Scripture Study
721. We are to read and study the scriptures regularly.
722. Parents are to teach their children to study the scriptures.
723. Answers to personal problems can come through scripture study.
724. Members of the Church are to read the Book of Mormon particularly.
725. Reading the scriptures enlarges our spiritual endowments.
721. We are to read and study the scriptures regularly.
President Ezra Taft Benson
President Spencer W. Kimball
Jesus
President Spencer W. Kimball
Joseph Smith
Mark E. Petersen
President Spencer W. Kimball
Bruce R. McConkie
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith
Henry B. Eyring
Peter
George Q. Cannon
Paul
Alma, the younger
President Brigham Young
Mormon
President Ezra Taft Benson,
also quoting
President Spencer W. Kimball
In a First Presidency message in 1976, President Kimball said:
"I am convinced that each of us, at least some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves—and not just discover them once, but rediscover them again and again. . . .
"The Lord is not trifling with us when he gives us these things, for 'unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.' (Luke 12:48) Access to these things means responsibility for them. We must study the scriptures according to the Lord's commandment (see 3 Nephi 23:1-5); and we must let them govern our lives." (En1976Sept:4-5). . . .
I add my voice to these wise and inspired brethren [referencing President Spencer W. Kimball, Bruce R. McConkie and Boyd K. Packer] and say to you that one of the most important things you can do as priesthood leaders is to immerse yourselves in the scriptures. Search them diligently. Feast upon the words of Christ. Learn the doctrine. Master the principles that are found therein. There are few other efforts that will bring greater dividends to your calling. There are few other ways to gain greater inspiration as you serve. . . .
I urge you to recommit yourselves to a study of the scriptures. Immerse yourselves in them daily so you will have the power of the Spirit to attend you in your callings. Read them in your families and teach your children to love and treasure them. Then prayerfully and in counsel with others, seek every way possible to encourage the members of the Church to follow your example. (To the Church in a priesthood leadership meeting, April 4, 1986; published in the Ensign by direction of President Benson) EN1986May:81-82
Jesus,
quoted by John
quoted by John
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (Jesus addresses the Jews) John 5:39
President Spencer W. Kimball
Perhaps you have noticed that for many years the General Authorities have urged us all with increasing frequency and in a spirit of love to adopt a program of daily gospel study in our homes, both as individuals and as families . . . scarcely a meeting comes to a close without an inspired admonition from priesthood leaders to read and study the scriptures. . . .
. . . 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. (Published message of the First Presidency of the Church) EN1976Sep:2
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
receiving the Word of the Lord
[S]tudy my word which hath gone forth among the children of men. . . . (Revelation for Hyrum Smith, May 1829) D&C 11:22
Mark E. Petersen
It is through reading the scriptures that we learn what the Lord requires of us. If we do not know these requirements, how can we live them? There are two reasons why it is our responsibility to read the scriptures and know what the Lord's requirements are: that we may obey them and obtain our salvation, and that we may know by what rules we shall be judged at the last day. (Malachi and the Great and Dreadful Day, p. 16) TLDP:614
President Spencer W. Kimball
Study the scriptures. Thus you may gain strength through the understanding of eternal things. You young women need this close relationship with the mind and will of our Eternal Father. We want our sisters to be scholars of the scriptures as well as our men.
You need an acquaintanceship with his eternal truths for your own well-being, and for the purposes of teaching your own children and all others who come within your influence. (Women's fireside, 1978) (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 129) TLDP:607
Bruce R. McConkie
Treasure up the Lord's word. Possess it, own it, make it yours by both believing it and living it. For instance: the voice of the Lord says that if men have faith, repent, and are baptized, they shall receive the Holy Ghost. It is not sufficient merely to know what the scripture says. One must treasure it up, meaning take it into his possession so affirmatively that it becomes a part of his very being; as a consequence, in the illustration given, one actually receives the companionship of the Spirit. Obviously such persons will not be deceived where the signs of the times and the Second Coming of the Messiah are concerned. (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:662) DGSM:96
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith
It is the duty of the members of this Church to make themselves familiar with the revelations as they have been given and with the commandments as they have been taught in these revelations, or have been presented in them and given to the people, that they may know the truth which makes us free. CR1931Oct:17-18
Henry B. Eyring
Another simple thing to do, which allows God to give us strength, is to feast on the word of God: 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. The promise is given in the Book of Mormon, but it applies as well to all the words of God that He has given and will give us through His prophets. (CR 2004Apr; In the Strength of the Lord, Ensign, May 2004, p.16)
Related Witnesses:
Peter
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (Peter writes to members of the Church, about A.D. 60-64) 2 Peter 1:19-21
George Q. Cannon
The inspired books are superior to all others. No matter how good books may be nor how good the men may be who write them, they are not the standard works of the Church. The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price are the standard works. Others may be written under the influence of the Spirit of God, but they are not the word of God to the people. (Gospel Truth, 2:246) TLDP:608-09
Paul
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17. That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (Paul writes to his assistant Timothy, about A.D. 64) 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Alma, the younger,
quoted by Mormon
quoted by Mormon
And Alma said unto them: Behold, ye have said that ye could not worship your God because ye are cast out of your synagogues. But behold, I say unto you, if ye suppose that ye cannot worship God, ye do greatly err, and ye ought to search the scriptures; if ye suppose that they have taught you this, ye do not understand them. (Alma tells the people that the scriptures testify of the Son of God, about 74 B.C.) Alma 33:2
President Brigham Young,
quoted by John A. Widtsoe
quoted by John A. Widtsoe
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 with your households. (In Tabernacle, Oct. 8, 1859, JD7:333) DBY:128
Mormon
And it came to pass after he had made an end of speaking unto the people many of them did believe on his words, and began to repent, and to search the scriptures. (Alma has been preaching repentance to his brethren in the gospel, about 82 B.C.) Alma 14:1
