Scripture Study

2 sources:

1.. A Resevoir of Living Water - Elder Bednar

Elder Bednar gives examples of study techniques he uses

A. Read straight through 

B. Study by topic

C. Search for connections, themes and patterns

2. 7 Scripture Study Skills with Ben Wilcox - excerpts below

7 Scripture Study Skills
Ben Wilcox | Teaching With Power | Week 1 - New Testament 2023

 SKILL #1 DIG DEEP

Our first skill, then is what I consider to be THE most fundamental skill of scripture study.  If we don’t approach our scriptures with this mindset and understanding, all the rest of the skills are going to be obsolete. And I like to introduce this skill with a little story. And those of you that have been with me for a while may recall me telling this story back at the beginning of Book of Mormon year. And ever since then, in the introduction to almost every video you’ve heard me say, “Grab your scriptures and your marking pencils, It’s time to dig deep”! I feel that this is a good place to review that idea. When I was a teenager, I worked for a couple of summers at a relative’s cattle ranch in Nevada. And between the haying and the moving of cattle by horseback, sometimes I liked to hike a mile or two down the river to an old Shoshone Indian cave where Shoshone Indians once lived. My father had worked at this same ranch when he was a boy and over his years of working there had gathered quite an impressive collection of arrowheads from the area. And I wanted to have the same experience. So one afternoon when the tractor was being repaired, I hiked down the river, shovel in hand to hunt for arrowheads. When I arrived, I started to dig, and sift through the dirt scanning for arrowhead points. And it was very hard and dusty work. The sun was hot, the wind was warm and would blow dirt into my eyes and ears. And every time that I filled the sieve with a load of dirt and shook the sand out of it, I was continually discouraged to only find bits of rock and gravel. And so for hours, I would dig, and shake, and dig, and shake, and nothing. Eventually, I could see that the sun was going down and that I was going to need to leave soon, but I still hadn’t found anything. So I decided I would do just a few more shovelfuls of dirt and then leave, more than likely, empty handed. And in one of those last shovelfuls, I remember shaking the sieve, and there in the center, was this beautiful arrowhead. Oh, I was so happy. I hiked back to the ranch that evening with a spring in my step. And even though I didn’t come home with a huge collection like my Dad’s, I had my treasure, and it was worth all the work it took to find it. I keep that arrowhead on a shelf in my office to remind me of a principle. Good things come through effort. When we’re willing to dig and dig deep, we will find that treasures await us. There are a lot of valuable things underground. Gold, silver, and other precious metals, gemstones, diamonds, oil, priceless archeological artifacts, buried treasure, fossils. Some of the most valuable things on earth lay beneath the surface. But in order to find it, you’ve got to dig. You’ve got to be willing to dig to find the good stuff. And THAT principle holds true when it comes to the scriptures. If you want to find the good stuff, the treasures, the priceless truths, and principles that are found therein, you’ve got to dig. You’ve got to put forth effort. Sadly, way too many people just scratch the surface with their scripture study. They race through a couple of verses, or a page or a chapter so they can check that item off their to-do list, and then set them down and wonder why they don’t get much out of the experience. The problem is that they’re not digging. God knows how to put the proper value on his goods. 

And with that in mind I have a startling request for you. Please don’t read the New Testament this year. In fact, I hope that all of you will just stop reading the scriptures altogether. I think it’s really unfortunate that so many people in the church are reading their scriptures. Because me? I never read the scriptures. And allow me to explain myself before you change the channel. I can’t think of any place in the scriptures where we are asked to read them. No, the scriptures use much better words to describe the way we’re meant to interact with them. Rather than read them, we’re instructed to study them, meditate on them, search them, lay hold upon them, ponder them, liken them, treasure them, and feast on them. But for heaven’s sakes, don’t read them. We read novels, we read magazines, we read a newspaper, but we are meant to study the scriptures. Too many of us just poke our shovels into the first few inches of topsoil hoping to find a few arrowheads sticking out of the top. But those who are willing to get their hands dirty, put their backs into it, let beads of sweat start to form on their brow, they are the ones that find the treasures, the gems of truth that our Heavenly Father has placed there for us to find. 

There’s something my dad used to say that has stuck with me. He’d say, there are no problems or questions that you can have in this life that aren’t addressed in some way by the scriptures. I believe that with all my heart. Even though they were written hundreds or even thousands of years ago, they speak to our day and communicate universal and timeless truths.

So this year, I invite you to dig deep into the New Testament, to pull out your spiritual shovel every day and thrust it into the fertile and treasure rich soil of the scriptures. I can promise you that if you’re willing to put forth that kind of effort, your Father in Heaven is bound to bless you with the priceless treasures he’s buried there. And all that work is going to be worth it, in the end. And I’m going to be here to help you do that. Each week as you tune in, I promise to help train you in the fine art of scripture digging. And by the end of this year, we’re going to have a beautiful collection of scripture treasures and artifacts to cherish and share. I’ll share with you some of the riches I’ve found over the years, and I anticipate that you’ll find many of your own in your own personal scripture study. 

