He had the finest craftsman carve a superb jewel box and line it with blue velvet. He put his pearl of great price on display so others could share his treasure. He watched as people came to see it. Soon he turned away in sorrow. It was the box they admired, not the pearl. ”
David Wiley “Everyone wants their work to matter. No one wants to struggle for hours or days on something they know will be thrown away almost as soon as it is finished. Given the opportunity, people want to contribute something, to give something back, to pay it forward, to make the world a better place, to make a difference…[How can our classroom assignments] add value to the world in some way[? ]”
Public Learning and How I’m Sharing this Course • https: //johnhiltoniii. com/crucifixion-course/
Public Learning and Your Work in this Course Class Assignment • Synopsis Paper • Research Paper • Presentation • Book Review Making it Public • • Sharing with friends Posting on social media Posting on a website (yours or mine, or a review site (e. g. , Amazon)) Creating a You. Tube video BYU Student Symposium Augmenting/creating Wikipedia pages Potentially exchanging tone for reach.
Research Paper Discussion • https: //docs. google. com/document/d/1 c. Aqmka 9 t. R 3 ELVS 4 q. XZVl. RNz 7 Gq. YHZf. N 8 GCj. SQ 4 q. Djt M/edit
Wikipedia Activity • https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Symbolism_in_T he_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latterday_Saints
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