The 3rd Hour, a thought.

[_I have a question]

I’ve been listening to the RFM podcast about the Renlunds Whack-A-Mole Devotional. One of the observations that Bill and Consiglieri make is that whereas in the past doubting members had been an isolated and “underground” species, frightened to speak up in lessons for fear of being singled out, now wards have 2 or 3 or 4 doubting members or families who are emboldened in their classroom contributions by the knowledge there are others. These emboldened doubters interacting with each other within a lesson are bringing a level of credibility to the doubts that other currently believing members might be harbouring or starting to entertain.

It makes sense on a divide-and-conquer type basis that the Church would seek to innoculate the remaining believing members from this infection of doubters by seeking to quarantine gospel discussions within individual homes, where members are isolated from each other and from the doubters.

One of the ways a government seeks to quell an uprising is by reducing the amount of opportunity a population has to congregate, one has to disperse the crowd before they can escalate to activism...

Charles Duhigg: I decided to become a journalist after spending a few years building a company in medical education in New Mexico and attending Harvard Business School. I thought that journalism would be a fascinating way to spend a life (and it has been!) A big moment occurred for me during my first real assignment, in Iraq, when I met an army major who had been analyzing videotapes of riots.

The major had recently been assigned to oversee a base near Kufa, about an hour south of Baghdad. To prepare, he had studied footage of the nearby towns shot by drone planes, and had noticed a pattern that often emerged when a crowd turned violent. Frequently, before a riot erupted, a small crowd of Iraqis would gather in a plaza or other open space and, over the course of several hours, start shouting angry slogans. Spectators would show up. Food vendors would arrive. The angry shouts would get louder. More time would pass. The major showed me one videotape of people milling around a plaza, and pointed out that most of them stuck to an area about the size of a five-foot box. They would talk to neighbors and watch the action, but not move much – except for at dusk, when they would often saunter over to the food vendors, and then walk back to their original spot.

“Now look here,” the major said. The tape was running at high speed, and the tiny people on the screen looked like hyperactive ants. Most of them were relatively still. But not everyone “Watch how far this guy moves.” He pointed to one of the dots on the screen. “Fifteen feet to the left. Eighteen feet to the right. Then up to the edge of the crowd, and back to the middle. That guy’s a troublemaker. If we were watching this live, we’d arrest him as soon as we saw that much movement.”

Indeed, as the tape rolled on, one of those energetic dots picked up a glass bottle and threw it against a wall. Another frantic dot threw a rock. Soon, the spectators were drawn in. Within 15 minutes a full-scale riot was underway. Eventually, everyone on the screen was moving all over the place.

The major had watched this tape and dozens of others before he met with Kufa’s mayor for the first time. At that meeting, the men discussed various items of business. Before leaving, the major asked the mayor for an odd favor: Could the local police keep food vendors out of the plazas?

Sure, the mayor said. No problem.

A few weeks later, a small crowd gathered near the Masjid al-Kufa, or Great Mosque of Kufa. Throughout the afternoon, it grew in size. People started chanting angry slogans. Iraqi police, sensing trouble, radioed the U.S. base and asked troops to stand by. At dusk, the crowd started getting restless. More and more people were shouting. Spectators began looking for the kebab sellers normally filling the plaza, but there were none to be found. It was dinnertime. The crowd was hungry. A handful went home to eat. Others left to find restaurants. By 8 P.M., almost everyone was gone. The riot never happened. In fact, there hadn’t been a riot since the major arrived.

https://ffipractitioner.org/an-intervie ... es-duhigg/

Whatever the truth of the matter, the removal of the third hour moves congregations into less contact with each other, rather than more. Driving more of the fun and unity away from being a ward member. A trend that started when Roadshows (and now Pageants) started being outlawed. The Church seems to have embarked on a strategy of keeping ward members more apart, rather than creating opportunity for them to move closer together.

[_kairos]

As a nevermo with son at his ward in east valley phoenix,last Sunday the gospel doctrine/sunday school for adults was interminably long- almost 50 minutes for teaching/discussion, which should have given plenty of opportunity to cover lesson points Luke 3, john the baptist and Jesus baptism, but very few offered anything meaningful and it was like a funeral congregation, lots of silence when the teacher asked what about this or that? She finally decided to bring up that Wily Nelson and Dallin Hoax were bringing their wives to a Cardinal stadium devotional this Thrusday in Phoenix. So she asked if an apostle was to visit and stay in your home, how would you prepare? The answers were all about apostle worship- give them the best room, fix special food, leash the kids in the basement, bring out the best silverware, kiss their asses (not mentioned),etc.

Then as a nevermo i asked, would do you think the apostle's expectation in such a visit would be? Do you think it would be like Jesus at Mary, Martha and Lazarus house- Martha running around with a broom in one hand and a veggie cutter in the other or like Mary simply talking with Jesus while Lazarus napped?

Every response was forget about Jesus, these are apostles and deserve out best hospitality and boot licking. Even this segment did not last long and the class was over 15 minutes early but the bishop stepped in and asked how the scripture study at home was working out with the usual suspects saying great, it's inspired of the Lord!!

[_Dr Exiled]

1st hour



2nd hour



3rd hour

[_Dr Exiled]

Maybe have the 3rd hour be for group recreation or picnics? That'll bring people together .....

[_fetchface]

As far as the third hour thing goes, the joke's on the church in my household. We hold family discussions where I openly share my apostate opinions and my TBM wife affirms that there are many ways to view the situation and that while she believes, she also understands and doesn't look down on people who don't.

Last week we discussed modesty and the consensus was that the church doesn't treat men and women the same and that how you dress is a personal decision, but that dress should be appropriate for the situation you are in.

The week previous we discussed the paradox of the holy ghost and how it can't both be 100% reliable and easy to mistake for your own feelings or promptings from the devil or other nonsense. Consensus was that everyone deserves to make sense of the world in a way that makes most sense to them and to trust yourself.

This is how it is unfolding in my family, anyway. I think Nelson thought that my wife would be telling them to 100% always trust that he is infallible while shooting angry looks at me warning me to keep my mouth shut or something. I have far more power to influence my children now than I had with the 3-hour block.

[_kairos]

Wonder if coffee and donuts would draw a happier and more alert crowd-I'm 3 Starbucks in before sacrament meeting begins but fade a little before Gospel Non-doctrine and ready for a nap At home for the third hour.