Archive for the 'Scripture Study' Category

Here is a scripture marking guide for Mosiah 17 and 18

These marking guides are meant to help you see some new ways of marking your scriptures!  :)

My goal is for you to use these and learn some new techniques that you can use in all of your scripture studies!

I am also including some ways you can fill in your scripture journals as you are studying!

 

There are ideas like this one to help you fill in your CHAPTERS journal.

 

And ideas like this to fill in your TOPICS journal.

*  I am also including a PDF of the fonts above for you to use in your journals.

Here is the Marking Guide:

mosiah 17-18 marking guide

And here are the fonts:

baptismal covenant font

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I have shown a similar journal entry like this before I switched over to my printed journals, so I had to re-do it in my new journals!!

Honestly, studying PRIDE and CHARITY side by side has absolutely impacted me.

It has been one of the great “ah-ha’s” in my life.  As I have struggled to overcome the oh too many elements of pride that I have, I have learned that when I hold it up to charity, I know what I need to do.

I have clarity.

So… the first thing I did was study the two.  I looked up scriptures and I read talks.

This talk must be read by everyone.  Perhaps monthly.

And then, because I am a ridiculously visual learner, I drew the this.

The girl on the left is my hero and my goal.

She is motivated by love and she sees everyone as Christ sees them and has His pure love for them.  Essentially, she desires Eternal Life for every single person who lives,  has lived or will live.

The girl on the right is motivated by pride.

She is in a constant quest to lift herself up above others.  She despises others and God and thinks that she is more important than them.

Now, these ladies are the extremes.

I find myself in both of them and my goal is to become less and less like the one on the right.  Essentially, to become like the one who has charity, it will take a lot of self-mastery and repentance.  You cannot become that without the Atonement and a LOT of personal accountability.

So – I drew these lovely ladies and then thought of as many characteristics I could that would come from such attitudes.

And let me just say…

I think THIS MAKES THE BEST DATING LESSON!

It emphasizes CHARACTER.  I mean, put these people on the board (but put boys if you are teaching girls), and ask them which one they would rather marry.

Give them scenarios like:

how would each person act if you wrecked the car?  How would they behave if they lost their job and life became financially stressful?  How would they treat you after a hard day at work?  etc…

Then ask them how you come to marry someone like the one on the left.

(You become that way yourself)

I think this could be such an interesting discussion to have with your family.

See what they come up with.

Here are some of the things on my list:

• Doesn’t seek her own gain at the expense of others
• Prays for Gifts of the Spirit so she can improve and serve others better
• Is not puffed up – she doesn’t try to appear to be more than what she is
• Is gentle with others
• Is not easily provoked or offended
• Uses persuasion, doesn’t command others
• Motivated by love to be better
• Her eye is single to the glory of God – not her own glory
• Submits to the Lord
• Is long-suffering
• Doesn’t boast of her own gifts
• Recognizes her talents and uses them to bless others
• Is kind
• Has pure intentions
• Has endless potential
• Feels love for ALL of Heavenly Father’s children.  Not just those in her family, or her ward, or stake, or nation, race, school, religion, etc.
• Does not cover her sins.  Repents quickly.
• Does not swear or speak of inappropriate things
• Does not gossip
• Gains pure knowledge so she can teach and lead others to Christ
• Studies the scriptures
• Does not elevate herself to diminish others
• Does not cheat or deceive others in any way
• Never disciplines out of anger, but out of love
• Takes accountability for her sins and repents quickly
• Has self-control
• Prepares and prevents so she will not sin
• Listens to leaders and prophets
• Prays for guidance
• Lives within her means
• Discusses without contention
• Overcomes her fear so she can serve
• Rejoices in the success of others, even if it is something she wanted herself
• Is honest in every way
• Does not care if her good deeds are known
• Knows when to lead and when to follow
• Easily compliments, uplifts and shows praise and gratitude to others
• Has self- worth
• Respects authority

Isn’t this a cool girl???

