Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 20 Joseph Smith Translates the Bible and Other Scriptures

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 20 JOSEPH SMITH TRANSLATES THE BIBLE AND OTHER SCRIPTURES

CLASSROOM PREP

Post up the 8th Article of Faith

Post this scripture in a very specific way:

“The words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” 2 Nephi 32:3

• Have each word on its own piece of paper or index card
• Have the reference on its own paper or index card
• This is for a specific purpose for a game later

OPENING ACTIVITY

Start singing the 8th Article of Faith song without any intro, just start singing.

Have the Bible and Book of Mormon out as props and hold them up when you get to their parts in the song.

After you sing it through, sing it again and have them sing with you (they may already have been).

What have we talked about that:

• had parts changed
• had parts removed from it
• had parts added to it

What was it? The Bible

LESSON

The Lord commanded Joseph to translate the Bible to correct what was wrong.

Why would this be needed?

• 1 Nephi 13:26 --> "...they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away."
• Mistakes were made as it was copied/translated into other languages

• Words were left out, changed, or added
• The meaning of some of the scriptures was changed

After Jesus’ death, no prophets or apostles were left on the earth to correct these things.

While translating the Book of Mormon, Joseph learned that the Bible had been changed or parts had been lost.

Soon after translating the Book of Mormon, Joseph was commanded to study the Bible

He prayed for help understanding the Bible. He had a lot of questions!

In 1831, Joseph started translating the Bible and Sidney Rigdon was his scribe.

As a result of him translating the Bible, he grew even closer to the Holy Ghost as it blessed him to understand things.

In 1835 he met an Italian man who had ancient papyrus (paper made from plants) scrolls with Egyptian writing. This man had them for 15 years and hadn’t found anyone who could translate! With the Holy Ghost, Joseph was able to and learned things about Abraham! This is in the Pearl of Great Price.

Let’s find the Pearl of Great Price in our scriptures! This is where you would be able to read some of what was revealed to him as he was studying the Bible.

Let’s also find the Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew!

What set of scriptures is Matthew in? Start singing the Books of the New Testament Song

This is what Joseph Smith corrected within the New Testament Matthew.

He has other translations within the Bible that you can see below in the footnotes - it says JST for Joseph Smith Translation

SCRIPTURE STUDY SAM/SAMANTHA ACTIVITY

Adapted from lds.org here

https://www.lds.org/liahona/1996/03/sharing-time-the-words-of-christ?lang=eng

Have everyone draw their own Sam or Samantha on an index card

Put up each scripture below on a separate print-out or hand-written page on the board.

We’re going to help Sam/Samantha learn how to use the scriptures to help them in their daily life. Did you know that when we have questions in our lives, or we feel sad or scared, or we want to know what the Lord might want us to know...we can use our scriptures to find those answers? Reference 2 Nephi 32:3 on the board

I’m going to read a situation.

You’re going to silently try to find the scripture answer on the board.

If you think you know it, raise your Sam/Samantha card! Remember, no talking!

Either call on the first kid, on a random kid, or have them collectively say the answer. It depends on the competitiveness of your class.

Situations to read out loud:

1. You borrowed a game from a friend a long time ago and have not returned it.
2. Your brother tells you that he took some money from your drawer and that he is sorry.
3. You have two pieces of candy left, and you see someone with none.
4. Your parents won’t let you see a TV show you want to see.
5. You want to bear your testimony but are afraid.
6. You want to know if the Book of Mormon is true.
7. Someone you love is very sick. You wish that you could help.
8. Someone teases you because you go to church and keep the commandments.
9. You feel like yelling at your little brothers and sisters
10. You want to know what Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are like.

Scriptures to print out/write out to post on the board - the full scripture, not just the reference as it will take too long to look each one up. They are numbered so you can easily match up which situation it goes with.

1. Mosiah 4:28
2. 3 Nephi 13:14
3. 2 Corinthians 9:7
4. Colossians 3:20
5. 2 Timothy 1:8
6. Moroni 10:4
7. James 5:15
8. Matthew 5:10
9. Proverbs 21:23
10. D&C 130:22

PASS THE BIBLE MEMORIZATION GAME

Adapted from scripturelady.com

http://scripturelady.com/pass-the-bible-a-super-bible-school-activity-for-elementary-kids/

This will use the scripture that’s posted on the board.

Have everyone sit in a circle on the floor with a Bible from the library.

Have them study the scripture on the board and have them recite it together twice.

They start passing around Bible in the circle (make sure they treat it respectfully - no throwing, etc.)

After couple of times around, quickly flip one of the papers/cards over on the board and then say “Stop!”

Whichever kid is holding the Bible, they are the “guesser” and they have to guess (but hopefully know) which word was flipped over. They can ask a friend in the circle or you if they need help.

