Scripture Study—the Key to Family Gospel Learning
I opened it with eagerness and read the title page. I then read the testimony of several witnesses. After this I commenced its contents by course. I read all day. Eating was a burden. I had no desire for food. Sleep was a burden when night came for I preferred reading to sleep. As I read, the Spirit of the Lord was upon me and I knew and comprehended that the book was true.
–Parley P. Pratt
Up until that time I knew nothing about the book except the scurrilous reports I had read in the newspapers about “ a boy named Joe Smith somewhere out west who had found a gold bible.” I opened the book without regard to place, and totally ignorant to its design or contents, and before reading half a page, I declared, God or the Devil has had a hand in this book for no man ever wrote it. ……Me…..I read it twice through in 10 days. And so firm was my conviction of the truth that I immediately commenced settling my accounts, selling my medicine, and freeing myself from every encumbrance to go to Kirtland to find out more about this Church.
–Willard Richards
One of the most cherished memories of my childhood was playing baseball with my father and brother. I remember that my father used to take us to the local little league field and practice with us every week. He would patiently hit us ground balls, and pop ups. He’d show us how to run the bases and he would pitch to us so we could practice our hitting. He would come to our little league games where we would put his teachings into practice. I am sure that while he watched we would try his patience as we would muff some of the things that he had taught us, but he let us know how thrilled he was when we would do well. Since we lived in New York at the time, Dad would take us to see the Yankees play. Watching Mantle and Maris, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford play was one of the great experiences of my childhood. We would copy the great players style and even take plain white tee shirts and write their numbers on them One of my most exciting times playing ball was after my mission while playing on the ward softball team, I was able to coax my father into playing with us. He played second and I played shortstop, the two positions in the field that require the most teamwork. It was a moment I will never forget. I didn’t become a great ball player but I love the game. I cherish the time my father spent with me to teach me. And now as a father myself, I spend time playing ball with my children, going to their games, and occasionally going to watch Griffey, Buhner, Randy Johnson, and Alex Rodrigez play. I suppose that my kids will end up teaching their kids and the legacy will continue.
My father taught us baseball with love and patience. A key principle to our parenting is this: whatever we spend time teaching our families in love is what they will learn. It is interesting how often in the scriptures, the prophets reflect on the teachings of their fathers for better or for worse. Nephi, in the single most read verse in all of the scriptures, speaks of being born of goodly parents and being taught in the learning of his father. Enos, while hunting, had the teachings of his father sink deep into his heart. Large sections of Alma’s lectures to his sons, including some of the most sublime teaching of the mission of our Master, are included in the Book of Mormon. Alternatively, the Lamanites resentment of the Nephites and their stubborn desire to fight them seems to stem primarily from the wicked traditions of their fathers.
What is it that we should be teaching our children? The obvious answer is that we should teach them to obey the commandments and seek to return to our Heavenly Father. However, as easy as it is to say, it is much more difficult to do, especially in today’s world with so many things that are acceptable, even encouraged in society that are abominations before God. Only with the power that comes from the Spirit of the Lord can we resist the temptations of Satan and combat his strategies that are taking control of the world at an ever-increasing rate. The key to that power is something that we hear every week, and most of us may not ponder it as we should. In the sacrament prayer there is a phrase, “That they may always remember Him, that they may have His Spirit to be with them.” This may be the simplest principal to remember in the gospel. If we always remember the Lord, we will have His Spirit with us. The key to always remembering Him is to study the gospel. The most important thing we should be teaching our families is to study the scriptures every day.
The scriptures are like a spiritual transformer. It is to them we go for power. I don’t know if this holds true for your lives but for me, I find that if I am not pouring over the scriptures, my prayers tend to be less effective, less sincere, and more likely to bounce off the ceiling. However, if I search the scriptures with real intent and ponder them, my prayers are deeper, more heart felt and the Spirit flows. When I study the scriptures, I want to do right and emulate the Savior. When I am casual about the scriptures, I am more likely to be impatient or critical, or to do something else stupid.
One of my favorite messages regarding the scriptures is from President Kimball:
I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns. I find myself loving more intensely those whom I must love with all my heart and mind and strength, and loving them more, I find it easier to abide their counsel.
Can you see from this that scripture study is the key to effective prayer?
Listen to what President Benson said about the study of the scriptures:
Often we spend great effort in trying to increase the activity levels in our stakes. We work diligently to raise the percentages of those attending sacrament meetings. We labor to get a higher percentage of our young men on missions. We strive to improve the numbers of those marrying in the temple. All of these are commendable efforts and important to the growth of the kingdom. But when individual members and families immerse themselves in the scriptures regularly and consistently, these other areas of activity will automatically come. Testimonies will increase. Commitment will be strengthened. Families will be fortified. Personal revelation will flow. (“The Power of the Word,” CR April 1986, Ensign 16 [May 1986]: 81.) What a promise.
I know that it is difficult to immerse oneself in the scriptures. Getting started and making a habit is the key. As in everything, the Lord’s way is the more difficult than the world’s. I have heard it said that it takes 16 days in a row to make any good thing become a habit. However, to break a habit it only takes two days. Satan would always have us stay away from the scriptures. He gives us other ideas like you’re too tired, you have too much to do, there is a good TV show on.
Even more difficult than making a personal habit of scripture study is making a regular habit of family scripture study. It is easy to be discouraged and it is difficult to really go for it. Especially if you are not seeing any progress.
