Prisonchaplain Prepares Presentation on Mormonism

[prisonchaplain]

So it finally happened...I got asked to prepare a lesson plan and Power Point presentation on Mormonism.  The lesson will be part of a three day conference on Christian religious group faith practices in correctional settings. The audience are all chaplains. So, these were the highlights:

Introduction:  What three words come to your mind when you think of Mormonism? I then ask if words like polygamy, homophobia etc. Come to mind. Then I ask if any have seen The Godmakers, or read Walter Martin's works on the faith (rhetorical questions). The point:  The prevalence of anti-Mormon media is one reason that the term LDS is preferred these days.

History/Beliefs: I mostly quote from mormon.org to briefly highlight Joseph Smith's founding of the church, the claim to living prophets, and the Great Apostasy/Restoration. I then use LDS.org to briefly cover the belief in the possibility of godhood, the literal nature of our being children of God, and the understanding that we have an eternal intelligence.

I conclude by pointing out that there are no dietary restrictions (other than the WoW), and the need to accommodate sacred garments.

It's so hard to summarize a faith group in 15 slides and 20-minutes. Hope I did y'all justice. 

[NightSG]

If you don't mention shredded carrots, it's not complete.

[laronius]

29 minutes ago, NightSG said:

If you don't mention shredded carrots, it's not complete.

Shredded carrots in green jello that is.

[Grunt]

4 hours ago, laronius said:

Shredded carrots in green jello that is.

What?  Where have you been all my life!

[Sunday21]

Funeral potatoes!

[Midwest LDS]

Sounds good @prisonchaplain. Actually it's nice to be included in a discussion about Christian faith groups rather than scary cults to be avoided☺. As long as you emphasize our belief in and love of Our Savior it sounds like a great presentation. Plus I agree with @Sunday21. Funeral potatoes are actually good unlike weird jello concoctions. 

Edited October 27, 2017 by Midwest LDS

[zil]

Are there no Mormon prison chaplains? Not that I'm worried about the quality of your presentation, but from the horse's mouth is usually best.

Would you like us to review your presentation beforehand?

It should include this:

Quote

2 Nephi 25:26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins

 

[Grunt]

52 minutes ago, zil said:

Are there no Mormon prison chaplains? Not that I'm worried about the quality of your presentation, but from the horse's mouth is usually best.

Would you like us to review your presentation beforehand?

It should include this:

 

Thank you for this!  It speaks to one reason why I sought a church.

[zil]

11 minutes ago, Grunt said:

Thank you for this!  It speaks to one reason why I sought a church.

Now I'm curious which part (to me, there are three different ideas in my post).

I included that verse from the Book of Mormon because so many accuse us of not being Christian.

[zil]

PS: Good luck with your presentation, @prisonchaplain!  Hope it goes well for you!

[Grunt]

1 minute ago, zil said:

Now I'm curious which part (to me, there are three different ideas in my post).

I included that verse from the Book of Mormon because so many accuse us of not being Christian.

Well, my interpretation is it all is related, yet tied together by "that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins".  They are the meaning to my mortal life.

[prisonchaplain]

2 hours ago, zil said:

Are there no Mormon prison chaplains? Not that I'm worried about the quality of your presentation, but from the horse's mouth is usually best.

Would you like us to review your presentation beforehand?

It should include this:

 

I thought about vetting the presentation here, but since it's official government work, did not want put it in the public domain. There are no LDS chaplains in the federal system...which ought to be encouraging--not enough inmates to justify one in any given location.   I did include the oft-repeated Christocentric line about Jesus being so central to the church's belief that He's prominent in the official name.   

Edited October 27, 2017 by prisonchaplain

[laronius]

So now we are finally getting to the truth about @Grunt. He wants a church that worships both Christ and green jello with carrots. I think its a match made in heaven (no pun intended).

[zil]

4 minutes ago, prisonchaplain said:

None in the federal system...which ought to be encouraging--not enough inmates to justify one in any given location.

Interesting.  You'd think there would be in Utah, but I guess it's handled differently here - I know there are prison wards/branches here, but nothing else about them.