Continue on this way until the entire scripture is flipped, including reference, and they have it memorized!

PRACTICE THE S.O.A.P. METHOD FOR SCRIPTURE STUDY

Let's talk about how you can do really good scripture study at home.

Did you know there's a fun method called the S.O.A.P. method? Let's try it with the scripture we just memorized!

Show them the take-homes that you’ve created and use the method and discuss the 2 Nephi scripture

SPIRIT - Invite the Spirit “It is the Spirit which will bear record to your heart as you read the scriptures” - Elder Eyring

OBSERVATION - what stood out to you? What do you think about it? What can you learn from it?

APPLICATION - how does the scripture apply to you right now in your daily life?

PRAYER - pray about it and keep a prayer in your heart always about what you’ve learned

EXTRA TIME?

1/Sing the Old Testament and New Testament songs while following along in the Table of Contents.
2/Go to the index or topical guide and find a topic you want to study, talk about a dilemma or problem, and then find a scripture together that helps resolve it.

TAKE HOME

Hand out inexpensive bars of soap (or something related) with a S.O.A.P. method note attached

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 19 The Saints Are Taught To Recognize Good and Evil

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 19 THE SAINTS ARE TAUGHT TO RECOGNIZE GOOD AND EVIL

CLASSROOM PREP

Post up the 7th Article of Faith

OPENING ACTIVITY - BROWN E’S AND RING POP

First tell them that you made everyone a brownie!

Take out brown E’s cut out of paper or cardboard, and hand one to each kid

Wait, what? Are you guys disappointed? What were you expecting?

Why would you rather have the real thing and not an imitation?

What are imitations?

Are they better or worse than the real thing?

What makes them worse? Quality not as good, value is less

Take out a candy ring pop and compare to my wedding ring.

Which one do you think is worth more?

Which one do you think I value more?

Which one do you think will last a really really long time?

Here I plan to tell a story of a ring pop I bought for my sister in law as a cute wedding shower gift, and how I had it sit in the fridge during a hot summer for a week to keep it fresh and good but it still melted and was ruined.

Today we’re going to learn about things that are real vs. things that are not real, things that are of God vs. things that are not of God!

And I did bring in real brownies for you guys!

LESSON

Do you guys remember from past lessons that there were times when Satan tried to stop the restored Church from going forth?

Examples: Joseph felt Satan in the Sacred Grove, people tried to steal the gold plates to sell them (lesson 5), people were persecuting Joseph, people ruined the dam when they tried to have a baptism (lesson 12), etc.

Satan will continue to try to stop and hurt the Lord’s church.

But he doesn’t just try to stop it by ruining good things that are happening.

He also tries to imitate the good things Jesus and Heavenly Father have given us.

It’s like Satan telling me that this ring pop is as valuable and special as a diamond ring.

He wants us to follow him instead of Jesus and Heavenly Father.

But what have we learned about imitations? They aren’t as good as the real thing.

Satan’s imitations aren’t just not as good, but they are actually bad.

The ring pop melted and got ruined. It wasn’t going to last very long. It looked really pretty to start, and it sure looked like it could last a long time. And it was big and pretty and colorful.

Sometimes it’s really easy to tell the difference between something from God and something from Satan.

Sometimes it’s not.

Today we’re going to talk about how to tell.

MIRACLES/BIKE

Write on the board MIRACLE

Who can tell me what a miracle is? An extraordinary event caused by the power of God

A miracle can be big or it can be small.

A friend of mine from college told me a story about when he was a missionary in New York. He was riding his bike down a hill and his brakes suddenly stopped working. A big truck was coming towards him from the side and he was going to hit this truck. He knew he was going to hit it - it was one of those huge long trucks - a semi-truck. He braced himself and prepared to hit it, because remember he had no brakes.

The next thing he knew, he was further down the hill on the other side of the truck - it had continued on and he hadn’t hit it. He should have. It was a miracle that he didn’t.

There are many many miracles like this that happen. Not just to members of our Church but to many people around the world. It testifies of God. And usually when there’s a miracle, people remember God.

MIRACLES/MISSIONARY JERSEY

Here’s a recent example!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865679320/LDS-missionary-finds-his-own-Jr-Jazz-jersey-while-serving-in-Africa.html

MIRACLES/EARLY CHURCH

Some miracles of the early church that we’ve learned about...

• Joseph Smith and the Three Witnesses seeing the Angel Moroni
• Joseph being able to translate the Book of Mormon from reformed Egyptian (a language he didn’t know)
• Joseph knowing how to protect the gold plates so they wouldn’t be stolen

Here’s another one:

Tell the story of Ezra Booth from the manual

Have illustrations to show while telling it

These miracles were of God because they helped everyone draw closer to the Lord

Do you think Satan wanted the Lord’s church to grow? No

He worked hard to stop it.

