Did you study your lesson this week?

[aldona]

What if I feel the need to study something very deep in a particular chapter of Scripture that week? What if God is leading me to a greater understanding of something in a different part of the Bible?

Why is my standing as a "good little Adventist" determined, in part, by how faithfully I read what someone in an ivory tower in a far-away country determines I should read in my Bible for that week? And by the number of neat little pre-packaged answers I write into the blanks that they have so thoughtfully provided?

What if, at the end of my study, there are still more questions than answers? Am I still going to heaven?

sorry, but this sort of question reminds me of Sabbath School as a child..."Now, boys & girls, who studied their lesson?" (lots of hands waving in the air. Can we get our gold stars now?)

aldona

[Gregory Matthews]

I attend a SDA Church SS Class that often discusses issues independent of the quarterly.

Today the discussion will be led by two (a husband and wife) former directors of two departments in the General Conference who will discuss their work as departmental heads.

This class has sometimes gone on geological field trips in place of attending church. The class leader is a PhD. geologist.

It has discussed, chapter by chapter, books on spirituality written by non-SDAs.

And, it sometimes discusses the lesson in the quarterly, as it did last week.

[cricket]

Ahem...the question didn't ask, "Did you study your quarterly?"

And, besides, there is the option of answering "It's none of your business"; as well as the option of not answering at all.

Quick assumptions. Hasty conclusions.

Why so judgmental??

[Gerr]

Perhaps take another poll asking instead:

How often do you study your Bible?

Daily?

Every two days?

3x a week?

Gerry

[cricket]

Go for it!!! Great idea, Gerry, if that's what you're interested in!

[Gail]

Some will remember the days when there used to be a SS checklist and that would be asked...

[aldona]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

Cricket said:

Ahem...the question didn't ask, "Did you study your quarterly?"

And, besides, there is the option of answering "It's none of your business"; as well as the option of not answering at all.

Quick assumptions. Hasty conclusions.

Why so judgmental??

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Sorry if that came across as personal...there is no "reply to no one in particular" option...

...but a lifetime of being told what to do and how to think and what to believe and what to study and how to feel is starting to weigh heavily on my soul...

All my family and friends are SDA and happy with the status quo, so I don't really have anyone or anywhere I can say how I really feel (except C/A sometimes). even there, I have to be careful...

Most of the time I can just shut up and talk to myself and to God.

aldona

[cricket]

Likewise, there was no "respond to both of the above" option. It was assumed by Gregory that I meant the quarterly.

Actually, when I created the poll I had thought that there would be those that assumed it was just the lesson as is given to us by the conference. I took a chance to see if it would be questioned and, it was!

It was all part of the poll. (At least, in my mind, anyway.)

How many of us assume that the lesson we are supposed to be doing is the one given to us by others?

Like you, Aldona, I too studied a different lesson this week. I did not study the same lesson as given by the conference, but rather did something that seemed more personal.

I like the fact that you challenged the poll.

Sorry if I sounded attacking in a personal nature.

[Gerr]

Never done it. Not the polling kind, besides, I don't know how. I'll let somebody else do it.

Gerry

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Hi Gail,

I remember the checklist and how uncomfortable I felt when I didn't raise my for handing out literature or talking to someone or having a Bible study.

Now I think it would be a good idea to do something like that. I would pass around an offering plate and everyone could drop in a note as to what they did (without telling who it was) and some could put in an offering.

The reason I think this is a good idea is that it lets us know that we are not a dead church and there are some who are doing things. This can encourage us as a whole. The way it is now in most churches that I've seen, no one testifies to anything they are doing except for maybe during intercessory prayer on Sabbath. Some don't.

Norman

[darlene]

As a conference Sabbath School Director, I find this discussion interesting. I do believe that people learn in different ways and that we need different types of classes for those who learn in different ways. I'm not sure we need different Bible lessons other than the quarterly to achieve the different types of classes. A class using the lesson quarterly can be taught in many different ways. Having one topic throughout the world at the same time certainly has it's advantages.

The greatest problem I see with Sabbath Schools and classes whatever format or materials are used is with the absence of 'fellowship' in the class. Our teachers just get up and say....."Our lesson study this week is about....." We don't learn to love and care for members. If someone misses the Sabbath School/class a couple of weeks or week after week many classes don't even know they are missing because often attendance is not taken. If I'm not loved and accepted and no one misses me, why come? I believe this is the greatest problem with declining membership in Sabbath School. We do not love and care for our brothers and sisters as Christ would have us love and care for our brothers and sisters. In this aspect, we are not 'Christ-like.'

[Aliensanctuary]

This is so rare. I actually took home a SS Lesson book when I saw the subject included the study of Daniel's prophecies. A little less rare, I attend SS maybe once or twice a year. There's usually too many people with too much to say, so I rarely get a word in edgewise, and usually give up and wish I hadn't come. Anyway, it's the same old stuff, year after year after year...

I like the SS discussion here at this website which I recently discovered. I can carefully post my thoughts and maybe receive some feedback, which I really appreciate. The official canned SS Lessons have already bypassed me by a long shot, mainly because these visions of Daniel 2 and 7 are still rattling around in my head. Every once in a while, a solitary brain cell is stimulated, and I have a thought...

As far as the canned SS lessons go, they're all taken from the canned SS lesson master file, and usually tend to be rather dull...but OK for reference. I'd actually forgotten over the years that the official explanation of the Iron Legs in Dan. 2 is that they're Rome.

There's nothing quite like opening up just the Bible in a quiet place and reading it carefully, asking God to give you some ideas on the meanings or the applications, or to ask God to help it change you into a better person. I don't think the canned SS lessons can have that kind of impact.

[darlene]

Aliensanctuary, it sounds like perhaps the problem is the teaching style and some very opinionated members not the lesson study itself. Or could it be that your style of learning is different than that of the members in your class? Maybe you need to find another class that meets your need for learning? Probably staying away is not the answer.

[LifeHiscost]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

aldona said:

What if, at the end of my study, there are still more questions than answers? Am I still going to heaven?

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

[:"red"] "But we believe that through the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ we shall be saved...." [/]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

sorry, but this sort of question reminds me of Sabbath School as a child

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

[:"red"] "And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." [/] Matthew 18:3 KJV

<img src="/adventist/images/graemlins/DOVE.gif" alt="" />

Keep the faith!!

[LifeHiscost]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

aldona said:

Most of the time I can just shut up

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

[:"red"] "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven....a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.." [/] Eccl 3:1,7 KJV

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

and talk to myself

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

can sometimes be a good choice

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

and to God.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post"> [:"red"] "" [/]

is a better choice [:"red"] "He who is of God hears the words of God [/] John 8:47 NASB

<img src="/adventist/images/graemlins/DOVE.gif" alt="" />

Keep the faith!!

[Gerr]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

Cricket said:

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

[:"blue"]Not statistically significant so far because of the small number. But if the percentages were to hold true, that looks pretty sad. And anyone would venture to guess who the most vocal ones in the class discussion would be? those who did or did not study? [/]

Gerry