But that’s the foundational principle. We’ve got to put forth effort. Still, there are quite a few other things that can help us to have a more meaningful scripture study experience. Somebody out there might be saying, OK, OK I want to study the scriptures, I want to find these great treasures, but how do you do it? Well, here are the biggest, most powerful suggestions or helps I can think of to getting more out of scripture study. 

SKILL #2 PRAY

This next one I like to keep pretty simple. It involves a few questions and a quote. But I ask:
If you want to get a certain present from your parents or your spouse for Christmas, what have you got to do, besides “be good”?  You have to ask them for it.
At the drive-thru, if you want them to hold the pickles on your hamburger, what have you got to do? You have to ask them.
If you want to go on a date with that certain someone. What have you got to do? You have to ask.
So, using that line of reasoning. If you aren’t getting much out of your scripture study, if you wish to have a better understanding of what you are reading, if you want to find answers to your questions and problems, what should you do? Ask for it. And how do we ask God for things? We pray. That’s our next scripture study skill: Pray before you read. Perhaps the most common promise that we find in the scriptures is this:  Ask, and . . .? ye shall receive. Seek, and . . . ye shall find. Knock, and . . . it shall be opened unto you. So the next time you sit down to study, try this. Just offer a quick, but sincere prayer. You could say something like, “Heavenly Father. I’m about to study your sacred words. Please help me to understand what I’m studying. Help my mind to be open and my heart to be receptive to the promptings of the Spirit. I ask thee to guide me to the principles and the truths that will help me to resolve my doubts, bolster my faith, and answer my questions. I thank thee, Lord for the sacrifices that have been made by so many people to bring me these words. Help me to value them, understand them, and apply them. Help me to come closer to thy Son and learn to be more like Him through my study. Give me the strength to take what I learn and make changes in my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.” Do you think your scripture study might go differently after a prayer like that? I believe it would. I know it would. Try it. One of the most impactful things you can do to get more out of your scripture study is to pray beforehand. President Dallin H. Oaks had something to say about this. He said:

“When I pick up the scriptures, I’m picking up the word of God, written by prophets under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord. Those should never be read without praying over them first.
When I go to the table to eat, I don’t take physical nourishment without asking the Lord to bless that food to nourish and strengthen my body. Similarly, I think when we study the scriptures, we should bow our head and pray—often it would be silently because of the surroundings—but we would pray that the Lord would bless us that we’d be able to understand what we’re reading and that the act of reading the scriptures would summon the Spirit of the Lord to guide us on things other than simply the meaning of what we’re reading. In this way the scriptures can be a Urim and Thummim to help us receive revelation. But it begins with prayer; it doesn’t begin with reading, like a newspaper or a magazine.”
Dallin H. Oaks
Address to Religious Educators, August 2012

SKILL #3 SLOW DOWN

To introduce our next skill I like to show a short slow-motion video. A video that shows seemingly mundane actions, but in super slow motion. Like popping a water balloon or splitting open a can of spray paint. And I’ll provide you with a link to a good one here, however you might find another one of your own you like better. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-pZ4t-kAWw) But before I show it, I ask the following question. What effect does slowing things down have on our perception of what happens? And I always hear a lot of fascinating comments. Students will say that it allows you to really see what is happening. You get all the detail of the event. Some will say that it’s far more interesting to watch than if they were to just see it happen in real time. And then sometimes while they’re watching I hear things like, “Woah! Cool! That’s awesome!”  You can tell that it’s kind of fun and exciting to watch. 

Well those are the same effects that slowing down will have on your scripture study. It gives you a chance to really see the details—to really see what’s happening. That’s our next scripture study skill here: “SLOW DOWN”. There is treasure to be found in each verse, phrase, and even in individual words and punctuation marks. But you won’t see those gems if you’re racing through the text. Slowing down will make the experience of scripture study more interesting as you strive to really observe and think about what it is your looking at. You may even find yourself uttering a “Woah”, or a “Cool” as you discover a new truth or insight. It makes scripture study much more, dare I say it, fun! More exciting! Keep in mind that scripture study is something that remains a commandment all throughout our lives. It’s not like we complete it at some point, or check it off our lifetime accomplishments list. We don’t stop studying after we graduate from seminary, or complete a full-time mission, or send our last child off to college. There’s not an exemption for those who have read them 20 times or who serve in high positions of church leadership. The commandment doesn’t go away. I suppose if you’re in a coma, you’re excused. But our commitment to the scriptures should be a lifelong one, so, what’s the rush? If it takes you 10-20 minutes to read a couple of verses but you really dig deep into them, then no harm done. In fact, you may get more out of that experience than the person who reads a chapter or two in the same amount of time. If it takes you a couple of years to finish one of the standard works? Time well spent.   

