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Showing posts with the label scripture study

The power of the Word (Packer)

"Jesus then went into the wilderness; Lucifer came tempting Him. Jesus deflected each temptation with scripture. 'It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone.' 'It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.' 'It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' Think on it carefully. When facing Perdition himself, the Lord drew upon scriptures for protection. " President Boyd K. Packer,  April 2000 General Conference

Scriptures, Covenants, Atonement (Eyring)

"We need to ponder in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets. We need to make plans which are not only wishes but covenants. And then we need to keep our promises to the Lord. And we need to lift others by sharing with them the blessings of the Atonement which have come in our lives." —Henry B. Eyring, " Help Them on Their Way Home ",  Liahona and Ensign , May 2010

faithful study of the Scriptures brings the Holy Ghost to us (Eyring)

...read and ponder the standard works of the Church and the words of living prophets. There is a promise of help from God that comes with that daily practice. Faithful study of scriptures brings the  Holy Ghost  to us. President Henry B. Eyring, April 2004 General Conference  http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/04/in-the-strength-of-the-lord?lang=eng

Theological Illiterates (Hanks)

No one knows anything about Christ’s work simply by being born a member of the Church, and often he knows little about it after years of unmotivated exposure in meetings or classes. He must learn. And learning involves self-investment and effort. The Gospel should be studied ‘as carefully as any science.’ The ‘literature of the Church’ must be ‘acquired and read.’ Our learning should be increased in our spare time ‘day by day.’ Then as we put the gospel truth to work in daily life, we will never find it wanting. We will be literate in the most important field of knowledge in the universe, knowledge for lack of which men and nations perish, in the light of which men and nations may be saved. —Elder Marion D. Hanks, First Council of the Seventy, “Theological Illiterates”,  Improvement Era  (September 1969): 42

...then you may begin to think that you can find out something about God... (Brigham Young)

Do you read the Scriptures, my brethren and sisters, as though you were writing them a thousand, two thousand, or five thousand years ago?  Do you read them as though you stood in the place of the men who wrote them?  If you do not feel thus, it is your privilege to do so, that you may be as familiar with the spirit and meaning of the written word of God as you are with your daily walk and conversation, or as you are with your workmen or your households.  You may understand what the Prophets understood and thought--what they designed and planned to bring forth for their good. When you can thus feel, then you may begin to think that you can find out something about God, and begin to learn who He is. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:333

Searching the Scriptures

"The Bible, in our present format, totals just under sixteen hundred printed pages from multiple authors. To these have been added nearly nine hundred other printed pages of scripture through the Prophet Joseph Smith—more than from all the writings of Moses, Paul, Luke, and Mormon combined, as these are available today—illustrating the quantitative significance of what has come to us through the Restoration. . . . "Before the Restoration, the void was very real. Prior to meeting Joseph Smith, Brigham Young said he would have crawled around the earth on his hands and knees to meet someone like Moses who could tell him anything 'about God and heaven.' (In Journal of Discourses, 8:228.) Through Joseph Smith we have additional pages from Moses about God and heaven. We have only to reach to the bookshelf or go to priesthood meeting. Perhaps the way is almost too easy and too simple; we might be more appreciative if on hands and knees. (See 1 Ne. 17:41.) Only by searching

Finding Answers through the Scriptures

"Satan would diminish your faith and dilute your priesthood power to work mighty miracles, but a loving Heavenly Father has provided you with providential protection--the gift of the Holy Ghost. In the first chapter of the Book of Mormon we learn that as Lehi read the scriptures 'he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord' (1 Ne. 1:8-12). Nephi later promises us that as we 'feast upon the words of Christ . . . the words of Christ will tell [us] all things what [we] should do' (2 Ne. 32:3). "You may be facing decisions regarding a mission, your future career, and, eventually, marriage. As you read the scriptures and pray for direction, you may not actually see the answer in the form of printed words on the page, but as you read you will receive distinct impressions, and promptings, and, as promised, the Holy Ghost 'will show unto you all things what ye should do' (2 Ne. 32:5)." Spencer J. Condie ,  "Becoming a Great Benefit to Our Fellow Being

God is Engaged in Our Lives

"We believe in a God who is engaged in our lives, who is not silent, not absent, nor, as Elijah said of the god of the priests of Baal, is He '[on] a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be [awakened]' (1 Kings 18:27). In this Church, even our young Primary children recite, 'We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God' (Articles of Faith 1:9). "In declaring new scripture and continuing revelation, we pray we will never be arrogant or insensitive. But after a sacred vision in a now sacred grove answered in the affirmative the question 'Does God exist?' what Joseph Smith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints force us to face is the next interrogative, which necessarily follows: 'Does He speak?' We bring the good news that He does and that He has. With a love and affection born of our Christianity,

feasting upon the Word of God

The ancient prophets knew that after the darkness there would come light.  We live in that light--but do we fully comprehend it?  With the doctrines of salvation easily within our grasp, I fear that some are still overcome with the "spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear." (Romans 11:8)...I ask us all to honestly evaluate our performance in scripture study.  It is a common thing to have a few passages of scripture at our disposal, floating in our minds, as it were, and thus to have the illusion that we know a great deal about the Gospel.  In this sense, having a little knowledge can be a problem indeed.  I am convinced that each of us, at some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves--and not just discover them once, but rediscover them again and again. President Spencer W. Kimball " How Rare a Possession--the Scriptures !" Ensign, September 1976, pp 2, 4 I find that when I get casual in my rela