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Blog Preface



Let's be honest.  When I first heard that seminary is going to be canceled temporarily, my first thought was I get to sleep in tomorrow (yay).  Second thought was my students will get to sleep in (imagine my students saying yay).  But my third thought was, COVID-19 is Laban . . . and here is why.

Earlier in the seminary year we learned about Nephi and his brothers returning to Jerusalem to retrieve the brass plates.  I really should give Laman/Lemuel some credit for trying.  After all they did go ask but fail.  And then returned with gold to try to buy the plates off of Laban and failed again.  Asking and purchasing seems like the obvious and straight forward thing to do and they did do that.  But what sets Nephi apart amongst the brothers is that Nephi does not quit!  He said "and it came to pass that I spake unto my brethren, saying: Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?"  Since all church meetings and activities is canceled for an unknown amount of time, and I think it is easy to slip into the Laman/Lemuel mindset of "oh well" or "we tried".  COVID-19 is that Laban; let us set ourselves apart and be Nephi.

Now don't worry, there will be no decapitation here.  Here is how it is going to work.  I'm going to post a simple thought here everyday from the normal seminary curriculum.  There will be a challenge or questions or something that will cause you to act.  In order to get credit for that day, you must comment in the corresponding blog of the day with a simple response . . or a thought . . . and this is how attendance will be kept (says Pres. Eddy!).  It doesn't have to be long but it does have to come from your heart and convince me that you have at least pondered upon these things.  (Make sure to include your name or initial in your comment so I can give you credit). This is not true anymore, we will be switch to the Home Study program.  You must do the worksheet as Pres. Stanley describe in order to receive seminary credit.  

I have no idea how long this will last until normal seminary resumes but in the meantime, this will be seminary for now.  Let's make the best of it and see where this takes us.

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