Sea of Galilee and the Mount of Beatitudes So I started attending institute and have fallen in love with the New Testament all over again. I love how the stories flow and yet, every verse has some jewel of wisdom. The life of our Savior is unparalleled and every time I study it, I find more direction for my own life.
Last night we spent some time reflecting on personal scripture study and I thought that Brother Moore gave some great ideas on how we can focus our study to get the most out of it. I mean, we should be reading the scriptures over and over throughout our lifetime, so it is always good to get new ideas on how to get the most out of our study. First of all, he encouraged us to get out of the restraint of reading a chapter a day. Instead, he suggested that we give ourselves a time period and then go from there. That way, we can focus on the meaning of the verses we read and not whether we get the the end of the chapter or not. In the end we might spend a whole hour on just one verse, but learn that verse more deeply.
He also gave us 10 other ways we can focus our Scripture study.
10 ways we can "Learn to Look" during our studies.
1. Difficult Words & Phrases - How often do we just pass by words we don't recognise-archaic or otherwise? It is the easiest thing to do. But look it up and then record it in your scriptures for future reference.
2. Footnotes - The JST is simply amazing. Don't pass it up. Also, use cross references to give greater depth to you study.
3. Lists - The Lord gives us a lot of lists in the scriptures and numbering them can help us organize them in our minds and remember them better.
4. Scriptural Definitions - The Lord defines things for us right in the scriptures. Mark it in someway so that next time you need it, you can find it.
5. Scriptural Questions - Take Alma 5 for example. The prophet presents us with a multitude of questions that should make us reflect on our spiritual standing. Record how you would answer those questions and then next time you go back, you can see how you have grown.
6. Sermons in a Sentence - Sometimes just a few words or a sentence can be a sermon of its own and give us a lot to ponder about. Take Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." Such a powerful message in just a few words.
7. Word & Phrase Patterns - Notice how the passages you are reading are constructed. Are you reading prose narrative or poetry? How does that affect how you read?
8. If/Then Statements - The scriptures are full of them. Sometimes we find if/thens that don't specifically use those terms, but still teach the causality of a principle. Mark them in a way that you can see the cause and effect.
9. Prophet's Commentary - What is the writer trying to teach us? "And thus we see" is one indicator that the prophet wants to make sure that we get the point.
10. Antecedents to identify - What is it that the pronouns in the verse are referring to? Focus on exactly what each "he, them, it, etc" refers to to keep clear in your mind what is exactly being taught. Mark it for future reference.
Isn't this an awesome list of ideas? Just thought I would share, because it really gave me some good ideas of how to revamp my study. I love this next quote.
Elder Richard G Scott Said:
"It is through the repeated process of feeling impressions, recording them, and obeying then that one learns to depend on the direction on the spirit more than on the communication through the senses."
All I can say to that is, Amen.
1 comment:
I liked the post; it had some good stuff to remember. I am pretty sure that the studying-for-an-hour-a-day-instead-of-a-chapter-a-day thing came from Conference, but I'm not sure when or from whom.
And don't worry; I'll be at Institute with you next week.
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