1. Book of
Mormon prophets went to great efforts to produce and preserve
scripture that would bless us in our day. As we study and abide by the words of
prophets, we can receive power to overcome Satan, navigate their way through
mortality, and eventually obtain eternal life.
2. Richard G. Scott, “The Power of
Scripture,” Ensign , Nov. 2011.
3. D. Todd Christofferson, “The Blessing
of Scripture,” Ensign , May 2010.
4. “We owe [a great] debt to those who faithfully
recorded and preserved the word through the ages, often with painstaking labor
and sacrifice—Moses,
Isaiah, Abraham, John, Paul, Nephi, Mormon, Joseph Smith, and many
others. What did they know about the importance of scriptures that we also need
to know?” (DTChristofferson).
5. 1 Nephi
3:19–20 and 5:21–22
- Scriptures preserve God’s words and commandments as communicated through
His prophets.
8. “The scriptures enlarge our memory by helping us
always to remember the Lord and our relationship to Him and the Father. They
remind us of what we knew in our premortal life. And they expand our memory in
another sense by teaching us about epochs, people, and events that we did not
experience personally. …“The scriptures also enlarge our memory by helping
us not forget what we and earlier generations have learned. Those who either
don’t have or ignore the recorded word of God eventually cease to believe in
Him and forget the purpose of their existence” (DTChristofferson).
9. 1 Nephi
8:21–24, 29–30. What is the Iron Rod?
10. 1 Nephi
15:23–24 If we hold fast to the word of God, we will never
spiritually perish and the adversary will not be able to overpower us.
11. “Let me suggest
that holding fast to the iron rod entails, in large measure, the prayerful,
consistent, and earnest use of the holy scriptures as a sure source of revealed
truth and as a reliable guide for the journey along the strait and narrow path
to the tree of life—even to the Lord Jesus Christ” (DABednar,
Ensign, Oct. 2011)
13. Alma 37:38–46
14. Alma 37:38–42;
1 Nephi
16:28.
15. Alma 37:43–46 -
parallels Alma drew between the Liahona
and the words of Christ.
16. “A constant flow of living water is far superior to
sporadic sipping. “Are you and I daily reading, studying, and searching the
scriptures in a way that enables us to hold fast to the rod of
iron … ? Are you and I pressing forward toward the fountain of living
waters—relying upon the word of God? These are important questions for each of
us to ponder prayerfully” (DABednar [Church
Educational System fireside for young adults, Feb. 4,
2007], 7, lds.org/broadcasts).
There Must
Be 50 Ways to Read the Scriptures (Here is a start)
1. Notice
the punctuation. There are 65
Exclamation Points- See Elder Gifford Nielson's Oct. 2013. The Bible has
773,692 words. 3,566,480 letters. 1189 chapters The longest sentence in the Bible (KJV) is in (Eph 1:3-14). Jesus asked
107 questions in the Bible. Longest Book Psalms. Shortest 3 John. Shortest verse: John 11:35: "Jesus wept" Longest
verse: Esther 8:9. Shortest Chapter 117.
Longest Psalms 119
2. Read the Book of Mormon is
one sitting (17 Hours) or the Bible in one Week (84 hours-if you read a page in
5 minutes) Reading the Bible in a month would be pretty impressive. About 3
hours a day!
3. Read looking for
miracles. Jesus performed 30 in the
Gospels. There are 10 places where
people were raised from the dead in the Bible: 1) Elijah raised the
widow's son (1 Kin 17:17-24). 2) Elisha raised the Shunammites
son (2 Kin 4:18-37). 3) A dead man came to life when his body
was set on the dead bones of Elisha (2 Kin 13:20-21). 4) Jesus raised a
widow's son (Lk 7:11-15). 5)Jesus raised the daughter of Jarius (Lk
8:41-42,49-56). 6)Jesus raised Lazarus (John 11:1-46). 7)
Jesus was resurrected (Mt 28)(Mk 16)(Lk 24)(Jn 20-21). 8)Many dead
saints came out of their graves after Jesus' resurrection (Mt
27:51-53). 9)Peter raised Tabitha (Dorcas) (Acts
9:36-51). 10) Paul raised Eutychus (Acts 20:9-12).