722. Parents are to teach their children to study the scriptures.
Elder George Albert Smith
President Ezra Taft Benson
President Ezra Taft Benson
M. Russell Ballard
Elder George Albert Smith
In our homes . . . it is our privilege, nay, it is our duty, to call our families together to be taught the truths of the Holy scriptures. In every home, children should be encouraged to read the word of the Lord, as it has been revealed to us in all dispensations. We should read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price; not only read it in our homes, but explain it to our children, that they may understand the . . . dealings of God with the peoples of the earth. CR1914Apr:12
President Ezra Taft Benson
I urge you to recommit yourselves to a study of the scriptures. Immerse yourselves in them daily so you will have the power of the Spirit to attend you in your callings. Read them in your families and teach your children to love and treasure them. Then prayerfully and in counsel with others, seek every way possible to encourage the members of the Church to follow your example. (To the Church in a priesthood leadership meeting, April 4, 1986; published in the Ensign by direction of President Benson) EN1986May:81-82
President Ezra Taft Benson
Children, support your parents in their efforts to have daily family scripture study. Pray for them as they pray for you. The Adversary does not want scripture study to take place in our homes, and so he will create problems if he can. But we must persist. Perhaps each family member can take a turn reading a verse at a time. Comments could follow. Maybe you can study by subject. Perhaps assignments might be made. CR1986Apr:99
M. Russell Ballard
There are powerful moments of communication through regular family prayer and through family scripture study. The scriptures will help define family values and goals, and talking together about them will assist family members to learn to become individually secure, spiritually strong, and self-reliant. This requires time, and so we need to counsel together about how much television, how many movies, videos, video games, time on the Internet, or out-of-the-home activities should be allowed. (CR 1999Apr; Like a Flame Unquenchable, Ensign, May 1999, p.85)
723. Answers to personal problems can come through scripture study.
President Spencer W. Kimball
Jacob, brother of Nephi
L. Tom Perry
President Ezra Taft Benson
President Ezra Taft Benson
Richard L. Evans
Paul
President Joseph F. Smith
President Spencer W. Kimball
The years have taught me that if we energetically pursue this worthy personal goal [of scripture study] in a determined and conscientious manner, we shall indeed find answers to our problems and peace in our hearts. We shall experience the Holy Ghost broadening our understanding, find new insights, witness an unfolding pattern of all scripture; and the doctrines of the Lord shall come to have more meaning to us than we ever thought possible. (Area conference, Manila, Philippines, 1975) (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 135) TLDP:607
Jacob, brother of Nephi
And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul. (Jacob teaches the Nephites in the temple, 544-421 B.C.) Jacob 2:8
L. Tom Perry
Oh, how I can bear witness to the value of the scriptures in my life. I am absolutely convinced that they have answers to every problem in life. When a problem develops, after praying for instruction from the Lord, you ought to turn to the scriptures to find your answer. ACR(San Jose)1977:15; TLDP:608
President Ezra Taft Benson,
also quoting Jacob, brother of Nephi
Do you have members in your stakes whose lives are shattered by sin or tragedy, who are in despair and without hope? Have you longed for some way to reach out and heal their wounds, soothe their troubled souls? The prophet Jacob offers just that with this remarkable promise: "And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul." (Jacob 2:8) (To the Church in a priesthood leadership meeting, April 4, 1986; published in the Ensign by direction of President Benson) EN1986May:81-82
President Ezra Taft Benson
Often we spend great effort in trying to increase the activity levels in our stakes. . . . to raise the percentages of those attending sacrament meetings . . . to get a higher percentage of our young men on missions . . . to improve the numbers of those marrying in the temple. . . . 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. (To the Church in a priesthood leadership meeting, April 4, 1986; published in the Ensign by direction of President Benson) EN1986May:80
Related Witnesses:
Richard L. Evans
The whole intent of scripture is one of establishing our relationship with God, our Father, and with his Son, our Savior, and with the eternal plans and purposes for each and all of us, and our relationships to life—and to one another also. CR1959Oct:127
Paul
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (Letter to the Church in Rome, about A.D. 55) Romans 15:4
President Joseph F. Smith
The Scriptures . . . are intended to enlarge man's spiritual endowments and to reveal and intensify the bond of relationship between him and his God. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 46) TLDP:607