[Fether]

@prisonchaplain did you forget to include the part that it is the only true church?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, prisonchaplain said:

I thought about vetting the presentation here, but since it's official government work, did not want put it in the public domain. There are no LDS chaplains in the federal system...which ought to be encouraging--not enough inmates to justify one in any given location.   I did include the oft-repeated Christocentric line about Jesus being so central to the church's belief that He's prominent in the official name.   

I hope you don't take this as probing too much.  I'm wondering whether you consider us Christians.  I know your standard position about "letting people self-identify" as Christians.  That is certainly consistent and politically correct -- which I can appreciate.  But do "you" identify us as Christians?

[zil]

11 hours ago, prisonchaplain said:

So it finally happened...I got asked to prepare a lesson plan and Power Point presentation on Mormonism.  The lesson will be part of a three day conference on Christian religious group faith practices in correctional settings. The audience are all chaplains.

And now I'm curious again...  Is this to give these chaplains a basic understanding in case they need to minister to a Mormon, or...?

[Jane_Doe]

One point I haven't seen mentioned thus far this thread: LDS do acknowledge other Christians have being Christians.  I think that's important, particularly when working with other Christians.  

Yes,  LDS believe that LDS beliefs are the most correct, just as Catholic do Catholic beliefs, Baptist Baptists, etc.  But LDS still acknowledge & celebrate each other person's real Christian relationship with Christ, and how important that is.  

When a Christian person (of whichever denomination) approaches a Christian-LDS person, we're not viewing you as some "other" faith (like if you were a Muslim Iman), but a fellow Christian, a brother.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Jane_Doe

[Jane_Doe]

11 hours ago, prisonchaplain said:

Then I ask if any have seen The Godmakers, or read Walter Martin's works on the faith (rhetorical questions). The point:  The prevalence of anti-Mormon media is one reason that the term LDS is preferred these days.

Speaking personally: I totally don't mind the word "Mormon" and use it myself frequently.  I do mind the misinformation told about my faith by Walter Martin and his ilk, but there's nothing I can do to shut Walter Martin up (especially considering he's dead now).  What matters today is the living and working with living people.  Living people can learn (and learn better), and love (and love better).  

[zil]

12 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

Speaking personally: I totally don't mind the word "Mormon" and use it myself frequently.

So does the Church.  I think maybe at one point LDS was preferred, but any more, we seem to be embracing "Mormon" (the term, not the man, well, unless some of us actually know a man named Mormon and happen to be embracing him, but that's a whole other discussion).

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Grunt said:

What?  Where have you been all my life!

Could Grunt become the first person in history to be converted to a new religion because of his culinary tastes?  Stay tuned and find out...

[Maureen]

13 hours ago, prisonchaplain said:

...The prevalence of anti-Mormon media is one reason that the term LDS is preferred these days...

IMO, I think the term LDS was more popular maybe 5-10 years ago but now the term Mormon is making a comeback. Just look at this forum, changing from LDS.net to MormonHub.

M.

[wenglund]

15 hours ago, prisonchaplain said:

 

It's so hard to summarize a faith group in 15 slides and 20-minutes. Hope I did y'all justice. 

As an alternative, you could play Elder Oak's talk from last April General Conference,  titled: "The Godhead and the Plan of Salvation."

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[anatess2]

@prisonchaplain, I'm confident that whatever you come up with you're going to be a good representative of our faith.

On a related note, my son's history teacher gave him Joseph Smith for his costume presentation on Monday from the list of important American historical figures.  He is supposed to dress up like Joseph Smith and write an essay about him.  He's only 1 of 2 Mormons in the entire school of 900 students.  And the teacher picked the names out of a pumpkin bucket.  I told my son he should buy a lottery ticket.

[prisonchaplain]

6 hours ago, zil said:

Interesting.  You'd think there would be in Utah, but I guess it's handled differently here - I know there are prison wards/branches here, but nothing else about them.

There are no federal prisons in Utah. Here's the map of federal prisons:  https://www.bop.gov/locations/map.jsp