[Teachldsseminary] Request: Lesson Ideas Genesis 6:1-4; Moses 8:13-15

[tassmus at comcast.net]

I did two object lessons that the class really seemed to grasp.....

After coming off of the lesson of teaching about the flood, we had a discussion about the ark's construction.......we brainstormed about how the ark was sealed so that it wouldn't leak......then that discussion went into, how the the ark and the sealing of it  protected Noah's family.......

>From there I introduced my family by photographs.....I had a photo of each member and showed it to the class and gave a little info about them......as I did, I put their photo in an envelope. After I put the "family" in the envelope, I discussed my hopes and dreams for them and the hope that we would be an eternal family.......I shook the envelope (with photos falling to the floor) and said those hopes are shattered when there is no marriage by covenant........the family scatters.........Then I picked up the photos and put them in the envelope. I "sealed" the envelope and "RE-SHOOK" it. The family stayed safely sealed in the envelope. I summarized that just like the ark, covenant marriage seals a family together and helps protect them from outside forces of the world.....

Then we went to the scriptures and discussed the phrases "sons of  God" and "sons of men"......and what it means for the "daughters to have sold themselves"..........we compared that to today's times and had a great conversation about why people marry out of the covenant and what blessing they are missing......

I finished with this object idea: I showed a donut and said, "this donut represents a temporal marriage", whereas this sweet roll represents temple marriage"......I asked the class for explanation and they came up with some great things. I ended with sharing I did not want them to miss out on the blessings of the gospel and its sealing powers.......and that "I hope nothing would be MISSING from their future marriages".

I had mini donuts with a note attached that said, "What could you be missing by marrying outside the covenant"?

I have to say it was one of the most powerful lessons this year so far (of course this is just a small part of the discussion and scripture application!) I have 2 children in my class who are from part member families so we did discuss that they have the power to begin their family legacy of marrying in the temple.......we also discussed that some of todays "sons of men" can be good people, but they are missing the gospel in their lives........I had to be sensitive to their situations.

I also shared that one of my own children had strayed from the gospel path, but that one of the blessings of marrying in the covenant is that I have hope that that child who is born in the covenant will have special blessings to be brought back to the family and fold of God.....

Hope this makes sense and is helpful!

Tracy in Spokane

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Marty Bennett <marjben at yahoo.com> 

> Any good ideas out there for teaching a lesson on not marrying outside the 
> covenant? 
> 
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