I like this quote from the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and how she describes the way the character Tom studied his Bible. She writes:

“Tom was but a slow reader, and passed on laboriously from verse to verse. Fortunate for him was it that the book he was intent on was one which slow reading cannot injure, --nay , one whose words, like ingots of gold , seem often to need to be weighed separately, that the mind may take in their priceless value.”
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe p. 158 

I hope that we can read our scriptures in the same way Uncle Tom did. 

SKILL #4 ASK QUESTIONS

Our next study skill works in conjunction with the last. What do you do as you slow down? The activity for this skill involves showing a list of some funny questions for them to consider. For example:

Why is something sent by car called a shipment, but something sent by ship called      cargo?
Why does the sun darken our skin but lighten our hair?
If the #2 pencil is so popular, why is it still #2? 
Why is abbreviated such a long word?
Why is Charlie short for Charles when both are the same amount of letters?
When butterflies get nervous, what do they get in their stomachs?
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?

Now that's kind of fun list to go through and they usually get a kick out of it. Then I tell them that one of the most important things they can do when studying their scriptures as they slow down is to ask questions. Maybe even write them down. When you are willing to ask a question, you give the Spirit an opportunity to answer it. Or, you inspire yourself to go deeper into a personal search for the answers which leads you to new insights and discoveries. This is part of the digging that you are doing when you study.  So ask when, how, where, who, and why. Especially why. That seems to be one of the most fruitful questions you can ask. 

SKILL #5 PONDER

Then our next skill rounds out our other two. For an activity, I like to invite my students to watch and follow along with the following demonstration. I pull out a chair and set it in the front of the room. And then I tell them that I'm going to teach them a very important but technical scripture study skill. I sit down in the chair, and then tell them to put their hands straight out in front of them with their thumbs pointing up. And I do this all very methodically, like I’m teaching them an intricate and difficult procedure. Then, they are to turn their hands so that their fingers are pointing at each other. Then very carefully, and slowly they are to move their hands towards each other and interlace their fingers with the other hand. Then very delicately and steadily so as not to injure themselves they should arch their arms backwards in a continuous motion until their hands rest on the backs of their heads. Now, the finishing touch. They should lean back ever so slightly and glance heavenward with a quizzical look on their face. This, I tell them, is a professional pondering pose. This is what they need to do frequently as they study their scriptures. They need to stop and ponder what they've just read. That’s the point where they ask those kinds of questions we just talked about and then give the Spirit and their minds a chance to teach them and inspire them. Now I know that's kind of cheesy way to go about it, but they usually enjoy the humor of it.  The scripture study skill is to “ponder”. Some of the most important work we do when it comes to scripture study will happen when we aren't even looking at the scriptures. It's when we look away and think about what we’re reading that the knowledge and inspiration comes. That's how I do a lot of my preparation for teaching these lessons. Yes, I use manuals, and have made notes of things I’ve learned from other teachers or general authorities, but a lot of the insight just comes from pondering. I’ll sometimes tell my student that if they were to stop by my office in the morning when I’m preparing my lesson, they might look through the window and see me sitting back in my chair staring off into space. I might even have my feet up on the desk. And they may be tempted to think, “Wow, look at that lazy old Brother Wilcox. What a life. Shouldn’t he be doing something right now?” But what may not realize, is that what they are actually witnessing, is me doing the hardest work I do all day. I’m pondering. That’s usually when I get the most inspiration, insight, and ideas for teaching. I mean, that’s how I get the ideas I share in these videos. And you may find that those same kinds of things come to you when you try this out. When we ponder, we give the Spirit space and an opportunity to teach us and inspire us. But it is work! Remember, digging requires effort.  

Joseph Smith once said:

“The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.”
Joseph Smith Jr. 
(Teachings p.137)