He wanted to imitate the miracles so people would leave the Church and follow him.

People would pretend they received revelations like the Prophet.

They would pretend they had visions.

These visions and revelations were never in agreement with what the Lord wanted.

Parley P Pratt and other Church leaders felt these things were not from the Lord.

They asked Joseph to pray and find out what was going on.

Let’s get out our Doctrine & Covenants!

In D&C 50:1-9 he received his answer.

vs 2 there are many spirits which are false spirits, deceiving

vs 3 Satan hath sought to deceive you, that he might overthrow you

vs 5 Blessed are they who are faithful and endure

vs 6 Wo unto them who are deceivers and hypocrites

vs 8 Deceivers and hypocrites shall be detected and cut off from the church (spirit etc)

HOW CAN WE KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUE AND IMITATION SPIRITUAL GIFTS?

Hand out a print out of Moroni 7:16-17

Give everyone a yellow marker/crayon/colored pencil etc.

Also give everyone a grey one (pencil would work)

As you read, have them mark on the printout everything related to Christ in yellow and everything related to Satan in grey.

How do we know if what we’re seeing or hearing is from God?

False = leads us away from Christ

True = leads us to believe in Christ

16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

MATCHING GAME (IN THE MANUAL) - WHAT GIFTS COME OF GOD?

What are some of the true spiritual gifts that come of God?

Rather than print out the chart in the manual, print out each scripture on separate pieces of paper and print each gift on separate pieces of paper

• Tape the scripture papers to one wall
• Tape the gift name papers on the opposite wall
• Have them work together to study them and match them up. They can take them off the wall to match them however they choose.

Read over the gifts to make sure everyone understands what they each mean.

Which ones do you think you have?
We're going to talk about this while we play a game!

PASS THE PARCEL - GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT GAME

Have an empty box wrapped in ribbon.
Play a church hymn/song and when the music stops, ask the kid holding it, "What about you?" and show them the checklist at the below link. Have the checklist retyped to be bigger and perhaps add in other ones too if you can think of any.

Show them the list and have them think about what gifts they feel they may have.
Continue on until everyone has had a turn.

Checklist here:

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/magazines/friend/2017/03/march-2017-friend-magazine-mormon_1882534.pdf

MORMON MESSAGES ABOUT KUHA'O, BLIND PIANIST

Watch this video about Kuha’o, a blind pianist

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-03-001-extraordinary-gift?lang=eng&category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013

Before watching, give them questions to ponder and then give them a chance to write them down after each has been answered in the video:

Why did Kuha'o say he loves music?
What did Kuha'o say people should do with their gifts?
Why did Kuha'o say Heavenly Father gave him his gift?

What did Elder Eyring say should we do to know the gifts we have been given?



BROWNIES/TESTIMONY
They get their "brown E's" to eat after all (perhaps passed out early during the video), and bear testimony of staying close to the Lord to know what is truly from Him...and to use your spiritual gifts to help others!

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 18 The Lord Reveals The Law of Consecration

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 18 THE LORD REVEALS THE LAW OF CONSECRATION

CLASSROOM PREP

Write on the board C __________ N

Write scripture:

For inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, ye do it unto me. - D&C 42:38

OPENING ACTIVITY - WATER OBJECT LESSON INTRO

From the D&C Seminary Teacher Manual

• Bring in six clear plastic cups with a line drawn with a Sharpie about ⅓ from the bottom (so less water is needed to be brought in)
• Bring a water bottle with a blank piece of paper taped on (you’ll be writing on this later) Make sure you’ve figured out beforehand the exact amount of water you need to fill each cup to its line and make sure you have enough water for that.

Set out the water bottle and explain it represents all the money and things the Saints had in their Kirtland community.

Set out the cups with the lines drawn on, and tell them you'll explain what it all means.

LESSON

So it’s early 1831 and they’re all in Kirtland, Ohio and Joseph was concerned because many were poor. Remember they sold everything they had!

They didn’t have a lot of the basics that everyone needs: food, clothing, shelter.

The Prophet needed to find a way to help them.

When he arrived, he found that members there were living together on a farm owned by Isaac Morley.

They’d read in the Bible that in Jesus’ time they shared everything that they had and these church members were trying to do the same thing. However, the plan didn’t always work very well.

For example, one man thought if everything was shared then he could sell a watch that belonged to someone else. That man was very angry!

The Prophet saw that although it was good they were trying to share, their plan wasn’t the Lord’s plan. He prayed to find out what to do. The Lord revealed to Joseph a new law!

Reference the board and fill in the blanks: CONSECRATION

What does this word mean?