And now for this girl.

• She is motivated to be better by pride… not love
• She will pit her will against God’s will… unless His will agrees with her.
• Desires gifts and talents to gain the praise of men
• She elevated her ways above others, and above God’s
• Is defensive
• Is competitive
• Finds pleasure in being above the rest
• Embarrasses others
• Is harsh
• Disciplines out of impatience and anger
• Criticizes others
• Manipulates others
• Selectively loves people
• Desires the success or higher rank of herself, or her family, or her race, or her school, her ward, her nation, etc.
• Asks others to do things she is unwilling to do herself
• Exaggerates her abilities or accomplishments
• Rationalizes her sins
• Immodest
• Does not pray or only appears to pray
• Denies that she is sinning
• Is more concerned with what man will think that with what God will think
• Mimics love to get what she wants
• Needs signs before she has faith in God
• Looks to the popular opinion
• Wants immediate gratification
• Lives beyond her means
• Behaves inappropriately
• Is jealous and envies
• Blames others
• Doesn’t take accountability
• Cheats
• Deceives others for personal gain
• Easily laughs at bad or inappropriate things
• Wants her opinion to be right
•  Wants good deeds to be seen of men
• Holds grudges
• Resents authority
• Fear trumps her faith
• Self-contempt
• Progression is limited or stopped
• Self-pity
• Uses hostile words
• Backbites
• Depends on the world to tell her she has value
• Unity is impossible
• Easily argues
• Does not receive correction
• Envies those above her and resents those beneath her

 

Now… we will find ourselves in both of these girls.

The goal is to repent away the one just above.

It would be really interesting to discuss this with your family and then talk about everyday scenarios and how each person would deal with them.

Things like:

• She finds out someone is talking about her
• She is at school and someone asks to copy her homework
• The boy she has a crush on asks someone else to the school dance
• Her teacher asks her to put her cell phone away
• She is asked to speak in Sacrament meeting

It is amazing how understanding charity and pride illuminates everything and makes everything clearer.

   

Here are the page titles for Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther!

 

These are just short phrases that paraphrase what is happening on that page and are meant to be written at the top of the specified pages.   For more page titles, search under marking suggestions.

Here is the PDF: ezra -esther page titles

Here is a map for the Book of Mosiah.

This is NOT meant to be geographically correct… it is meant to be a visual teaching tool to help you follow the story.

The map is in a PDF below and is black and white.  You can color it as you go.

The Book of Mosiah is where the Book of Mormon can get confusing because timelines begin to cross and it can be hard to get everything straight.

As you study, make notes as you go.  Just write little notes to help you keep everything clear.

Visualizing the story this way really helps me, and if you are a visual learner I hope it helps you too.

And I just cut down the edges and glued it into my chapter journal.  I used this page in my chapter journal as kind of a theme page for the entire Book of Mosiah.  So, I didn’t really dive into any specific scriptures, but rather themes of the entire book.  After this page, I will dive into individual scriptures.

Here is the PDF for this map:  Mosiah map

And here are some other maps for the Book of Alma:

Alma 1-27

Alma 28-35

Alma 36-49

Here are the page titles for 1 and 2 Chronicles!

 

These are just short phrases that paraphrase what is happening on that page and are meant to be written at the top of the specified pages.   For more page titles, search under marking suggestions.

Here is the PDF: chronicles page titles

Being one of the most popular names used, “Christ” carries GREAT meaning!

Here are some things I wrote in my “Names of Christ” study book:

Definition: “Christ” is a version of the Greek “Kristos”.  It literally means “The Anointed One”, and is the same meaning of the Hebrew word “Messiah”.  It is a Title.  His last name is not Christ, but rather, He is Jesus THE Christ.

Scriptures:  Take your pick on what scriptures you want to write in here… but some of my favorites were John 7:41, Alma 46:12 and 2 Nephi 26:12.  Oh… and Alma 34:5.

