Searching the Scriptures
A bright
and successful missionary attended a Book of Mormon class that I had been
teaching for new members and people that missionaries had been teaching. It was obvious to me that the missionary was
well-versed in the Book of Mormon as well as all the scriptures and had a
strong testimony of the gospel. As I
taught the class I frequently referred to what I call red flags in the Book of Mormon that shout out to the reader to pay
attention to what follows.
The
missionary approached me after the class and thanked me for teaching her how to
study the Book of Mormon. “I’ve been a
member of the Church all my life and have read the Book of Mormon several
times,” she confided. “But, no one ever
taught me how to study it.”
I was taken
aback by her comment especially since she was so obviously well-versed in the
scriptures, had attended four years of seminary, and was now only weeks away
from finishing her full-time mission.
How was it possible, I wondered, that a person with such great
understanding and fervent testimony never learned how to study the Book of
Mormon? It finally occurred to me that
she had been taught all the scriptures and all the doctrine since her years in
Primary, in her home, in Young Women’s, and in Seminary. It was through her dutiful study she had all
those marvelous teachings confirmed in her heart by the Spirit, but she never
had the experience of discovering many of the marvelous truths on her own.
Teachers
and leaders tell us what to study (the scriptures and words of living prophets)
and provide us with valuable insights.
There are so many guides available to us ranging from the Topical Guide,
indices, and The Bible Dictionary to commentaries of all the Standard Works and
online resources. Using those resources
allows us to make in-depth study of topics in the scriptures and provide us
with practical application to the doctrines that learn. Our understanding of the scriptures can
experience tremendous growth as we rely upon these inspired resources.
Then of
course there is the measure of comfort that comes from simply reading the
scriptures and the light we allow into our lives by reading and pondering upon
this Holy Writ. The scriptures provide direct
answers to daily problems and by opening the conduit between heaven and earth
so we may receive inspiration from the Holy Ghost. We must never underestimate the power of the
scriptures in our lives.
There are,
however, other tools and means by which we can discover wonderful gospel
doctrine and gain a deeper understanding of the hidden truths within the pages
of the Standard Works.
In the
earlier parts of my career as a police patrol officer and later as a detective
I often found myself in the process of searching motor vehicles for contraband,
illegal weapons, and other evidence of crime.
I learned how to search
vehicles at the police academy. But, it
was through experience that I learned where it would be within the search that
I could find evidence that I was looking for.
These were places in cars where I paid extra attention because I knew
that these signal locations were most likely to yield the evidence I
sought. These signal locations were
generally under arm rests, inside consoles, in glove boxes, above sun visors,
under floor mats, under seats, and quite often in closed containers such as
film canisters, bags, or purses. These
areas were my red flags and signaled to me that there would be a higher
probability I would find what I was looking for than anywhere else in the car. Also, it did not take me long to recognize
the odor of freshly cut or recently smoked marijuana from a stopped car even
when I sat in my own patrol car. Being
able to “smell it out” and knowing where to look within the confines of an
automobile led to several contraband seizures.
As I have searched
the Book of Mormon I have come to recognize signal locations or red flag areas
that point to evidence of doctrine to follow.
Instead of arm rests, under car seats, or in consoles, the red flags in
the scriptures are specific words and phrases.
Among them are phrases that include and
thus we see, and inasmuch, and if…then
statements. One such example is in King
Benjamin’s sermon on service. “Behold,
ye have called me your king; and if
I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?” (Mosiah 2:18).
“Often, the if…then statements are implied or may only include the word if.
Another important red flag is the word when, which occurs over 2100 times in the scriptures and frequently
points to an important doctrine. Moroni
uses both if and when to signal and important
lesson. “And when ye shall receive
these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in
the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having
faith in Christ, (then) he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power
of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of
the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:4 - 5).
Everyone
understands that when you see the word remember
in the Book of Mormon that it signals us that an important doctrinal message is
to follow. One such example can be found
in Second Nephi. “O, my beloved
brethren, remember the awfulness in
transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the
enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally–minded is
death, and to be spiritually–minded is life eternal” (2 Nephi 9:39).
