Ben Franklin Chart Group Discussion Items
“Ben Franklin charts to discuss at R.C. Team meetings” – – – can help each of us to make & stick with wise choices made firmly in advance. Power quote: “Stick-to-ity: is unwavering determination to follow through with what you and God know to be good and right.”
For a Ben Franklin chart discussion, you simply list on the right side of a white board, yellow pad, etc. all of the advantages (real data and facts) and on the left side (real data), listing all of the dis-advantages, – – – and then discuss the pros and cons together openly for an interesting family or team discussion. One person can be the group scribe. After the discussion, the whole family or R.C. Team could then make a decision, regarding which one they feel is the wisest choice, and which one they will personally choose and stick by no matter what temptations and peer-pressures the devil and his team throw at you. Then, family members could brainstorm and discuss, how they will respond when the big powerful tool of the devil, called “peer-pressure” tries to push us to just try it once?
Important questions to ponder on:
Why is it important to make your most important life decisions well ahead of time, before the peer pressure temptations come up? What kind of a person do you choose to be? – – one who courageously follows God to a joyful forever future, or one who foolishly follows peer pressure?
Ben Franklin is considered by many to be one of the wisest men who ever lived. He learned to make his own wise choices, instead of being a “puppet” of others by following peer pressure. Life becomes much easier and more clear when any child of God, and their family or group R.C. team, chooses to have good “Ben Franklin chart” discussions about important choices that will surely occur in your future or your child’s future such as: “Tobacco use” or “mind altering drugs use” or “Swearing”, etc.
RC TEAM GREAT BEN FRANKLIN GROUP DISCUSSIONS
At our RC Team gatherings, (or family dinner meeting, before bed family discussions, etc), we will discuss together and make notes about great and interesting subjects. You start by drawing a big “T” on the whiteboard, and write the subject on the top of the white-board, and put a line down the middle of the white-board with advantages on one side and disadvantages on the other side. Family members or team members will take turns leading the discussion, and being the scribe on the whiteboard. Everyone will help pitch in their thoughts on the subject.
Tobacco Use (or other subject of the day)
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
Some of the subjects of discussion could be:
Choosing to use Tobacco
Choosing to try the first addictive mind-altering substance.
Choosing to swear and use vulgar language.
Choosing to get body piercings or tattoos in the amazing body that God has given you. (Would you put body piercings and tattoos on a super-valuable Ferrari sports car or miss America contestant?)
Choosing to show kindness and respect toward everyone.
Choosing to be honest in all of your dealings with others.
Choosing to be a litterbug or one who picks up litter.
Choosing to view pornography or not.
Choosing to dress modestly. (Which kind of guys do you want to attract? And does God approve of how modestly you dress? Do you want to be walking pornography?)
Choosing to serve others with random acts of kindness.
Choosing to be courageous in doing what is right.
Choosing to giving your very best effort in school and career.
Choosing to prayerfully seek to be close to our Father in Heaven.
Making important choices rock-solid and ahead of time.
Choosing to be an attentive listener or not.
Choosing to be Christ-Centered and Relationship-Centered or not.
Choosing to be deeply thankful to God and others for our blessings or not.
Seeking for things that bring inner peace and real joy vs. seeking mainly for fun, thrills, and worldly pleasures.
Choosing to sing out loud in group sing-alongs.
Choosing to save the amazing and beautiful physical intimacy that God taught should only be shared after marriage with your future wife/husband.
Choosing to keep your bedroom and home neat and orderly.
Choosing to take wise and precious care of your body., including proper nutrition.
Choosing to be a good and loyal friend to others.
Choosing to be one who serves others in kindness daily.
Choosing to be one who greets people with a smile, eye contact, and a warm welcome.
Choosing to be one who is courageous in doing what he believes is right and good regardless of what others think.
We will encourage each participant in our R.C. Teams to prayerfully analyze all of the choices in their lives in this manner —– analyzing the pros and cons ahead of time for each important decision, and sticking strong to their own well thought out committed choices, and never, ever, ever being swayed by peer pressure to go against what God, has prompted them to make as their own unwavering and firm life-long commitments for a joyful life.
A gifted statistician and committed wise Christian and president of BYU, Shane Reese, loves to encourage youth making important decisions that “good information leads to good decisions, and he encourages youth and adults to “gather as much data as possible before acting” and making important life decisions. If you gather enough factual data, you will find that with each of these types of super-important decisions listed above for potential Ben Franklin group discussions; it will be much easier to make good, wise and strong decisions. For example, if anyone with even a little wisdom and common sense, will evaluate enough truly factual data, no one would choose to try the first cigarette, chew or vape of tobacco, Fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, or other harmful and addictive drugs, or even alcoholic drinks, because even though many wine and beer sales people (and the devil and his team) will try to convince us all that alcohol won’t really hurt you – – – as long as every single person in the world will use it in moderation. Of course those sales people (and the devil and his team), won’t talk about the true facts that alcohol is a mind-altering drug, and is very addictive for millions, and possibly even for some of our own future children and grandchildren, that it impairs your judgement and ability to drive safely, and it leads to many horrible decisions such as pre-marital sex, because it severely hampers a person’s will-power and inner commitment and strength, and is very often the gateway drug that leads people into other even more harmful and powerful mind-altering drugs. The companies and individuals making big money selling alcoholic drinks, don’t want you to study the statistics of how many lives are lost on the roads, and families and relationships destroyed, etc. by alcoholic drinks. Statistically speaking, if you gather enough true statistical data, I am sure that any person with common sense would agree, that the world would be a better place without alcoholic drinks. “Mothers Against Drunk Drivers”, and other wise mothers and fathers recognize that to be a very true fact. Wise mothers and fathers, who clearly observed the numerous problems being caused, worked to make alcoholic drinks illegal with the 18th Amendment ratified into law by Congress on January 16, 1919. Prohibition laws in the United States banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic drinks.
Prohibition did not fail, because of any benefits of alcohol for the overall good of the mass population. It failed because close to half of the adult population was hooked on addictive alcohol, and were determined to continue drinking even though it was illegal. Also, Prohibition cost the federal government a total of about $ 11 billion in lost tax revenue, because they did not collect any taxes on the illegal alcohol being sold, and that was one of the reasons that the government wanted to abolish Prohibition.
Mothers against Drunk Drivers and other wise mothers and fathers and grandparents wish that everyone would just agree that drinking alcoholic drinks causes a lot of unnecessary problems to society, and choose to stop consuming it. However, the God-given gift of free agency is important, and it does not work very well to try to force people to do things, even if it is really good things like abstaining completely from all mind-altering and addictive drugs and substances. For anyone who statistically studies and ponders on the advantages and disadvantages of alcoholic drinks for their children and grandchildren, etc., I believe they would agree that the wisest choice is to never partake of the first drink or taste of anything that can be addictive and harmful, and to teach your children and grandchildren to do the same. However, please understand that I have many good friends that I highly respect, who choose to drink beer and wine and other alcoholic drinks, and I do respect their decision to continue to do so. For myself, I made a decision as a young boy to never taste of any alcoholic drinks or other addictive substances, and I am thankful to have made that decision. I am even more thankful that my children also made the same decision when they were young. I heard a law enforcement specialist teach one day in a talk, that if everyone in this country chose to never use any alcohol or other addictive and mind-altering drugs, that our prisons would be almost empty, because most of those in our prisons and jails are there partly because of addictions to those.