[Teachldsseminary] Daniel and the Lions' Den

[Valerie Reese]

I am teaching Daniel and the Lion's Den tomorrow.  We're going to briefly review the chapter headings of Daniel 4 and 5 (so the students can see the history of the three Kings and understand time has passed since chapter 1) and read Daniel 5: 29-31, to set the stage for chapter 6. 

Then, I'm going to show the Veggie Tales DVD of Daniel and the Lion's Den.  It's about 20 minutes and tells the story of Daniel in a fun way.  After the DVD, we'll read Daniel 6: 21-28 and talk about the positive consequences of Daniel's choice.

An alternative to the DVD would be to act this story out.  My students enjoy role-playing and I usually give them a prop or two to help them get into the acting mode.  This would be a great story to act out, as someone reads the story from the scriptures.

Also, if you have access to the new CES DVD, there is a short (less than 2 minutes) movie showing Daniel coming out of the lion's den, unhurt.  I must admit I wasn't overly impressed with it and chose not to use it.

Re: Daniel choosing to obey God or the laws of the land:
Daniel had many opportunities to choose.   He didn't eat the King's food in Chapter 1, and I imagine that was pretty serious.  In Chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego choose to not worship an idol, even at the risk of death.  I don't consider these choices to so much against the laws of the land as to be choices between right and wrong.  Possibly Daniel even knew he was being "framed" by jealous servants of the king in order to get him to pray to the king instead of God.  The important thing is Daniel did what was right...no matter what.  I'm having the students underline Daniel 6: 10, as Daniel heard the new law and continued living exactly "as he did aforetime".  He didn't change his standards or beliefs or actions because of difficult circumstances, and the students can follow the great example of Daniel and do the same today.

We're going to end the class discussing situations they might find themselves in today that would require them to make a difficult choice and decide how Daniel would handle it.  I'll crown them all Daniels and Danielles at the end...if they choose the right!

Sorry this is so long, but hope it helps.  I, too was surprised this story wasn't in the manual, because it's a great one!

Valerie, in the Netherlands
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Nancy Decker 
  To: teachldsseminary at latter-dayvillage.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 4:14 PM
  Subject: [Teachldsseminary] Daniel and the Lions' Den


  I wanted to cover Daniel and the Lion's Den and noted there wasn't anything in the manual. I was reading some suggestions regarding teaching Daniel and they mentioned things like..."What would you do if you lived in a country or time when it was against the law to pray in public and private unless the prayers were printed in an official prayer book?  Suppose you were asked to pray in Sacrament Meeting and two government officials walked in just then.  How would you pray? 
  The more I started thinking about it the more I realized we can't teach this. We are asking our kids to go against the law and we as LDS obey the law. It is what sets us apart.
   
  What do you tell the kids when they ask about choosing between obeying the law and not bowing down to the golden statue or King Neb?
   
  Are you guys skipping Daniel and the Lion's Den? I could use some ideas.
   
  Thanks, Nancy in Sicily
   
   


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