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Dear
Gramps, I stumbled on your site this evening and love it! I am feeling a bit
dumb, but since all questions are good...where is the best place to start
with scripture study? I’ve been a member all my life and have only
recently really wanted to have that influence in my life but I am struggling
with what scripture study is and how to do it!!! Please help! Laura |
Dear
Laura,
There
are probably about as many approaches to scripture study as their are students
of the scriptures. Choosing a particular approach would depend a lot on your
specific interests. There is, however, something unique about the Book of
Mormon. Joseph Smith said about the book that “the Book of Mormon was the most
correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would
get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
So
you might start by reading the Book of Mormon. It has been said that the Book of
Mormon is true because it is saturated with the Spirit of the Lord, and if you
read it with that spirit, you will know that it is true. So, first you might try
reading the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, but do so, asking the Lord each
time you pick it up to help you understand the messages that it contains.
Reading it with the spirit of prayer is very important.
I
wouldn’t try to read it like a novel, but I would suggest as you read a
passage you might ponder a bit on what it could mean and how you might apply it
in your own life. I also think it would be good idea to underline all the
passages that impressed you as you read them.
After
having done that, I’m sure that you will find many subjects or topics that
will have been of particular interest to you. Then you might identify one of the
subjects and study that subject in the Book of Mormon and in the other
scriptures. The footnotes in the verses of interest and the Topical Guide in the
back of the Bible would be great helps.
No
other literature on earth can compare in importance with the word of the Lord,
given to His children to assist in directing them back to His presence.
Gramps