A Sermon For Teens

--Sermon by Dr. Bob Benchoff, November 7, 2002

Updated 2/20/2010

Cosmic Questions:

This cosmic question comes from Homer of the Simpsons (no affiliation):

Q. Could God make a sandwich so big even God couldn't eat it?

A. Yes God would make it and give it to you.

Q. Why doesn't God give people sandwiches now, why should we love God?

A. Why love God? Get to know God and you will come to love God. Bring people to God and they will be filled now.

Q. When is it right for a teen to confront parents and force them to talk about old out of date standards about sex, drugs, the latest music, and alcohol?

A. Never. (A lot of psychologists, parents, and other nosy people may get mad at me for that answer.) That's the way it was when I grew up, don't talk about that kind of stuff or else risk getting slapped. Jesus Christ sends you out as sheep among wolves, and a prophet is not accepted in their own home and among their own kin.

Nonetheless, it is important to talk with parents about those subjects that cause them so much pain, so that even if just a little bit you might be able to relieve their suffering on the subject.

They want to be wild and free and cannot. They tried and suffered horribly as a result. They want to skateboard down mountains, but they trip over their own shoe laces.

You want something from them (freedom) so you have to give to them first (unselfishly and wisely is God's way). So during a boring quiet moment when they are relatively relaxed, from out of the blue tell them that in the years ahead you will want to write a resume and start searching for a job, and ask them if when they were growing up, if they felt hurt when they reached the age when people started telling them to get a job.

Then you don't have to bring-up the subject of work again (or they'll put you to work). You can use the same format for other topics they like, such as "I'm going to be studying more complex courses next year, so when those teachers give me lessons in the future, how did you impress teachers to get A's, and how did you unwind from all that tension on the weekends?"

I believe that with this line of reasoning strategy in some cases you can excite parents to like you and be partners instead of terrors.

Other useable formats can treat a subject such as sex, as a medical, romantic, or school related subject. With these tactics, the key is don't make it personal about you, it scares them. Talk about them personally (or perhaps talk about a celebrity or a stranger) to test their reactions. On tricky subjects don't talk about yourself until you've tried the subject on them and found a way to talk about your stuff, so you don't make them mad at you.

Dangerous subjects require careful planning. The Bible advice is innocence and wisdom.

Q. Why didn't Noah swat the mosquitos when he had the chance?

A. Are mosquitos animals? Besides, wouldn't you think Noah had his hands full worrying about tiger teeth?

More importantly (finish reading this ICCDBB Sermon, then come back to this link to see the illustration), consider what perfect thing Jesus Christ did as a teen; it is a thing, rather an energy of perfecting until the time was right (Baptism): click here for the timeline of the teenage life of Jesus Christ.

As the teenage timeline of Jesus Christ shows, during teen years Jesus Christ was humble.

If to do as Jesus Christ, then to learn higher talents better. To be humble is to parents, authorities, elders, and laws, is toward overflowing with joy, as written in Bible Book Of Mormon, in 3 Nephi 4.33 page 415.

Joy = Repentance x Humility.

So in GodMath terms, Repentance / Humility / Joy.

God first loved us (including you), so from joy in Jesus Christ came humility, and from that blessed energy [or those things in worldly terms] came the need to have repentance, according to your choice, since God gave you the talent to choose.

So if you repent of sins and be a blessing as Jesus Christ has done, and if you are respectfully humble to others and laws and guidelines, then you enable joy within your life!

You can then choose to immediately give Jesus Christ [and others] credit respectfully, and your joy blossoms!

GodMath also shows similarly in Holy Trend even more excellent value. God made God named Jesus Christ (God created everything, even eternity where God always is [including within your living joyous life, and including that God made Jesus Christ]), so:

Repentance / Humility / Joy / Jesus Christ / God.

Therefore:

God is Joy times Jesus Christ

God = Joy x Jesus Christ.

And:

Jesus Christ = Humility x Joy.

Yet be wise to understand GodMath can be written [in [many ways so to speak, rather in talents, rather] in One Holy Talent Trend. For instance a person can say "the first 3 letters of the English alphabet", or a person meaning the same thing can say "A, B, C".

There is another part of to being humble. Often authorities explain that you are to be kind to others, including younger people under your authority, even if they might be more pure, so be humble, therefore be kind, and yet remember to guide them properly, and seek to lead them properly that they too may receive greater blessings of Jesus Christ, for mutual benefit.

Similarly, non-human creatures might be under your authority at times. That means similarly be humble, though not to those creatures, rather be humble to Jesus Christ. For more info on this, study the other ICCDBB Sermons, such as the Human Rights [and United Nations] Sermon found on the "index" page linked below.

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About The Teen Years

About privacy and getting things your way. Good luck.

About sex, drugs, wild late nights, alcohol, pranks, and such, let's just call this group the Injury, Lethal, Law Group, or the ILL Group. It is very easy to hurt or kill someone by accident. It is very easy to get wrongly angry due to the ILL Group. Except when exhausted or in an emergency, a person that gets angry, is angry because they are too lazy to think of the right solution ahead of time (see planning above). If you tell a person they are lazy, when they are angry, it only makes matters worse, they get madder.

Likewise don't be tricked by lazy minded people that put you down by using words illogically, such as "whatever", or "you never know". Such people might as well say "I don't look up definitions and don't care anyhow." (Note added September 1, 2003: There are helpful ways to use words such as "whatever", such as to reduce repititious conversation: see Numbers Chapter 19, especially verse 22).

ILL Group is about forces stronger than you, for example, you can study alligators from a distance and you may even want to help them survive and perhaps even make a discovery about them that benefits people, but if you allow your mind and body to take that step past safety, you may become food. Alligators are fairly unpredictable and don't care if you want to help them. It only takes one mistake to permanently lose control to ILL Group.

Let's work together for freedom. Let's logically, scientifically, socially, and legally change ILL Group areas into safe areas of fun. This will not likely be done by trial and error. This needs to be done through your employer's business and government. This is not a child's game, but is a serious pursuit for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for your children's children.

The Bible is hardly about infant games you used to learn, rather the Bible is about you, and of your choices and your future.

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For the Page 14 index of ICCDBB Sermons, click here.

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