My wife, Karen had our fourth child in Boston. Afterwards, she had the most difficult time getting in shape. After 8 months of running 2 miles a day, she actually felt like she had made no progress. She faced a choice… give up or intensify. She went up to 5 miles a day and within weeks she was in the best shape of her life. And, surprisingly, she started to love running. (I said that in a meeting once, in which Karen was a member of the congregation. Someone by her did not know who she was and to her, “That’s a sick woman”.) It is so with the scriptures. Often people will read casually or even somewhat seriously and not feel like they are making progress. For too many of us the reaction is to cut down to spiritual life support, reading 5 minutes a day or maybe even one scripture if they are lucky. But the greatest of the Lord’s blessings, those that have to do with revelation and exaltation are given when we immerse ourselves in the scriptures. And once you start, you find that you love studying the scriptures.
Pick a time of day, do it every day, and spend real time studying it. There is no right way to study as long as you do it with time and energy. My wife reads straight through the scriptures, concentrating on the message as she reads and though she has read the Book of Mormon many times, she always is illuminated in different ways. I tend to study topics and draw scriptures from the standard works to expand upon the topic I am studying. There are many ways to do it, the key is to spend the time and search them diligently.
Of the sons of Mosiah, Alma wrote,
“For they were men of sound understanding for they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer and fasting, therefore they had the Spirit of prophecy and the Spirit of revelation and when they taught they taught with the power and authority of God.”
These men dove into the scriptures and searched them. In addition, they thought about them continually and sought to understand them more thoroughly. I was home teaching at Gordon and Shawn Bailey’s house, and Shawn said that especially while her son, Tor, was on his mission, she would read in the morning and not understand all that she read. She would then think about them, ponder them in her heart and then, during the day, the meaning of the passage would come to her. The Lord told the Nephites after he visited them on the first day to go to their homes and ponder what He had said. This is what is meant in the sacrament prayer by “always remembering him”. Now, how many of us finish reading our scriptures and jump into bed or turn on the tube.
Elder Merrill Bateman related a story in General Conference some years ago to illustrate what it means to search the scriptures:
A small six-year-old boy wandered away from his handcart company during a storm and was lost. When the storm subsided, Robert and Ann Parker realized that their boy was missing and began searching. For two days an organized search was unsuccessful. The decision was taken that the must move on because of the approaching winter. Ann pinned a bright red shawl about the thin shoulders of her husband and sent him back alone on the trail to search again for their child. If he found him dead, he was to wrap him in the shawl; if alive the shawl would be a flag to signal her. Ann and her children took up their load and struggled on with the company, while Robert retraced the miles of trail, calling and searching and praying for his helpless little son. At last, he reached a trading station where he learned that his child had been found and cared for by a woodsman and his wife. The boy had been ill from exposure and fright. But God had heard the prayers of his people. Out on the trail each night Ann and her children kept watch, and when on the third night the rays of the setting sun caught the glimmer of a bright red shawl waving above her husband’s head, the brave little mother sank in a pitiful heap in the sand. She slept for the first time in six days.
Do you suppose that Robert just casually wandered about the prairie seeing if his son might just pop up somewhere? I have had a number of children myself. I have no doubt that Robert looked in every wash, behind every bush and rock, around every hill, praying all the way for guidance and thinking over and over again about what he might have missed. That is what searching is all about. The Lord says search and feast and immerse, not peruse and nibble and get your big toe wet. Casual and infrequent exposure to the scriptures will not open the door to revelation nor will it protect us from the power of the tempter.
This is President Benson quoting President Romney:
I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope and charity–the pure love of Christ–will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy and happiness.
Now this great promise through Joseph the Prophet: “The voice of reason, the language of inspiration, the Spirit of the living God, our Creator, teaches us, as we hold the record of truth in our hands; for, the heavens declare the glory of a God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork; and a moment’s reflection is sufficient to teach every man of common intelligence, that all these are not the mere productions of chance, nor could they be supported by any power less than an Almighty hand; and He that can mark the power of Omnipotence, inscribed upon the heavens, can also see God’s own handwriting in the sacred volume: and he who reads it oftenest will like it best, and he who is acquainted with it, will know His hand wherever he sees it; and when once discovered, He will not only receive an acknowledgment, but He will obey all its heavenly precepts.”
If we search the scriptures, we will not only like them, and receive a testimony of them, but we will recognize God’s hand in all things and obey his commandments. What a promise and what power the scriptures have.
One of the most cherished memories of my childhood was learning the gospel from my parents. I remember that my father would conduct family home evening every Monday. We would read out of the scriptures and stories from other gospel sources. My folks taught us to love the scriptures and the Brethren. I am sure that as they watched we would try their patience as we would muff some of the things that they had taught us, but they let us know how thrilled they were when we would do well. We had the chance to watch General Conference and see great men like David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith and Harold B. Lee. We would even wear suits and ties to church to emulate the brethren. One of my greatest thrills was to see my parents be there as I served a mission and was married in the temple. They were moments I will never forget. I cherish the time my parents spent with me to teach me. I am not yet the person I wish to be but I love the scriptures and I love the gospel. And now as a father and grandfather myself, I spend time teaching my children the scriptures and the gospel. And going to watch the Brethren at General Conference. I suppose that my kids will end up teaching their kids and the legacy will continue.
May our legacy to our children, and to our children’s children, be that they may come unto Christ and follow the Lord’s admonition to Search the scriptures for they are they that testify of me. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Mountain Majesties 