4. Look for the names of the
Savior-Circle them in a special color when you find them. He is called by 100 different names in the
Book of Mormon. He is not mentioned in 6 of 239 chapters. God is not mentioned
in the Book of Esther. Jesus called himself the "Son of Man" 75 times
in the Gospels.
5. Look for scriptures that
refer to other scriptures. "It is written" occurs 62 times in the NT.
Lev. 19:18 is quoted 9 times in the NT. (Love your neighbor as yourself)
6. Learn a little Hebrew while
you read. Look up proper names on Google and find out what they mean in their
original language. Beth is the 2nd letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. It also means
"house" In this context it is used to describe 40 different places in
the Bible. Example: Bethlehem=House of bread.
7. Read Mormon 8 and Moroni 1
and 10. As you read, ask yourself, What was Moroni's hope for our day?"
What did he want us to do with the Book of Mormon? What would I say to Moroni
if I had the chance?" (Preach My Gospel p. 14)
8. Use Preach My Gospel as a
study guide. Look Up the Scriptures as you read the text. This would be a great
way to prepare us for missions.
9. Memorize a theme, word or
event from every chapter in the Book of Mormon. Then work on the D&C. The
Pearl of Great Price would be easy. Now go back because you probably forgot the
Book of Mormon before you go on to the New Testament. If you can do the Old
Testament don't tell anyone. It would be regarded as prideful. Once you have
something memorized you can review large volumes of scripture while driving in
the car or trying to go to sleep. I lay in bed
and say 1 Nephi 1 call, 2 leave, 3 return 4 Laban 5 Contents 6 Intent 7
Ishmael 8 Dream 9 2 records 10 Jews 11 Believest? 12 Nephites 13 America 14 2
Churches 15 Inquired? 16 Liahona 17 Ship 18
Ocean 19 Like Unto Us 20 Refined 21 Save Children 22 Righteous Preserved...
10. Circle all of the
"alls" (All is a very high percentage!)
11. Search all of the
scriptures containing a key word. I searched the Book of Mormon for all those
words about "signs". Other
words: wisdom, Urim and Thummim.
12.
Study the life of a person. Use "Who's Who in the Book of Mormon, D&C
or Bible"
13.
Use the guide to conference talks as you read. scriptures.byu.edu
14.
Read the scriptures in another language.
15.
Read the scriptures reading out loud.
16.
Read along with a recording of the scriptures.
17.
We use to read the scriptures out loud as a family each from our own computer.
18.
We would draw pictures in our scriptures when our children were small. Chickens use stickers.
19.
Listen to the scriptures as you drive in your car. I once listened to the whole
Book of Mormon on a solo trip to California and back.
20. One time through the Book
of Mormon I decided to pick my favorite verse in each chapter and underline it
in Green. I call them Gary's Green Verses. Sometimes I will thumb through my
scriptures just reading Gary's Green.
21. Ask people who you love
what their favorite scripture is. Write their name next to their scripture in
your scriptures or in your journal or on your computer or garage wall.
22. Look for patterns and
scriptures that talk about other scripture. This is especially interesting when
the Bible testifies of the Book of Mormon (Isaiah 29; Ezekiel 37; Revelation
14:6-7) and when the Book of Mormon confirms Bible truths (2 Nephi 3. The
D&C is a great clarifier of difficult Bible passages (D&C 77; D&C
113)
23. Search the scriptures for
doctrinal concepts. I have a friend who read the scriptures looking for
evidence of the creation and all of creation as a witness of Jesus Christ. He
is now studying baptism.
23. Make a list of little
gems, proverbs if you will that you glean as you read the scriptures; ie
Proverbs 3:5-6; Alma 37:35; Alma 41:10; Gen. 39:9...
