Okay, I am aware of the policy.

18.4 Visual Aids and Audiovisual Materials in Church Meetings

Members should not use visual aids in sacrament meeting or stake conference. Such teaching methods are more appropriate in classroom settings and leadership meetings.

Why do they use V-A so freely in GC?

I couldn't even find any online reference to this dumb policy when I searched for LDS Sacrament Talk Guidelines. (I found one that was printed in DN that gave a ridiculous suggestion that for every one minute talk = 1 hour preparation. So a 10 min talk requires 10 hours of prep. Really???).

So here's my introduction to this policy as a newly minted deacon assigned to speak about the Savior's service to others. So being terrified of giving a 7 min talk, I went to the church library and checked out a painting of Christ washing a man's foot and a wooden easel. I was extremely nervous and I knew that I might forget what to say or read the wrong scripture.

To this day, I'm still pissed because the entire bishopric saw me carry the painting and easel up onto the stand and said nothing before SM got underway. I remember having to pass SM as a deacon then called up onto the stand. I set up the V-A and nervously got the talk underway. Well, the 2nd counselor crept up behind me and whispered "No pictures" into my left ear. That meant nothing to me as I thought about cameras and I certainly wasn't taking pictures in SM. I continued along and had just opened up the verse in the NT that I had marked when I saw a blur. The 2nd counselor was standing next to me and he knocked over the easel and picture. Yes, the small easel tumbled to the floor and the painting of JC flew over the first pew.

Not understanding what was really going on. I closed my talk and walked straight into the restroom. I stayed in there until the benediction was given. On the way home, my TBM Mom explained that I gave a good talk, but you're not supposed to show any pictures during SM. Well, I thanked her for not telling me beforehand.

The following Sunday in PH-Deacon Advisory mtg; there was a special topic of what not to do during SM. Yes, it was a passive-aggressive speech aimed at me.

Here's another thread about a similar experience.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,185456,185456#msg-185456

Oh!
Oh, those were passive-aggressive speeches aimed at me! I just now realized this -- thank you for mentioning the speech on "what not to do"!

Thank you for helping me put the pieces together...and helping me give it a label.

I think it's a worthy question. Sorry to hear you went through that, sounds pretty extreme. I feel that handling strayings from the handbook should be handled much more gently/lovingly than you've described. Sounds traumatic, and hope that you were/are able to overcome the bad taste it left.

Despite reality, sacrament meeting is supposed to be a very spiritual thing compared to classes, which are instructional. They use visual aids in General Conference because it's essentially a motivational meeting for a multi-level marketing scam.

I agree with this.

Though, the prophet fails every year to provide anything insightful to prove he is God's chosen messenger. Hell, even country leaders could give a damn what God's mouth piece has to say.

The 2nd counselor knocked it over? How rude. He simply could have picked up the painting and the easel and carried them away. That was really oafish behavior on his part.

Maybe he imagined himself to be like Jesus chasing the money changers from the temple.

Hey Dude!! Don't you know mind control when you see it?

"he knocked over the easel and picture… the painting of JC flew over the first pew"

Well, that *is* what the church thinks about Jesus after all. "Church of JC" my @$$.

messygoop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay, I am aware of the policy.
>
> 18.4 Visual Aids and Audiovisual Materials in
> Church Meetings
>
> Members should not use visual aids in sacrament
> meeting or stake conference. Such teaching methods
> are more appropriate in classroom settings and
> leadership meetings.
>
> Why do they use V-A so freely in GC?
>
> I couldn't even find any online reference to this
> dumb policy when I searched for LDS Sacrament Talk
> Guidelines. (I found one that was printed in DN
> that gave a ridiculous suggestion that for every
> one minute talk = 1 hour preparation. So a 10 min
> talk requires 10 hours of prep. Really???).
>
> So here's my introduction to this policy as a
> newly minted deacon assigned to speak about the
> Savior's service to others. So being terrified of
> giving a 7 min talk, I went to the church library
> and checked out a painting of Christ washing a
> man's foot and a wooden easel. I was extremely
> nervous and I knew that I might forget what to say
> or read the wrong scripture.
>
> To this day, I'm still pissed because the entire
> bishopric saw me carry the painting and easel up
> onto the stand and said nothing before SM got
> underway. I remember having to pass SM as a deacon
> then called up onto the stand. I set up the V-A
> and nervously got the talk underway. Well, the 2nd
> counselor crept up behind me and whispered "No
> pictures" into my left ear. That meant nothing to
> me as I thought about cameras and I certainly
> wasn't taking pictures in SM. I continued along
> and had just opened up the verse in the NT that I
> had marked when I saw a blur. The 2nd counselor
> was standing next to me and he knocked over the
> easel and picture. Yes, the small easel tumbled to
> the floor and the painting of JC flew over the
> first pew.
>
> Not understanding what was really going on. I
> closed my talk and walked straight into the
> restroom. I stayed in there until the benediction
> was given. On the way home, my TBM Mom explained
> that I gave a good talk, but you're not supposed
> to show any pictures during SM. Well, I thanked
> her for not telling me beforehand.
>
> The following Sunday in PH-Deacon Advisory mtg;
> there was a special topic of what not to do during
> SM. Yes, it was a passive-aggressive speech aimed
> at me.
>
> Here's another thread about a similar experience.
>
> http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,185456,18545
> 6#msg-185456

I do believe that had a member of the bishopric done that to a child of mine in front of the whole congreation I would have summarily walked up to that person and kicked his ass right there in the middle of the meeting!!!"

