Pres. Dallin H. Oaks (Apr. '21): "Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution"

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 Wow.  This was such a powerful talk.  Having said that, if you are assigned to teach this, good luck (if you live in the United States).  I feel like this is a talk that many people will be easily able to apply to their neighbor but perhaps less so to themselves and it could stir up a range of emotions.  At the same time, I do believe this talk is worthy of diligent study and time.  

I would start any lesson involving this talk with the counsel that Pres. Oaks gives in par. 22 ("We also insist . . . our Church meetings.") and make it a ground rule that no parties, candidates, or current issues should be part of the meeting.  But that is my own opinion.  While I think that the ideas need attention from all of us, I also see these issues as being potentially very contentious (or bring up contentious issues) and contention is not a way to have the Spirit in the room.  Without the Spirit, you might as well be talking hockey.  

The Activity:

  1. Make sure that each class member has a way to record a goal (a notecard, a post-it, a phone, etc.).
  2. Point out that Pres. Oaks gave 5 specific things that faithful Latter Day Saints should do in relation to the principles that he outlined in his talk.
  3. You may want to talk briefly about each of these or simply write them on the board.  They are as follows:
    1. "We should trust . . . this nation's future" (Par. 17).
    2. "We must pray . . . and their leaders" (Par. 18).
    3. "We should learn . . . of the Constitution" (Par. 19).
    4. "We should seek . . . their public actions" (Par. 19).
    5. "We should be . . . in civic affairs" (Par. 19).
  4. Ask each person to silently consider what they do well in each of these areas.  You may want to ask a couple of people to share ways they implement these principles in their lives.
  5. Ask each person to silently consider how they might better live up to the counsel from Pres. Oaks.
  6. Ask each class member to set and write down a goal to help them do better in one of these areas, e.g. to more consistently pray for government officials at all levels, to study the issues more in depth, to attend a city council meeting, etc.  
  7. Remind them to put the goal someplace that they will see it and remember it.  

Using the Activity:

I envision this activity happening towards the end of the lesson (or at the very end) after the principles that Pres. Oaks outlined have been discussed.  The idea is for the class members to make their actions in their civic/political lives more Christ-like.  

I hope this activity is a useful springboard for you in teaching this lesson.  Please let me know how it goes and/or how I could improve this site.  Thank you.

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