NOM

Back track to earlier this year around Easter when my aunt suddenly died from an aneurism and a week later a friend died from brain cancer which was followed by a faith crises. All my church shelves crashed at once and it was not pretty. Never saw myself having to see a therapist due to a religious breakdown, but things happen. I’m now in a better place—I’m probably considered PIMO at this point. I see the church in the same sense it sees other religions—it has some truth. With that being said I was asked to give a talk (I hadn’t since early 2019—lucky me). I told the bishopric member that I was available that day to talk, but I wanted to know in advance since there were topics in church I did not feel comfortable talking about and would not. He asked what and since he wanted to avoid them. Since my biggest issue in church is polygamy that’s what I blurted (there are others). Yeah; he was probably caught off guard. Anyways, he texted me two topics to choose from to give a 10 minute talk. Now I need your guidance.

Talk options:

1.) Becoming steadfast in the gospel of Christ
OR
2.) How living the gospel can help us deal with adversity

Since I have set boundaries and will no longer give talks/lessons on things I no longer believe to be true; I get to find more interesting ways to accomplish assignments/goals.

Is there a way I can just focus on either the New and/or Old Testament for sources for either of these topics and avoid the gospel in reference to the church, BOM, D&C, LDS prophets/leaders? I mean I still believe in Christ and do love the New Testament.

TIA!!!

Absolutely you can focus on the NT or OT. In fact, since OT will be taught in SS next year you can use that as a reason (again not that you even need a reason).

Say whatever you want.

They only cut the Mic if you’re publicly coming out of the closet.

Seriously though, what are your thoughts that are worth sharing?

I would pick the "adversity" talk.

Whether it's poor church teaching or just some sort of lousy church culture thing I think adversity is one of the more poorly understood experiences we have to deal with in this life and the church's understanding doesn't really help all that much. It may actually make things worse.

This would actually be a great opportunity to teach a more correct understanding of adversity and to also relieve some of the unnecessary burden and tension that members carry because of poor doctrine.

Feel free to p.m. me if you want some additional insights or supportive Biblical scripture.

You can always completely ignore the topics given and talk about whatever you want. Just say that the spirit moved you such that you had to talk about something else.

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 13, 2021 1:33 pm

You can always completely ignore the topics given and talk about whatever you want. Just say that the spirit moved you such that you had to talk about something else.

This would be one way of insuring that you won't be asked to speak again.....at least until you get a new Bishop who doesn't know you.

Palerider wrote:

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 13, 2021 1:33 pm

You can always completely ignore the topics given and talk about whatever you want. Just say that the spirit moved you such that you had to talk about something else.

This would be one way of insuring that you won't be asked to speak again.....at least until you get a new Bishop who doesn't know you.

And that is a bad thing...?

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

Weaving some thoughts from the bishop's suggested topics should be easy. A lot of good charitable thoughts can flow from those topics.

Here are two interesting topics for those looking to give a church talk:

1. God's grace through a good liberal education
2. Loving "the other" through a vibrant democracy

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 13, 2021 4:27 pm

Palerider wrote:

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 13, 2021 1:33 pm

You can always completely ignore the topics given and talk about whatever you want. Just say that the spirit moved you such that you had to talk about something else.

This would be one way of insuring that you won't be asked to speak again.....at least until you get a new Bishop who doesn't know you.

And that is a bad thing...?

hallew wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 13, 2021 8:48 am

1.) Becoming steadfast in the gospel of Christ
OR
2.) How living the gospel can help us deal with adversity

Although both of these mention the gospel, neither mentions the church. You might consider the gospel and the church entirely different things. You could talk about how "the gospel" (simple things Jesus taught) are more helpful than worrying about all of the OCD rules and regulations the church(s) has attached to it.

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 8:04 am

hallew wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 13, 2021 8:48 am

1.) Becoming steadfast in the gospel of Christ
OR
2.) How living the gospel can help us deal with adversity

Although both of these mention the gospel, neither mentions the church. You might consider the gospel and the church entirely different things. You could talk about how "the gospel" (simple things Jesus taught) are more helpful than worrying about all of the OCD rules and regulations the church(s) has attached to it.

You could start with the story where Jesus says that there are really only 2 commandments. Love your God and love your neighbor. The rest all grow from there. Also there is the scripture where is says that a man should not be told in all things.

Too many commandments and you turn into a Pharisee.