SKILL #6 MARK

Our next skill is something I believe I’ve shared with you at the introduction of every year we’ve studied together so far. But I feel it’s an important enough skill to share anytime we embark on a new course of study. So what I do here is bring out a little treasure box that I have, and I tell them that I have something for them inside it that is going to help them at the final judgment and then I ask if they'd be interested in knowing what it is.  And then with great fanfare I slowly open the lid to reveal a box full of colored pencils and I pull one of them out and hold it up like it's a precious artifact. And I say this item is going to bless them at the final judgment because there’s only one question that the Lord is only going to ask them when they get there. He'll say, "Can I see your scriptures?", and you'll say, "Ok, here they are". Now if he opens your scriptures and he sees markings all over them, well-worn pages, little notes here and there, perhaps he'll say "Hmmm, it’s apparent that you've spent a lot of time studying my word.  And it stands to reason that if you've spent a lot of time studying my word, that suggests that you've probably  spent a lot of time living my word.” Then he'll turn to the side and point to the pearly gates of heaven and say, "Come on in, you made it". On the other hand, if you hand him your scriptures and he looks at them and blows the dust off of them, and they look brand new, and the pages are still stuck together, the gold edging still shining bright, it’s possible he may leaf through them thoughtfully and say "Hmmm, these look like a really nice set of scriptures, they look almost brand new. I'm afraid it doesn't look like you've spent much time studying my words. And if you haven't spent much time studying my words, there's a really good chance that you haven't spent much time living my words. I'm so sorry. And he'll reach out, pull the cord, the trap door will open, and whoosh, off you slide to purgatory. Now it’s important that as you do this, that it’s all done facetiously, and I suggest you ham it up a bit because I don't really think that's what the judgment is going to be like, BUT I do believe there is a hint of truth in it. I do believe that the way we valued his words in our lives is going to have a bearing on how we'll be judged and more importantly, how we end up living our lives.  And so I tell them that to help them avoid that negative fate, that I’m going to give them a colored pencil of their very own. And I promise them that if they’ll study with a marking pencil in their hand this year, that they will get much more out of scripture study experience. Or, I do know that the Church’s digital scriptures in the gospel library give you the option to mark them and write notes, so that’s another option here. Although personally, I find that there’s just something wonderful and engaging about physically pulling that pencil across the page and leaving a tangible mark across the page. But either way you do it, you will find that you get more insight and inspiration when you study this way because you are showing the Spirit that you’re ready and willing to learn. It shows you’re a good student. It’s as if the Spirit is hovering above you each time you study, ready to jump in and help you out. But when he sees that you don’t have anything to mark with, he perhaps holds back and thinks to himself, “Hmmm, there’s this great insight and thought that I’d love to give them right there, but they don’t have a pencil in their hand. They’re just going to forget about it as soon as they’re done. I’ll think I’ll save it for another time.”  But when he sees a pencil in your hand, he rubs his hands together, and starts to speak to you, “Oh here’s a great verse right there, do you see what it’s teaching you! This phrase has such a powerful bit of guidance in it. Oh, oh, and don’t miss this idea over here, this verse can help you with that challenge you’re facing right now.” And I’m sincere about this idea. It makes a huge difference when you show the Spirit your willingness and readiness to learn and be taught. So I encourage all of you to study the New Testament this year with a marking pencil in your hand. A number of people have asked me over the years what I like to use to mark my scriptures. And really, any set of colored pencils will do. I like to have lots of colored pencils at my disposal when I study because, you guys know this, I like to mark different themes, repeated phrases, and ideas in different colors as I go from chapter to chapter. It helps me to see patterns and topics and scripture lists that stand out to me. My favorite marking pencil is this 8 in 1 colors mechanical pencil that’s really convenient and fun, but it is kind of expensive.  I’ll put links in the video description if anyone is interested in either. But have something to mark with. I promise you, it will engage you more in the process and really, will make it more FUN! Really. Marking your scriptures is fun. 
 
Crayola Colored Pencils:  https://amzn.to/3m358Ep
Pentel Mechanical Pencil: https://amzn.to/31XACEX

SKILL #7 STUDY DAILY

Another skill to keep in mind. Try the following object lesson with your students. I invite a student to come up and I provide them with a bowl of water, a toothbrush, and a tube of toothpaste. I ask them to demonstrate how much toothpaste they typically use when they brush their teeth, and they show me. I then say, “What if we just decided to brush our teeth once a week, but to compensate, we would use the same amount of toothpaste that we would have used throughout the week. So then I start piling on the toothpaste, seven days’ worth on the brush and ask them to demonstrate how brushing would be. It’s hilarious, and toothpaste drips everywhere. I ask them what they think of my idea. Of course they say it’s a horrible idea. And if they decided to do that for months (only brush on Sunday, but use a week’s worth of toothpaste each time) how would their next dental checkup go? It would be terrible. Their mouth would be full of cavities. Why? Because when it comes to brushing your teeth, it’s not the amount of toothpaste you use that really makes the difference, it’s the consistency that does it. It’s something that’s effective only when done every day. It would be silly to think that we would have good dental health by only brushing once a week, but why do we say the same thing when it comes to scripture study. We say we don’t have time during the week, but then we’ll just do extra on Sunday. Or we’ll read the book once through over a short period of time, and then not touch our scriptures for months or even years. We can’t expect to have good spiritual health if we’re only sporadically studying on occasion. So our scripture study skill here is to “study daily”. Be consistent.