Tag Archives: Book of Mormon

Youth Sunday School Teacher Apology Letter

Backstory: My wife and I teach Sunday School to 12-17 year-old youth at the Chattanooga Valley Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Flintstone, Georgia, twice a month. This year, our study is on the Book of Mormon. 

The first class was to be a discussion of what the Book of Mormon is, how it was written originally, how it came to be in our time, how it was translated, and how it is a second witness, along with the Bible, to the divinity of Jesus Christ. Normally, we engage students in give-and-take discussions, where we learn as much (or more) than they do. However, there was so much history to get through, and such limited time, that I basically took control of the discussion and “firehose taught” the lesson.

Afterwards, my wife told me that she’d never seen me “teach” that way before, and she didn’t like it. One of the students said “Well, he’s showing that he knows more than we do,” and another said that I was, sometimes, rude. In response, I wrote this email of apology to the parents of the students, as well as to the leaders of the congregation.  Lesson learned (I hope) —

“In today’s youth Sunday school lesson about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, I departed from my usual Socratic, discussion-oriented teaching style. In an effort to get through a lot of material very quickly, I used a very aggressive question and answer style that negated a lot of discussion and a lot of testimony. In an effort to discuss the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the history of the Book of Mormon, and a way that the youth could summarize what the Book of Mormon was, how it came about, and how it related to particular points in history, I basically steamrolled any discussion.
In an effort to express my fervent testimony and belief that the Book of Mormon is divinely inspired and that it is a second witness of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, I cut off any discussions or expressions of testimony from the youth.
As a result, the class members, your children, may feel compromised, negated, hurt, and not validated. This is certainly not my intention. I admire the youth in our class, and think they’re easily the finest and most well thought out class I’ve ever taught. But I’m certain it didn’t come across like that.
I apologize for being offensive, I apologize for any feelings that I may have hurt. Please be aware that your children and those you may be responsible for may not like what happened in class today. If this is the case, I would welcome the opportunity to speak with them and you and to offer my sincere apologies.
The Book of Mormon is the Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Savior. His Church has been restored on the Earth. But my enthusiasm for those truths should never trample the great commandment of loving my neighbor, and not offending the children.
Again, I’m deeply sorry.
David Kuhns”

Do You Have A Bike Path And A Red Chair? Revolutionary Blogging Free Verse Poem

The storm is coming./
It’s in the air./
You can feel it
gathering strength.
Friends, relations,
loved ones
are already being
blown away.

Church vaults open.
Worried, wondering,
hopeful,
folks peer inside.
They see the dirt,
the cobwebs,
smell the dank,
the dust,
the mold
the hidden,
the historical documents
they feared
all along.

And they wail
and rail.
“WHAT!?!!
Nobody told us!
We were LIED TO!
We were deceived!”

Were we?
Would they tell
their 9-year-olds
about 50 shades?
Would they expose them
to everything?
Or would they protect them
and show them
the good?
Let them feel
the joy?

I have no problem
with that,
with being protected.
I have no problem
with historical documents.
I never feared them,
though I knew they were there.

Why not?
Because I have
a bike path
and a red chair.

Each time
I drive my children,
my family,
my friends,
past a sloping path
for bikes
and pedestrians
that lead
from learning
to home,
I point out the spot
on the path.

It once overlooked
a baseball diamond,
red dirt infield,
green grass outfield.
Close to the tunnel,
it now gazes
into classrooms
and offices.

But the path
is still there.
“There”, I say confidently,
“is where it happened.”

“There is where
I learned
more than any degree
could give.”

“There,
on the side of the bike path,
knowledge streaming,
tears streaming,
is where
I learned,
and knew
what is true.”
“God lives.
Jesus lives.
He died for me.
He loves me.
The Book of Mormon
is the Word of God.”

I believed it,
but I needed to know it.
And I now point
to the bike path.

“Yeah, Dad/Dave,
we KNOW!
You tell us
every time
we drive by,”
they say.
At least they know
that once I doubted.
Once I questioned.
But then I asked.
And now they know
that I know
what I know.

The red chair?
It’s probably long gone.
The apartment
above the Friseur
where two young servants
shared
a bathroom
with liquid-defecating
winos
is probably
someone else’s.

It was there,
in the red, overstuffed
chair,
I read,
I wondered,
I questioned,
I asked.
It was there,
leaning back,
thinking,
that I learned
more that I needed
to know.

The Boy Prophet
was and is
inspired,
a prophet,
like Paul,
like Peter,
like Moses,
like Adam.
God’s servant.

I didn’t know
before that.
Although the bike path
showed me truth,
I didn’t get all of it
then.
The red chair
gave me more.
Only a few
(like you)
now know
what I now know.
Ich weiss.

I’ve had more
insight
since.
Even when not
in the flock,
I learned
“Tommy True Tone”.
But the bike path
and the red chair
built
and are
my foundations.

How did
that happen?
God promises.
I believe.
Each time,
I asked.
“Ask!” He says.
So I did.
And do.
And He answered
and answers.

Now the dank,
putrid
air
flows out,
and past misdeeds
of venerated,
honored
others
come to full light.
They blind some.
People hide,
or cry,
or anger,
and get confused.
They leave.
“We were deceived!”
“We were lied to!”
They cry again
and again.
Where will they go?
I wonder.

Didn’t they know
this was coming?
From Oz,
and from the Internet,
and from billboards
along I-15,
I heard these voices
long ago.
Even before then,
“Know the Truth!” pamphlets
were passed out.
Truth,
slanted,
was there.

There is truth
in exposure.
Some of it
IS disturbing.
Some of it
IS surprising.
Some of it
IS disgusting.
Some of it
IS shocking.

I stay.
Why would I leave?
Where would I go?
It doesn’t matter
Moses killed.
It doesn’t matter
Peter ear’d.
It doesn’t matter
Joseph dug for gold,
and had hormones
and made mistakes,
and adapted his story
to his audience,
and used
when advised not to.
Folly.
It doesn’t matter
if there were Mountain Meadows
flowing red.
It doesn’t matter
if God’s servants
hid full truth
to protect me
and us.

I know:
It’s simplistic.
I know:
It’s easy.
I know:
It’s not complicated.

None of that matters
to me.
I asked.
Then I have walked
on a bike path,
and I have sat
in a red chair.

I know.