This is chapter one from Between the Lines: Unlocking the Scriptures with Timeless Principles. The entire book will be serialized on Meridian.
No study method or combination of study methods can bring the promise of sound gospel understanding. The system you use to underline your scriptures or cross-reference them can never supplant the eternal verity that to know the gospel you must live it. The decision as to whether you should study scripture chronologically or topically can never change the timeless truth that to understand revelation you must receive revelation. Methods are not the answer to obtaining a sound understanding of the gospel. There is no reason to suppose that people who mark their scriptures with two or more colors know more about the gospel than people who use only red pencils; and the truth of the matter is that many of the greatest gospel scholars of this dispensation never even owned a red pencil. Study methods take on value only as used in conjunction with correct principles.
Clarity of Purpose
I have nothing but praise for any study method that aids you in your understanding of scripture. If it helps, do it; but do not confuse study methods or memory devices with a proper understanding of eternal principles. They are not the same thing; indeed, they may not even be related. This principle is something akin to the countless hours spent by those in positions of leadership who become more concerned about saving programs than they are about teaching saving truths. We are often very effective at being ineffective. Let me illustrate.
The other day I overheard a conversation in which a man was expressing considerable admiration for another man who read his scriptures every night before he went to bed, regardless of how late it was. If this man got home at two in the morning he would read his scriptures before retiring to bed. While this is a marvelous illustration of commitment, it is highly unlikely that it is a very profitable way to study anything. To give gospel study the last fifteen minutes of the day after you are exhausted and when you are about to go to sleep is not to present your best to the Lord. The best scriptural study is not done to accord with some previously determined reading or study ritual. Such practices have more of the appearance of penitence than of a real desire to learn. Again, while I applaud the discipline and acknowledge that character development may come from it, I am not entirely sure that it will create a setting that is overly attractive to the Holy Ghost.
In like manner, many good people set a goal to read a certain scriptural work by a given date and find measurable pride in accomplishing their goal. While I have nothing but praise for such efforts, may I suggest there is a “more excellent way.” I say this fully aware that in recent years President Gordon B. Hinckley challenged the Church to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Many lives were blessed by this experience; they laid a foundation upon which they could build a greater understanding. It would be a shame if they did not move forward and do so. Yet the truth of the matter is that this is not how President Hinckley gained his love for the Book of Mormon or his understanding of its doctrines. He understood that there is something more, and so must we.
Suppose we change the goal from reading a certain number of pages each day to learning something that is spiritually exciting, something that adds to our understanding of the gospel and enhances our ability to teach and testify of it each day. In the first instance, you can claim to have read something; in the second, your claim is to knowing something that enriches your life and may well do the same for others. When we were children in school we were rewarded for reading a given number of pages in a particular time period. The experience of doing so was good for us, but the question is whether we were merely reading pages or embracing great ideas. Our goal in scriptural study is to learn things that change the way we live and act; it is to prepare us for eternal life.
Things that really matter are not things that are easily measured. There are no awards in heaven for the number of times you have read the Book of Mormon. There is considerable concern in the heavenly realm, however, that you have a meaningful understanding of the doctrines taught in the Book of Mormon, particularly the principles it restores that have been lost to the Bible. There is also considerable interest in your being prepared to effectively articulate those doctrines when the opportunity comes.
Setting the Right Goals
Some years ago seminary students were involved in what was called “scripture chase.” Each year they were given a scripture list that they were to read and mark in their scriptures. Then they would have contests to see which student could find a given text the quickest. Teams of students would compete against each other, and considerable excitement and enthusiasm were engendered. Special days were chosen, and their parents and others were invited to come watch the competition. Trophies were awarded. I remember one team got so good that they wanted to challenge the Quorum of the Twelve. But when fights erupted between proud and competitive parents, it started to become evident that “quick” and “competition” had replaced the quiet whisperings of the Spirit.
Methods have a way of taking on a life of their own, and, like the unwanted morning glory in your garden, they will, if left unchecked, choke out the flowers or vegetables that you planted. The completion of study goals often takes on a life of its own, becoming more important than our gaining an understanding of what the scripture was intended to teach. The issue is not how many pages we read or the date by which we read them but what we got out of reading them.
As a point of reference, take the last “PowerPoint” presentation you saw. My guess is that it lacked both power and a point. The problem is that people get so caught up in making a fancy presentation that the fancy overshadows the presentation. Correct principles, particularly the truths of salvation, do not need a lot of makeup to look good. They have a strength and color of their own. And so it is with the study of the scriptures. They were not meant for speed reading; the award does not go to the first to complete reading them. What they ask of the reader is that they be “pondered”-that is, that they be worked through slowly so that what they are saying will have time to work through us.
The Best Method
The injunction to study scripture comes by way of commandment; the way that we do it does not. Use whatever study methods facilitate your efforts. In evaluating those efforts, use special care to make sure you are measuring the right thing. Success is not measured in chapters read, time spent, scriptures you can quote, or how fast you can find them.
None of these things really matters. What matters is the spiritual understanding you gain and at least in some measure your ability to convey that understanding to others, just as the scriptures have conveyed it to you. Let your primary concern be with how well you build the house of your understanding. Correct principles are the keys that will enable you to build well. The chapters that follow will seek to identify and illustrate those principles.