Add to the board = GIVE FOR A SACRED PURPOSE

So now the board should show: CONSECRATE = GIVE FOR A SACRED PURPOSE

This new law allowed everyone to share with each other in an organized way

CONTINUING OF WATER OBJECT LESSON

Refer to the empty glasses/water bottle again

Explain that each glass represents a family and the line represents the needs and righteous desires of that family

Name each cup/family just for fun and to keep their attention - write it on the cup with a Sharpie

Fill each with water from the bottle: fill one to the line, fill three above the lines, fill two below the lines

The ones with water above the line - have more than they need

The ones with water below the line - don’t have enough money/things for their needs

So for the law of consecration, here are the steps:

Draw/label on the board or on paper how you see it -- perhaps as a circle of giving and receiving

1. Consecrate all of their property/possessions to the Church. The bishop would be responsible for everything.
2. The bishop would decide with each family what they needed to work and live and they would get those things.
3. The families would work hard and if they had any extra, they would give that to the bishop to help the poor and strengthen the church

Now pour each cup of water back into the water bottle

Explain that this water bottle represents the Church (write on the piece of paper on the bottle “the Church/bishop”) and reference step one ("Consecrate all...")

Now pour the water from the water bottle into each cup, filling each to its line.

Explain that this is step two. Everyone has according to their needs.

So because of this law, they were able to take care of one another and the Church grew.

WHAT DID THE NEW LAW OF CONSECRATION HELP?

Missionary work

• Men out serving missions had their families taken care of with food and clothing
• John E Page was asked to serve a mission in Canada, but he couldn’t because he didn’t have a coat. The Prophet gave him his own coat!

Temple:

• Men helped build the temple
• Women made clothes for the workers, curtains and carpets for the temple
• Someone donated a horse and oxen which were sold, and the money helped buy materials for the temple and feed the builders
• One woman spent a whole summer spinning 100lb of wool for their clothing and to sell

Why do you think these early Saints were willing to give of everything? Who were they really serving?

Reference scripture on the board

CONSECRATION TRAIL MIX ACTIVITY IDEA
adapted from an idea from Jenn on the Facebook Group LDS Primary Farm
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jONsBk3JwnY4yueT6IbjHBy3e3XADxQPQoi0mJKU1Lw/edit

I'm simplifying a bit as I only have 6 kids in my class if all show up.

Each kid will receive two things:
- a name tag with their role (details below)
- food order paper (details below)

Roles:
My version will have one bishop, and the rest are farmers.
If you want another role, one kid could be a "warehouse owner" and be in charge of giving out the ziploc bags.

1/ First, hand out the name tags and food order papers.

2/The farmers are given a full product bag of their particular food and a spoon

3/Everyone fills out their food orders (they check only what they need)

4/They receive a new empty bag and tape their food order on it

5/They then fill their empty bag with their own product (except the bishop)

6/Those bags then go to the bishop (farmers keep their product bag)

7/The Bishop goes to each kid and fills the food order on the bag by asking each farmer for 1-2 spoonfuls of their product (he holds the bag open while each kid puts 2 spoonfuls of their product inside)

8/As each bag is finished, I will close it up with ribbon or fold it over and staple.

Everyone ends up with a bag of everything, and everyone helped!
Set that aside to take home.

TIME/TALENTS/MEANS & STORIES FROM THE MANUAL (PRESIDENT MONSON)

We aren’t asked to give everything we have, but what are we asked to do?

Read Psalms 24:1 - the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein

What does this scripture tell you? The earth was created by Jesus Christ under the direction of Heavenly Father, everything belongs to them

They bless us by sharing with us their creations...so we need to share what we have with others. Especially when we have more than we need!

Hand out a piece of paper split into three with a label for each section:

Party Money Story

Baseball Story

Violin Story

Tell them before each story to listen for how the child shared time, a talent, or means

While telling the story, pause at the moment when it’s clear whether it’s time, talent, or means and prompt them to write down which it is

Illustrate each to show or find images online to show to help hold their attention

Discuss each story

For the baseball story:

Time ideas = teaching lessons, going to church, helping around the house, cleaning the church, visiting people who are lonely, playing with a friend

For the violin story:

Talents ideas = speaking in Primary, bearing testimony in Sacrament, playing a musical instrument, making decorations for a church activity

For the party money story:

Means ideas = tithing, fast offerings, missionary donations and food, food and clothing to the poor

What are fast offerings?

• When we fast, we are asked to pay that amount of those two meals or more

What does that money do? Take care of the poor, build temples and meetinghouses, lesson manuals, etc.

STORY - TORTILLA MIRACLE (IF TIME!!!)

Read this and illustrate the story to help keep their attention

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2009/10/the-tortilla-miracle?lang=eng

TESTIMONY

Bear testimony of the Law of Consecration