724. Members of the Church are to read the Book of Mormon particularly.
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith
Marion G. Romney
President Ezra Taft Benson
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Elder Heber J. Grant
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith
No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon. . . . CR1961Oct:18
Marion G. Romney
Nephi tells us that its [the Book of Mormon's] contents "shall go from generation to generation as long as the earth shall stand; . . . and the nations who shall possess them [the teachings of the Book of Mormon] shall be judged of them according to the words which are written." (2 Nephi 25:22)
For me there could be no more impelling reason for reading the Book of Mormon than this statement that we who have the Book of Mormon shall be judged by what is written in it.
Moroni says that the very reason the book has been given to us is that we may know the "decrees of God" (Ether 2:11) set forth therein and by obedience to them escape the calamities which are to follow disobedience. . . .
There is another reason why we should read the Book of Mormon: By doing so we will fill and refresh our minds with a constant flow of the "water" which Jesus said would be in us "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). We must obtain a continuing supply of this water if we are to resist evil and retain the blessings of being born again. . . .
If we would avoid adopting the evils of the world, we must pursue a course which will daily feed our minds with, and call them back to, the things of the Spirit. I know of no better way to do this than by daily reading the Book of Mormon. CR1980Apr:87-88
President Ezra Taft Benson
Unless we read the Book of Mormon and give heed to its teachings, the Lord has stated in section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants that the whole Church is under condemnation. CR1986Apr:4
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Is the Book of Mormon true? Yes.
Who is it for? Us.
What is its purpose? To bring men to Christ.
How does it do this? By testifying of Christ and revealing his enemies.
How are we to use it? We are to get a testimony of it, we are to teach from it, we are to hold it up as a standard and "hiss it forth."
Have we been doing this? Not as we should, nor as we must.
Do eternal consequences rest upon our response to this book? Yes, either to our blessing or our condemnation. CR1975Apr:94-95
Elder Heber J. Grant
I rejoice in the wonderful spirit of the Book of Mormon. I believe that it is one of the greatest missionaries in the hands of the Elder that it is possible for him to have. I believe that no man can open that book and read it with a prayerful heart, and ask God, in the name of Jesus Christ, for a testimony regarding its divinity, but what the Lord will manifest unto him by His Spirit the truth of the book. Now that is the promise made in the book itself and God has performed it; He has done it in thousands of cases. There is a mark of divinity in this book; and I maintain that no man can read, for instance the 36th chapter, the commandments of Alma to his son Helaman, without receiving an impression of this kind. CR1908Apr:57
725. Reading the scriptures enlarges our spiritual endowments.
President Joseph F. Smith
Bruce R. McConkie
Mormon
Nephi, son of Lehi
Marion G. Romney
Paul
President Spencer W. Kimball
Joseph Smith
President Joseph F. Smith
The Scriptures . . . are intended to enlarge man's spiritual endowments and to reveal and intensify the bond of relationship between him and his God. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 46) TLDP:607
Bruce R. McConkie
The Holy Scriptures are given to guide men to that state of spiritual enlightenment and perfection attained by those of old who worked out their salvation.
"The holy scriptures," Paul told his beloved Timothy, "are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." The scriptures open the door; they mark the course we must pursue; they identify the strait and narrow path; they testify of Christ and his laws; they engender faith; their worth cannot be revealed, men must walk therein to gain the desired eternal reward. (The Mortal Messiah, 1:266) TLDP:608
Mormon
And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God. (Alma heads a mission to reclaim the apostate Zoramites, about 74 B.C.) Alma 31:5
Nephi, son of Lehi
Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. (Nephi's writings, 559-545 B.C.) 2 Nephi 32:3
Marion G. Romney
If we would avoid adopting the evils of the world, we must pursue a course which will daily feed our minds with, and call them back to, the things of the Spirit. I know of no better way to do this than by daily reading the Book of Mormon. CR1980Apr:88
Paul
For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Paul's letter to the Jewish members of the Church, about A.D. 60) Hebrews 4:12
President Spencer W. Kimball
The years have taught me that if we energetically pursue this worthy personal goal [of scripture study] in a determined and conscientious manner, we shall indeed find answers to our problems and peace in our hearts. We shall experience the Holy Ghost broadening our understanding, find new insights, witness an unfolding pattern of all scripture; and the doctrines of the Lord shall come to have more meaning to us than we ever thought possible. (Area conference, Manila, Philippines, 1975) (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 135) TLDP:607
Related Witnesses:
Joseph Smith
Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. (Joseph relates the background of his experience of the vision of the Father and the Son that occurred in the spring of 1820) JS-H 1:12