As with anything else in Mormonism, it's an arbitrary rule that some leader did off-hand, and everyone saw fit to copy it, even if it conflicts with other habits.

Does anyone here remember a whole part of a ward in Australia that dropped out because an older woman was asked to speak, and brought up a picture of Jebus, or some prophet, and taped it to the pulpit before beginning her talk. Some leader, possibly a stake president, waited until her talk was well underway, before walking down and taking off the picture, then coming back up and taking her microphone to tell people that they weren't supposed to do that. He obviously didn't care how this humiliated her, and how it offended members to see him humiliate the kind old woman. After she walked down from the pulpit, caring members formed around her and embraced her. Many members left never to come back.

Anyone remember the where's and when's about this?

cludgie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone here remember a whole part of a ward
> in Australia that dropped out because an older
> woman was asked to speak, and brought up a picture
> of Jebus, or some prophet, and taped it to the
> pulpit before beginning her talk. Some leader,
> possibly a stake president, waited until her talk
> was well underway, before walking down and taking
> off the picture, then coming back up and taking
> her microphone to tell people that they weren't
> supposed to do that. He obviously didn't care how
> this humiliated her, and how it offended members
> to see him humiliate the kind old woman. After she
> walked down from the pulpit, caring members formed
> around her and embraced her. Many members left
> never to come back.
>
> Anyone remember the where's and when's about this?

About four years ago in Tallai
https://m.facebook.com/ldsgoldcoast/ https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/1658595_10152006985358207_1564362883_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=2&_nc_sid=2d5d41&_nc_ohc=f_3WSqVdYgQAX8_pGeK&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&tp=14&oh=c353226350b166e84f8c55e58d019fb6&oe=5FE92B31

You mean other than the fact that an abusive authoritarian Patriarchal Doomsday CULT is an abusive authoritarian patriarchal Doomsday CULT?

The buffoons have got to try and have some special gimmick to make their talks stand out and have no competition from the peons in SM.

Remember Jowells himself wildly waving some special edition of the Book of Mormon in GC only to have it proven that he was wrong, wrong, WRONG. Pretty comical.

Did he ever set the record straight? Ha,ha,ha.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2020 07:15PM by presleynfactsrock.

The G.A.s will only allow visual aids that they have pre-approved and have control over. They are able to do this in GC but in all those SMs out there, they have no control over visual aids and therefore must nix them in order to maintain supreme control over what is said and taught. Can't have the members going all rogue now and showing pictures of Jesus or anything. What if it's the wrong Jesus! haha.

When I was a kid visual aids were still allowed. I remember two. With one the speaker wound a thread around his hands and then broke it easily. Then he wound a lot of thread around his hands and couldn't break it. This was to demonstrate how bad habits and sin can overpower us or something like that.

The other was the old trick of putting blue dye in a glass of water to demonstrate sin, and then adding a chemical to make the water pure and clear again to represent repentance and forgiveness. They failed to mention that what was in the Bishop's notes wasn't going away though.

This was the late fifties. Besides that I only remember a bat flying in one night---doors open, hot, no air conditioning then--- and my uncle caught it and gently took it back outside. He was an animal whisperer like for real.

That's the way it was in the olden days before Mormonism became so militaristic. Well, saying that would be an insult to the military I guess though . . .

I didn't expect this thread to get bumped after years of dormancy.

I think one of my biggest problems of trying to stay true to the faith was navigating the many seldom spoken, often unwritten rules of being a good mormon.

Offhand, here's a list (in no particular order) of my greatest offensives to being faithful. I affirm that these were grievous enough to be addressed by my poo-poo leaders.

-> The right hand - Don't ever use your left hand to partake of sacrament. It doesn't matter if your family is crammed into a side pew and you can't move your right hand to grab a soggy/frozen crumb. Better to stand up and cause a scene!

-> Prayer - God apparently will not hear your prayer if you switch back and forth between asking and thanking. You are supposed think of a million things to be grateful and then [only then] are you permitted to ask for something [if you dare!]. Also, be sure to get your thees, thous and thines in order or you are calling god a dirty mother. Yet if you learn a Latin based language you conjugate all the verbs into informal "you" and not the formal "you". Confused? I sure was and got a little lesson from some well meaning members that I was offending god and that I should know better as a missionary.

-> Basketball - Did you know that BB is the celestial sport? Sure you did! Most buildings have a court built inside. I was told to repent for not being enamored with it as the ward activities director. I was sick and tired of having a responsibility to close a church building when a group of wanabe jocks wouldn't stop playing their game when time was up. I was called every name in the book, King Noah??? for trying to get people to leave and go home.

-> Sacrament seating - Did you know that members have earned their special pew? If you are visiting, you should know better than sitting where you want to. You need to wait and see where all the important families sit and then find a spot that hasn't been claimed. Most likely you will find a group of strangers standing over you at the end of the sacrament meeting. In a passive aggressive tone, you will be told that you sat in their spot. And you will know [for future visits] not to make that error again.

Give me some more time and some of the archaic and useless rules of mormonism will surface.

They can't use Visual Aids if they aren't wearing Hearing Aids.

Maybe that's it.