When I start reading my scriptures, I look for my personal reactions. If I read a verse and think nothing of it or feel "right, I know this" then that tells me that I don't really understand what is going on. I haven't sufficiently questioned the verse. I find that it is very easy to read a few verses, put my scriptures down and go on with my day.
The truth is, I miss so much when I do that. Some time ago I started asking myself questions when I'd read. At first I wasn't sure what questions to ask. I had no idea what I was looking for or what would make the verses be more than just words on a page to me. It took a while of observing myself to learn the signs that there is more to be understood. The biggest one is what I've already mentioned - when I'm feeling very blasé about the verse in front of me, it tells me that I'm not really letting the scripture in.
This is when I stop and ask questions. Especially when it's a verse I've read so many times I've got the entire thing memorized. For me, memorizing a verse always makes things hard because I end up completely shutting down and going to autopilot - a totally different part of my brain is going during that time and the words have no power to sink into me.
The autopilot reaction is why I used to think that converts to anything always had an advantage above those who were raised with it. They could see things with fresh eyes. Everything was new to them and the newness of it changed them.
I started asking myself how I could see things with new eyes. That is when I changed the way I studied my scriptures. That is when I started paying attention to the tendency to feel nonchalant about a verse or to go into autopilot.
I now have a go-to list of questions that make all the difference for me when I'm studying.
Why?
Why did Nephi (or whomever) write about this? Why is this important? Why this particular word? Why is this phrasing this way?
For example, in Doctrine and Covenants 11:21 we read, in part "seek first to obtain my word..." So then I ask why? Why the word obtain? Why not read, or know, or understand, or study, or some other word? Why obtain? What does that word mean? How do I obtain something? What does it mean to obtain words vs. understand words vs. know words? And on the questioning goes. Suddenly there is more to that verse. Suddenly I have so many other things to think about.
After I ask why and begin the initial search of words that stand out and definitions and synonyms and all of that stuff, then I ask myself the next question.
So what?
So he used this particular word, so what? Why should that matter? How does this make it mean anything different? He did xyz...so what? What import does that bring to these words?
Going back to the 11:21 verse. He used the word obtain. So what? If obtain means to make something my own, to claim it and gain ownership or stewardship over it, so what? What is he trying to say here?
Then things start to form in my mind. I start to gain insights, and when done with prayer and asking for inspiration, the scriptures really begin to open up.
What does this have to do with me?
Here we come to personal application. How does this affect me? Does this doctrine or belief or principle matter to me in my life? Does it affect me? Should it affect me?
While going through these questions, there will be times that things don't apply to me - priesthood administration, offhand. But that doesn't mean that there are not spiritual and symbolic applications that don't apply to me.
Going back to 11:21 - What does the knowledge that the Lord is asking us to obtain His word have to do with me? What do I do about it? He is asking me to obtain His word, to make it my own. To have a connection with it that is as deep and full of understanding as His own connection with it. When I understand that meaning, then I understand that I have been given a charge by my Savior - a charge to obtain His word. If I understand that charge (which comes from searching out and questioning that verse) then my scripture study must change. The scriptures are where we find His word. I cannot obtain something with which I am entirely unfamiliar. I cannot make my own something I do not know and do not understand.
Do you see? A few key questions and what was a casual perusal of a few words has become pondering material for an entire day, perhaps longer. Then the application of that thing that has been learned comes. Now that I understand what it means to obtain His word, I can choose to go on as I have in the past or I can choose to apply this truth in my life. It is up to me.
Once I have experienced some enlightenment in my study, it becomes very hard to go back to anything else. When I haven't experienced, I don't know what I'm missing. But once you know, it makes life before so empty and boring, so meaningless. So then the choice really becomes one of deciding if I want the added level of truth and a greater measure of quickening within my soul or if I can be happy settling back down into where I had been before. And that is the question each of you will have to honestly face within yourselves as well.
Do you want to fast, or do you want to feast?
The truth is, I miss so much when I do that. Some time ago I started asking myself questions when I'd read. At first I wasn't sure what questions to ask. I had no idea what I was looking for or what would make the verses be more than just words on a page to me. It took a while of observing myself to learn the signs that there is more to be understood. The biggest one is what I've already mentioned - when I'm feeling very blasé about the verse in front of me, it tells me that I'm not really letting the scripture in.
This is when I stop and ask questions. Especially when it's a verse I've read so many times I've got the entire thing memorized. For me, memorizing a verse always makes things hard because I end up completely shutting down and going to autopilot - a totally different part of my brain is going during that time and the words have no power to sink into me.
The autopilot reaction is why I used to think that converts to anything always had an advantage above those who were raised with it. They could see things with fresh eyes. Everything was new to them and the newness of it changed them.
I started asking myself how I could see things with new eyes. That is when I changed the way I studied my scriptures. That is when I started paying attention to the tendency to feel nonchalant about a verse or to go into autopilot.
I now have a go-to list of questions that make all the difference for me when I'm studying.
Why?
Why did Nephi (or whomever) write about this? Why is this important? Why this particular word? Why is this phrasing this way?
For example, in Doctrine and Covenants 11:21 we read, in part "seek first to obtain my word..." So then I ask why? Why the word obtain? Why not read, or know, or understand, or study, or some other word? Why obtain? What does that word mean? How do I obtain something? What does it mean to obtain words vs. understand words vs. know words? And on the questioning goes. Suddenly there is more to that verse. Suddenly I have so many other things to think about.
After I ask why and begin the initial search of words that stand out and definitions and synonyms and all of that stuff, then I ask myself the next question.
So what?
So he used this particular word, so what? Why should that matter? How does this make it mean anything different? He did xyz...so what? What import does that bring to these words?
Going back to the 11:21 verse. He used the word obtain. So what? If obtain means to make something my own, to claim it and gain ownership or stewardship over it, so what? What is he trying to say here?
Then things start to form in my mind. I start to gain insights, and when done with prayer and asking for inspiration, the scriptures really begin to open up.
What does this have to do with me?
Here we come to personal application. How does this affect me? Does this doctrine or belief or principle matter to me in my life? Does it affect me? Should it affect me?
While going through these questions, there will be times that things don't apply to me - priesthood administration, offhand. But that doesn't mean that there are not spiritual and symbolic applications that don't apply to me.
Going back to 11:21 - What does the knowledge that the Lord is asking us to obtain His word have to do with me? What do I do about it? He is asking me to obtain His word, to make it my own. To have a connection with it that is as deep and full of understanding as His own connection with it. When I understand that meaning, then I understand that I have been given a charge by my Savior - a charge to obtain His word. If I understand that charge (which comes from searching out and questioning that verse) then my scripture study must change. The scriptures are where we find His word. I cannot obtain something with which I am entirely unfamiliar. I cannot make my own something I do not know and do not understand.
Do you see? A few key questions and what was a casual perusal of a few words has become pondering material for an entire day, perhaps longer. Then the application of that thing that has been learned comes. Now that I understand what it means to obtain His word, I can choose to go on as I have in the past or I can choose to apply this truth in my life. It is up to me.
Once I have experienced some enlightenment in my study, it becomes very hard to go back to anything else. When I haven't experienced, I don't know what I'm missing. But once you know, it makes life before so empty and boring, so meaningless. So then the choice really becomes one of deciding if I want the added level of truth and a greater measure of quickening within my soul or if I can be happy settling back down into where I had been before. And that is the question each of you will have to honestly face within yourselves as well.
Do you want to fast, or do you want to feast?
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