Primary Class is FUN

Recently I was walking towards sacrament meeting when an arm appeared out of nowhere; it was heading straight towards my arm. I tried to dodge it, not knowing who’s arm it was I was a little freaked out, but the arm was much too strong for my “school arms.” The arm did in fact belong to someone I knew, thankfully…it was the second counselor in my bishopric. He said he needed to “talk” with me. I was crushed. My current calling is so much fun. I am the young men’s coach, which is a blast; but I knew that if the Lord wanted me to serve in a different position, it would be the right thing. I had no clue what my calling would be, because there was a large shift going on in the ward, as many people were getting and released simultaneously.

When my meeting time came around, I was ready to hear what my future held. To my disbelief, I was called to be the Valiant 8 teacher. I had heard a couple of stories about these particular boys: loud, crazy, rambunctious, disrespectful, short attention span…I could go on. The poor teacher who was “supervising” had such a hard time with the boys. They walked all over him. (I got to shadow the class the week before I got to teach them.)

I decided that I would try to put some of my law school learning to use. I let the boys have  couple of minutes of “play time,” to get out some wiggles, and then we had a long discussion about what rules the class would have, and what punishments would come if the rules were broken. The boys thought this was quite interesting, but things got a lot more interesting when I told them that I was going to write a contract for them, have them sign it, and then get the contract notarized. I also let the boys know that we would be holding court hearings, convicting the little felons when they crossed the line. (The boys were so excited that they yelled, after primary, “Dad! My teacher is going to sue me!) Two of the boys signed the contract today.

The Law of the Land

I recently began my study at law school, and I have been thinking about, well…the law. I have seen how the law can work for good and for ill. That depends on how the lawyers argue their points. Look at the Dred Scott case back in the 1800s. The Supreme Court Decided that the entire black race was not covered in the Constitution because they were property…yeah, they dropped the ball on that one. Then you can change gears and look at Brown v. Board of Education, where schools were finally desegregated.

However, in thinking about the law, and how I might be able to do some good stuff, my thoughts were brought back to a particular tribunal. You remember, the one that condemned Christ. Well, I was faced with a stark reality: when put in the wrong hands, the law can be a monster.

Christ's Illegal Arraignment Before the Jewish Priests

When Christ was arraigned he was innocent. However, that didn’t stop him from being condemned. On the contrary, he was

sentenced to death on a technicality of the law: Blasphemy. Those arguing against Christ used words he said (The temple will be destroyed) completely out of the context from which he intended. That one thing, though it was hearsay, and no two people could come up with testimony that wasn’t contradictory, gave the Chief Priest “enough” to send Christ to the slaughter.

The thought hit me pretty hard that I need to stick to my standards, and be the best that I can be, EVERY SINGLE TIME! There are no excuses. The law is supposed to protect the innocent, but it cannot do so unless lawyers are doing their best.

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Can you be Modest and Cute?

Growing up I heard a lot of talk about how bad going strapless was. Being a male, I really didn’t think to much about it. However, I think about it a lot nowadays, with three daughters in my home.

I have come to wonder what modesty really is. In a previous post I outlined what was said the Strength of Youth pamphlet, but I have to wonder, does this just mean don’t go strapless? I think not. There are plenty of other ways to be immodest, and still have straps, however, I wont begin to list them.

Elder Dallan H. Oaks gave a talk in 2005 about pornography. In he stated (and I am paraphrasing right now) that some young women become pornography for young men, simply in the way they dress. How is this possible…its just an outfit, right? Well, apparently it’s not.

I know that clothes can be so cute, and that being cute is a huge factor, if the the ‘hugest factor’ of them all. I want point out, however, that cute doesn’t mean modest, though you probably already know this. I also want to point out that what you wear draws attention.

From what I know, girls long for attention and affection…they really want to be accepted. One of the easiest ways to do this is in the way they dress. When girls wear ‘cute’ clothes, guys give them attention. This isn’t the kind of attention that you want! The attention given by a male, in this incidence, is only skin deep. The girl in question is simply an object, and really not much more.

In a guy’s mind he sees the girl dressed in ‘cute’ sort of way, and says something to the effect of “she’s hot,” but never, hmmm, I’ve never seen that girl before, I really want to get to know her better. The connection here is entirely physical!

This is the danger in simply going by the cute rule. It can and does become pornography for males. So I beg of you, be careful what you wear. Try not to show more of you then is necessary, and please don’t make it form-fitting. You should even go beyond the “it covers my garments” mindset because, frankly, there is still too much showing at church on Sundays.

I promise, you can still be cute and modest, it just takes a little more effort in this day and age…