Why Christ Has This Name:  Anciently, when one was chosen to be king, they were anointed with oil.  Oil is a symbol of light and the Spirit, and therefore teaches the future leader that they should lead with light and the Spirit when leading other children of God.  If someone recognizes Jesus as THE Christ, they see Him as the ultimate leader that God Himself chose to be THE King, and the one chosen to save the rest of His children and lead them to the Celestial Kingdom.  If they recognize Him as such, then they become Christians, if not, they remain Jews, still in search of the Christ.

Insights:  In this section, I wrote my testimony about Jesus and how I believe that he truly is THE Christ.  I also included this quote by Elder Oaks:

“What think ye of Christ (Matthew 22:42).  That question is as penetrating today as when Jesus used it to confound the Pharisees almost two thousand years ago.  Like a sword, sharp and powerful, it uncovers what is hidden, divides truth from error, and goes to the hart of religious belief.”  (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, October 1988)

 

Because I tend to post things as I finish them…

I know that there are things spread throughout my blog which become a treasure hunt for you as you try and find the next post in a series of things.

So I would like to give a huge THANKS to Sarah Stillman of Confessions of a Slacker Mom who put ALL of the Book of Mormon titles into ONE PDF!

Wow!  That is a lot of work.  Thank you Sarah!

She kept the books separate so if you just want 2 Nephi, you can still go in and tell your printer which pages to print.

So here is the PDF… and take a moment and jump over and check out her blog.

PDF:  Book of Mormon Page Titles

 

 

 

 

Here are the page titles for the books of 1 and 2 Kings!

  These are just short phrases that paraphrase what is happening on that page and are meant to be written at the top of the specified pages.   For more page titles, search under marking suggestions.   Here is the PDF: 1 and 2 Kings page titles  

This post is part of a series of tutorials of different ways to use your TOPICS journals.

All of the tutorials will be about REPENTANCE.

I am hoping to show you different ways you can be creative in your studying, and keep things fresh and fun. (Even if you don’t have one of these journals… I hope this will still show you some ways to consider studying your scriptures.)

This is the third of the tutorials. To find the others,

go to the “shopping tab” at the top of this site and then find any of the scripture journals and click on “ideas for you“.  This link will be continually updated with lots of ideas for you that you can use and adapt in your own scripture study.

On this spread of pages, I wanted to dedicate it completely to great quotes that I want to be able to have at my fingertips.

 

So I turned to the right page and right in the middle I put one of my favorite quotes:

• One day each of us will give an account to the Lord. This awareness was evident in a serious conversation I had years ago with a dear friend facing the end of his mortal life. I asked him if he was ready to die. I’ll never forget his answer. With courage and conviction, he said, “My life is ready for inspection.”  (Elder Russell M. Nelson, Ensign, November 2003, 44)

And then I continued to write down quotes I wanted to be a part of this page.

“Consider this letter from one young woman who said:

“‘I’m writing this from the depths of a broken heart, in the hope that it may be a warning to other girls never to partake of the bitterness that has come to me. I would give all that I have or ever hope to have if I could go back to those happy, carefree days before the first little taint of sin came upon my heart. I scarcely realized I was slipping into something that could bring such sorrow and ruin into a person’s life.

“‘I wish I could reveal to you the anguish and regret that fill my heart today, the loss of self-respect and the realization that life’s most priceless gift has slipped away from me. I reached out too eagerly for the excitements and thrills of life, and they have turned to ashes in my hands.’”  (President Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, November 1977, p.30)

 

 

And then I just continued to write down more quotes:

• “Cleansing circumstances are to be welcomed even if the scrubbing is painful.”  (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Flood, p.94)

• “The Past must not hold the future hostage, otherwise, what of the sons of Mosiah?  Or Saul of Tarsus?  Or many of us?”  (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Press Forward, p. 91)

• “Sin is like a cancer in the body.  It will never heal itself.  It will become progressively worse unless cured through the medicine of repentance.  You can be made completely whole, new purified, and clean every whit, through the miracle of repentance.”  (Elder Richard G. Scott, Ensign, May 1989, p.36)

• “If punishment is the price repentance asks, it comes at bargain price.  Consequences, even painful ones, protect us.  So simple a thing as a child’s cry of pain when his finger touches fire can teach us that.  Except for the pain, the child might be consumed.”  (President Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, May 1988, p.71)

 

Then I turned to the left page and continued to write some quotes in the area meant for quotes.

