Admonish

It seems that every lesson held on Sunday follows a patter of instruction, then admonishment, then testimony. The instruction section is the lesson and story in the scriptures, the admonishment section is drawing the principle out of the lesson and asking for a commitment from the class and the teacher to internalize this principle. The end with testimony is for strengthening those so they can accomplish the change just proposed to them.

In the scriptures it talks about the saints of God admonishing each other when it comes to sin. I've heard stories of people going up to others and telling them as lovingly as they can that they need to shape up. I know it is done with the best of intensions, but it seems that seven out of ten people respond negatively.

The interesting thing about this list of scriptures is that even though sin is mentioned the focus is really on different ways to lift each other. In Colossians 3:16 it talks about singing with and to each other. In Mosiah 26:39 it talks about giving thanks to God. Maybe if things are really bad we could say something to each other about being good Saints, but we are not to become judgmental in the process. We're all sinners and we can only lift up our neighbor when the challenge to change is admonished to our own hearts as much as theirs.