The Scripture Study Project

I just started a summer institute class in my area (hello to any of my students that are listening) focused on improving our scripture study skills. This week we kicked off class by identifying the two most important questions asked in scripture. In Mosiah 11:27, King Noah asks after hearing about the prophet Abinadi, "Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord that shall bring up on my people such great affliction?" Similarly, when Alma preaches to the people of Ammonihah they ask in indignation, "Who art thou…?" and "Who is God…?" (Alma 9:2, 6). In this episode we examine one of the most well-known stories in the Bible, David and Goliath, with a fresh perspective and in search of answers to those two questions.

Show Notes:

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Music: by Steve Oxen

John 3:16 is one of, if note the most, oft-quoted verses of the Bible: "For God so loved the that He gave his only begotten Son". One of the reasons that verse has become so popular is that it represents a simple summary of a profound truth: God loves the world, including people such as you and me. In this episode we study the powerful story of Ruth that illustrates His love for all of us.

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Music: by Steve Oxen

There's a chilling story President Kimball relates in his book "Miracle of Forgiveness" about a man who pulls himself from alcoholism, practices sobriety for years and readies himself to be sealed in the temple with his wife, and then, on the eve of his temple visit, is drawn back into old vices by persuasive friends. Although a stark example, it's probably not too far off experiences we all have where we work and repent from mistakes and sins, enjoy rest and freedom, only to feel the pull of temptation and possibly the pain of relapse again. This week we study the book of Judges which is, in summary, that story told twelve times in a row. Study with us this week as we seek to interrupt the cycle and stay true to the God who delivers us.

I had a favorite object lessons from my seminary teaching days that introduced the idea of courage. I would take a rat trap, demonstrate how it could snap a pencil in half, then I would reset the trap and ask for a volunteer to touch the trap. Eventually, based on my incessant urging, a student would tentatively reach out their finger and touch the trap only to find, to their relief, that I had secretly disengaged the springs and the trap only appeared to be dangerous. We would then have a discussion about what affects--either for good or bad--our courage and/or our faith in the Lord. In this episode, we don't have a rat trap, but we do have a scripture story of danger and courage. The questions to us are the same as to those students: how courageous am I?

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Music: by Steve Oxen

Have you ever taken a "penny quiz"? If not, without looking, see how much you can remember about the penny. And when you realize you can only remember the barest details, ask yourself this: why is that something as common as a penny can be so easily forgotten? President Spencer W. Kimball once mused, "When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is?" His answer: the word remember. In this episode we study what the Israelites were commanded to remember as they exited their 40 year wilderness in search of perspectives or principles the Lord would have us remember as we exit from or exist in our own.

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Music: by Steve Oxen

Years ago, before even an apostle, President Eyring gave a powerful insight about spiritual sight. He taught that the repeated phrase, "thus we see" is often a scriptural writer pointing out what someone with spiritual sight will see when looking at particular story. That vision, often different from what others observe, enables that individual to act in closer accord with God's mind and will. In this episode we study what it is that grants that kind of spiritual sight, what to recognize when you have it, and what it might prompt you to do.

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Music: by Steve Oxen

Our temples, benefiting from centuries, even millennia of experience, are structured in such a way to help us have powerful revelatory experiences as we come closer to God. This week as we study the end of Exodus and selections from Lev, we look at what those specifics are and how we can both see them in our temple experience and incorporate them into our personal lives.

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Music: by Steve Oxen

This week we study a moment for Israel that taught them powerful truths about themselves and the Lord. Although they were not wrongly imprisoned like Joseph Smith, they had a "miserable experience" because of their own actions that brought them to "mourn". In that mourning, and in our own, we can see and learn truths about our Lord that can help us grow, heal, and change.

Show Notes:

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Continue in Patience," April 2010.

Neal A. Maxwell, "Patience," October 1980

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Music: by Steve Oxen

In this episode we study Exodus 18-20 but look, not just at the 10 commandments, but why they are worth thinking about in the first place.

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Music: by Steve Oxen

In our episode this week we study Exodus 14-17 and examine our relationship with our prophetic leaders. We'll examine miracles, murmuring, and mediation through rods and logs. Most importantly, we'll ask ourselves the question, "How can I draw more power from my prophetic leaders."

Show Notes:

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Music: by Steve Oxen