You can see that I have left some space and this is totally on purpose.  As I listen to this upcoming conference, I will know if I hear the quote that belongs here.

Then I looked up scriptures that went along with the teachings in the quotes.

If you look in the above pictures, you can see that I numbered some of the quotes, and then colored in the numbers green.  The numbers next to the scriptures coincide with the numbered quotes.

And as you can see, there is still some space for me to record more scriptures.  So, as I study now and in the future, as I come across a great scripture that reminds me of one of those quotes, then it will go right into that place!

 

Alright… I hope these posts are giving you lots of your own ideas on how you can study yourself!  :)

 

This is definitely not a name that we use often when referring to Christ, but it is a GREAT name and extremely insightful.

It refers to old masonry terms and when understood, … well, I just love it!

A cornerstone is a foundation stone, or the first stone set in the ground.  It is important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, determining the position and strength of the entire building.

This name appears in various forms in the scriptures,

including “stone” and “rock”, which are m ore commonly used.  But when we understand the importance of a foundation stone, it gives them all more meaning.

* Some names of Christ appear over and over in the scriptures, and others appear only a few times and sometimes only once.  However, you can use the scriptures box above to record scriptures that give you more insight into that name – not just for scriptures with that exact name.

Under “Why Christ Has This Name” I wrote:

“He is being compared to the critical structural elements at the base of a building.  It is absolutely essential for a building (if it wants to be strong, withstand the elements, and stand for many long years) must have a perfectly square foundation.  For, if the foundation is off, so with the walls, floors, ceilings, and roof be.  So, Christ is what we must build OURSELVES upon.  And he is not just a cornerstone, but the CHIEF cornerstone – the first one laid of which all remaining cornerstones measure from.”

I then googled an image of a cornerstone, printed it off and then taped it into my journal.

* When taping in pages or pictures like this, don’t let the tape be longer than than the paper – you don’t want it to extend past the ends.  If you do, then it tapes it DOWN, rather than taping it IN.

This is the back side of the picture (I used it as an opportunity for more space to write).  But you can see that because it isn’t taped DOWN, that it turns nicely like a page.

On the next page where I write my personal insight to this name, some of the things I wrote are:

“If we put Christ absolutely first in our lives, and make him our Chief Cornerstone, then all other elements will be stronger and more secure.  If we put all he has to say and teach at the base of ourselves, then we will build up strong and like Him.  We will be able to withstand anything this world brings upon us.

” However, if we put other priorities, teachings and philosophies at our foundation and we build ourselves, our character

“As C.S. Lewis said, ‘If my house… collapsed at one blow, that is because it was a house of cards.’ (Quoted by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in the BYU Devotional, The Bitter Cup and the Bloody Baptism)

“If we put Christ at the base of our personal foundations…. your walls will stand square, while others are falling.  Your roof will be tight, while others show gaps.  Your choices, daily activities, reactions and relationships will reveal the Chief Stone that you have chosen to build upon.

And here is the quote I wrote on the back of the picture I taped in:

“We preserve the symbolism of the cornerstone in remembrance of the Son of God upon whose life and mission the Church is established.  He and he alone, is the Chief Cornerstone.  There is built upon him a strong foundation of Apostles and Prophets and above this ‘all the building fitly framed together’ to constitute the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”  (President Gordon B. Hinckley, January 2001, Ensign)