The Second Woe and the "two witnesses"...

[Michelle]

I do not want to derail the thread, but. . .

Alaris
"Have you ever heard anyone in Sunday School declare "You are wrong." I certainly haven't. Why? We've all heard people in Sunday School share some awesomely false doctrine. Why don't we just tell them, "You are wrong?" '

I have heard it Alaris, in fact, one very uncomfortable day, I had to say it.

Three times the teacher spoke the same false doctrine. (She kept explaining why it was ok to steal sometimes.)Three times the Spirit told me to speak, I knew the exact quote and prophet and I wasn't going to be let off the hook.

So I raised my hand, corrected the teacher. And spent the rest of the class sure that I no longer had any friends in that room. I had share quotes before that hadn't gone over well, but this was a pretty direct contradiction.

Then, something amazing happened, and I needed it for sure.

After class a woman I didn't know, literally chased me down, the block and the half to my house after church just to tell me that she was so glad I made that comment. She had been waiting for me to correct the teacher and she said she wasn't the only one.

What a relief! It turned out nobody hated me, the teacher didn't seem to either. I don't know if she learned anything, but she didn't seem to hold it against me.

I have never regretted telling the truth, even when it made me unpopular. But I have a couple regrets from remaining silent and wishing I could go back and speak up.

[Alaris]

I do not want to derail the thread, but. . .

Alaris
"Have you ever heard anyone in Sunday School declare "You are wrong." I certainly haven't. Why? We've all heard people in Sunday School share some awesomely false doctrine. Why don't we just tell them, "You are wrong?" '

I have heard it Alaris, in fact, one very uncomfortable day, I had to say it.

Three times the teacher spoke the same false doctrine. (She kept explaining why it was ok to steal sometimes.)Three times the Spirit told me to speak, I knew the exact quote and prophet and I wasn't going to be let off the hook.

So I raised my hand, corrected the teacher. And spent the rest of the class sure that I no longer had any friends in that room. I had share quotes before that hadn't gone over well, but this was a pretty direct contradiction.

Then, something amazing happened, and I needed it for sure.

After class a woman I didn't know, literally chased me down, the block and the half to my house after church just to tell me that she was so glad I made that comment. She had been waiting for me to correct the teacher and she said she wasn't the only one.

What a relief! It turned out nobody hated me, the teacher didn't seem to either. I don't know if she learned anything, but she didn't seem to hold it against me.

I have never regretted telling the truth, even when it made me unpopular. But I have a couple regrets from remaining silent and wishing I could go back and speak up.

Not to continue to derail the thread but did you blurt out "You are wrong!" to the teacher?

The point is not we shouldn't point out when we believe others are in error but to do it D&C 121 style with patience and kindness and long suffering. My point was not that people don't get corrected in Sunday School but that when they do it's done respectfully.

The temptation online behind the safety of anonymity and distance is to be more crass than we otherwise would be and otherwise should be.

When I see people give in to that easy temptation and try to justify it with scriptures perhaps my own weakness gets the better of me as I cannot stand for it. I too have fallen into it and have made insensitive corrections and when the offended pointed it out I apologized in public and private.

I taught the 5 year olds this very principle today. It is easier to say "I'm sorry" than "onomatopeia." Yet as we become adults we say "I'm sorry" less and less and are far more likely to use big words to gratify pride than small ones to exemplify true righteousness.

Is exemplify a big word?