Jeremiah’s Symbolic Acts Many important judgments are recorded in unforgettable imagery throughout the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah gave several prophecies that were accompanied by symbolic acts or allegories. The symbolic act, a staging of a prophetic message, is an interesting phenomenon associated with prophets, as, for example, the prophet Zedekiah’sContinue Reading

Have you ever been betrayed by close friends?  Has anyone ever spread lies about you and hurt your reputation?  If you answer yes, then you have a friend in the prophet Jeremiah. “The days of Jeremiah were among the most difficult and momentous in all Jewish history.  How stirring theContinue Reading

There is an increasing sentiment among some seminary students that the world is overpopulated, running out of resources and that the future looks bleak.  Many students have expressed to me thoughts such as, “What’s the use?  The world is going to end anyways.  Why get married and have children?  WillContinue Reading

In our classroom we have a “question box”.  I have found this to be a useful tool in the classroom.  When a student has a question that would take us far off topic, yet is still relevant to their lives, a teacher has a couple of options.  The teacher canContinue Reading

The story of Joseph in Genesis teaches so many lessons.  First, it is a type, a message of the redemption paid by our Savior Jesus Christ.  Each of us is a brother begging for bread in a time of famine, while Joseph represents the Savior – freely forgiving and offeringContinue Reading

Genesis 25 tells the story of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob.  The birthright itself was a tremendous blessing and responsibility.  The birthright child had the duty to care for the family in temporal affairs and assume the role of spiritual leadership and presidency.  Although I do not believe EsauContinue Reading

We began class today with the question we left off with in the Moses 7 discussion.  How would you build Zion in your sphere of influence?  Many students shared that they would work on being kind and giving in difficult circumstances.  I asked them to illustrate a difficult circumstance.  MostContinue Reading

We started the class asking this question: how would you describe a perfect society?  We followed this question with, “have any of you had a perfect day or a perfect week?  Where were you?  Who were you with?  What were you doing?” Many students reflected on moments in their livesContinue Reading

We read the text of Genesis 2 and then students started asking several questions. Does Adam have a belly button? Is Eve really made out of a rib? Why did God command Adam not to partake of the fruit? This chapter has much to offer the youth in way ofContinue Reading

In class we examined the creation account from the perspective of the youth.  Young people may not be creating worlds, but they certainly can use the Lord as an example of how to accomplish wonderful things in their personal lives.  I asked the students this question, “What is the LordContinue Reading