I think option 2 is easier. You can talk about how using gospel concepts from a Christian life can help you better address adversity….

If I were giving this talk, I would probably go off on how Satan was introduced into Christianity from Zoroastrianism/dualism, and that Satan really doesn’t exist…oops, that may cause problems.

It's December.

Ignore the requested topics and give some floofy talk about Christmas.

Make sure to mention that Christmas is a plagiarized "holiday" stolen from pagans; and that "real" members of tCOJCOL-dS should actually celebrate Christmas on April 6th.


Thank the stars for ~23.5 degrees of axial tilt, and Hail Sagan!

wtfluff wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:55 pm

It's December.

Ignore the requested topics and give some floofy talk about Christmas.

Make sure to mention that Christmas is a plagiarized "holiday" stolen from pagans; and that "real" members of tCOJCOL-dS should actually celebrate Christmas on April 6th.


Thank the stars for ~23.5 degrees of axial tilt, and Hail Sagan!

Yes do this!!! Teach the true Pagan meaning of Christmas. Then tell them Jesus's true birthday can't be dec 25th because there is NO way a Capricorn would die for anyone's sins.

Lots of good suggestions on this thread ! If you want to talk about adversity, you can use the NT or OT exclusively by referencing a lot of stories and parables. For example - Psalms 23, Daniel in the lion's den, David facing adversity by battling Goliath, and so forth. You don't have to say anything about BOM, the church, etc, if it makes you uncomfortable. Just reference the Bible.
Give a talk that you are comfortable with, and it will turn out better. As NOM's, we spend so much time being uncomfortable, being forced to say things that really don't resonate with us, and to which we object. Avoid that - just find examples in the Bible of what you believe. - Wndr.

MoPag wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 10:24 pm

wtfluff wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:55 pm

It's December.

Ignore the requested topics and give some floofy talk about Christmas.

Make sure to mention that Christmas is a plagiarized "holiday" stolen from pagans; and that "real" members of tCOJCOL-dS should actually celebrate Christmas on April 6th.


Thank the stars for ~23.5 degrees of axial tilt, and Hail Sagan!

Yes do this!!! Teach the true Pagan meaning of Christmas. Then tell them Jesus's true birthday can't be dec 25th because there is NO way a Capricorn would die for anyone's sins.

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 13, 2021 1:33 pm

You can always completely ignore the topics given and talk about whatever you want. Just say that the spirit moved you such that you had to talk about something else.

Yeah, just talk about whatever you want. No one will notice, probably not even the Bishop. I don't know why speakers always announce "I was asked to talk about XYZ..." - nobody cares. Nobody cares what you were asked to talk about, nobody really cares what you do talk about. 99% of the time they are just trying to get through another soul-crushingly boring meeting. They'll care if you ruffle some feathers, they might notice if you do a fabulous job, but on the whole the overwhelming reaction will be indifference. Most of them will forget anything you say in a matter of minutes.

You are thinking about this too much. Talk about whatever you feel like talking about. It doesn't matter.

Welp, my talk has been canceled due to me catching COVID and having to isolate/quarantine. The past two days were rough, but I am on the mend.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I would have replied sooner, but was out of commission until today.

I'm not sure if I'll be asked to keep my options or given some other topic. If they give me something else I may need your assistance again.

hallew wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 16, 2021 4:19 pm

Welp, my talk has been canceled due to me catching COVID and having to isolate/quarantine. The past two days were rough, but I am on the mend.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I would have replied sooner, but was out of commission until today.

I'm not sure if I'll be asked to keep my options or given some other topic. If they give me something else I may need your assistance again.

Glad to hear you’re on the mend and don’t have to talk.

Here’s a great post from when MoPag had to give a talk.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3139

In quiet hushed tones: how’s your testimony?

Red Ryder wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 16, 2021 4:38 pm

hallew wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 16, 2021 4:19 pm

Welp, my talk has been canceled due to me catching COVID and having to isolate/quarantine. The past two days were rough, but I am on the mend.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I would have replied sooner, but was out of commission until today.

I'm not sure if I'll be asked to keep my options or given some other topic. If they give me something else I may need your assistance again.

Glad to hear you’re on the mend and don’t have to talk.

Here’s a great post from when MoPag had to give a talk.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3139

In quiet hushed tones: how’s your testimony?

Awe Red, I totally forget about this! Thanks for posting it.

Glad you're feeling better hallew!!