24. Here's a novel idea-A
chapter a day! If you start today you can read the BoM in 239 days!
25. Look for Conjunctive
Adverbs in the Scriptures. The purpose of a conjunctive adverb is to show a
relationship between clauses such as comparing or contrasting, showing a
sequence of events, or showing a cause and effect. They are used frequently,
especially in the Book of Mormon. Writers used them to tell us the WHY. Here's
a list of some we see in the scriptures. Accordingly,
Also, Besides, Consequently, Wherefore, Hence, Henceforth, However, Indeed,
Likewise, Meanwhile, Moreover, Nevertheless, Nonetheless, Otherwise, Rather,
Still, Subsequently, Then, Thereafter.
26. When reading one
of the Standard Works, look for footnotes to another of the Standard Works.
When reading the Book of Mormon during an Old Testament Gospel Study year, look
for OT cross references and take the time to look them up. The next year when
reading the Book of Mormon change to New Testament.
27. Dedicate a
pre-determined number of minutes each day at a certain time to reading. I like
to read the scriptures while I am riding my stationary bicycle for 5 miles. It
is not a great way to "study" the scriptures. It is a great way to be
productive with my exercise time.
28. Acts 8:26-38- Read
the Scriptures with a commentary. There are so many good ones. My favorite for
the Book of Mormon is "Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon" in
4 volumes by McConkie, Millet and Top.
29. Read the
scriptures looking for promises & patterns: Moroni 10:4; D&C 52:14;
41:14; 88:122; 1:37-38; Malachi 3:8-10 is a great beginning. Send me what you
find.
30. Stop Reading the
Scriptures- 1 Nephi 19:23; Jacob 4
31.
Memorize 1)Articles of Faith 2)Books of Scripture 3)Top 10 Scriptures used in
Conference, The Living Christ, The Proclamation to the World on the Family.
32.
In 2013 I made my own commentary of the Book of Mormon as I read 1 chapter a
day from July 14-December 11 and put what each chapter meant to me on that day.
33. Summary
of Approved Adjustments for the 2013 Edition of the scriptures. 39th &40th sections of the
D&C refer to “James Covill,” identified as a Baptist minister. His last
name should be spelled “Covel” and that he was actually a Methodist minister.
34. Get your name on the Ward Weekly Bulletin!
35. Pray BEFORE reading the scriptures each day.
36.
Look for contrast between good guys & bad. Nephi-Laman; Abindadi-Noah,
Jacob-Sherem….
37.
Assign people in your family to represent different points of view or to look
for words or phrases.
38.
At the end of your reading ask: "What happened? or Why? or what would I
have done?
39.
Invite a Gary to your personal or family scripture study. Like my friend Fred.
40.
Submit your favorite idea to glp24@yahoo.com
"When I was a young man, my parents joined The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We knew that the missionaries had
been teaching them, but my parents had taken the missionary lessons alone.
After this surprising announcement, my brothers and I
began to listen to the missionaries as well, and they each received the message
of the Restoration with gladness. Although I was curious, my heart was not into
changing my life. I did, however, accept the challenge to pray about whether
the Book of Mormon was the word of God, but I did not receive an answer.
You might ask why Heavenly Father did not answer that
prayer; I certainly wondered. I have learned since that the promise made by
Moroni is accurate. God does answer our prayers about the truthfulness of the
gospel, but He answers them when we have “a sincere heart” and “real
intent.”1 He does not answer just to respond to our
curiosity.
Why did the trials of these sons of Mosiah strengthen
their faith and commitment rather than cause them to murmur or doubt? The key
is that “they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men
of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that
they might know the word of God.”14 We will all face trials and have questions,
but remember that we must be “continually holding fast to the rod of iron.”15 “The words of Christ will tell [us] all
things what [we] should do.”16 We must make scripture study a daily part of
our lives, as this will open doors of revelation." (Elder James B.
Martino, CR, Oct. 2015)