Frequently
we see the repetition of a word in a verse or within a few verses in a chapter
or two. King Benjamin in telling us the
importance of remaining “steadfast and immovable” (Mosiah 5: 15) uses the word name no less than a dozen times before
he tells us to be steadfast and immovable.
In those verses we learn that we need to have faith on His name, that
there is no other name by which salvation may be obtained, and that we should
always have His name written in our hearts.
We also learn that the name is Christ (Mosiah 5: 7 – 14).
Another
example of the repetition of a word can be found in Third Nephi. The word pray
or prayed is used nearly 40 times
from 3 Nephi 18: 15 through 3 Nephi 19: 36.
In those verses He tells us to pray to avoid temptation, to pray in our
families, to pray for those who don’t attend our meetings, to pray for the
world, to pray without ceasing, and to pray to the Father and then minister to
those we pray for.
Sometimes
an important word does not appear several times within a verse or within a chapter,
but may appear several times throughout the scriptures as if to punctuate a
principle. The word flattery appears several times throughout the Book of Mormon and
describes the means by which followers of Satan attempt to lead the faithful
away. Sherem, who denied the existence
of Christ, used flattery to shake the
faith of believers (Jacob 7: 4 – 5).
Alma, before his conversion used flattery
to lead people away (Mosiah 27: 8).
Korihor, the antichrist used flattering
words to bring souls to destruction (Alma 30: 47). Amalickiah used flattering words to get members of the church dissent (Alma 46: 7,
10). Clearly, the message here is that
we need to recognize flattery when we hear it and distance ourselves from
temptation that may follow.
Other important signs are the
inclusions of lists of actions, attributes, behaviors, and events. Two such lists are in Amulek’s discourse
found in Alma. Amulek teaches about
prayer and says that we must (1) “cry unto him”, (2) humble ourselves, (3) pray
in our fields and flocks, (4) pray in our houses, (5) pray for our households,
(6) pray morning, noon, and night, (7) pray against the power of our enemies,
(8) pray against the devil, (9) pray in secret, (10) pray in our hearts, and
(11) pray continually for our welfare and the welfare of those around us (Alma
34: 18 – 27). Amulek provides another
list in Alma 34: 37 – 41.
Important gospel truths frequently
follow the word except. This word occurs over 100 times in the Book
of Mormon. For sure, not every except in the Book of Mormon precedes an
important message, but when seen it is worth sniffing out. As examples, consider “For behold, except ye shall keep the commandments of
God ye shall all likewise perish…” (2 Nephi 30:1), “Now ye see that this is the
true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve
us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion;
and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith” (Alma
44:4), or “And it came to pass that in the days of Ethem there came many
prophets, and prophesied again unto the people; yea, they did prophesy that the
Lord would utterly destroy them from off the face of the earth except they repented of their
iniquities” (Ether 11:12). The message
of except ye or they repent occurs
four times in the eleventh chapter of Ether alone!
And
thus we see appears over a dozen times in the Book of Mormon and generally
occurs at the conclusion of a story line or event. When this phrase appears it often signals an
important lesson that we should learn from the story. “And
thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things” (1
Nephi 16:29), “And thus we see the
end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the
last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell” (Alma 30:60), or “And thus we see that except the Lord
doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them
with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence,
they will not remember him” (Helaman 12:3).
Note also the inclusion of the word except
in Helaman 12: 3.
Not every except, and thus we see, if…then, or when signals and important doctrine. Not every list of events or actions or every because, but behold, I know, and inasmuch,
wherefore, therefore, and if it so be
will have a message that will resonate with you. But, by ignoring these red flags we risk
missing important gospel principles. And
when one considers the fact that Mormon was dealing with limited space to make
his abridgement he probably carefully chose every word that he inscribed on the
plates.
As you continue to study the
scriptures you will find other red flags or signals of important gospel
doctrines to follow. The list provided
here is by no means complete nor is it the only means of coming to discover
gospel principles. However, these signal
clues or red flags that pop up in the course of your search of the scriptures
coupled with sincere prayer and using other study resources such as the Topical
Guide, LDS Hymns, the teachings of
latter-day prophets and apostles, and General Conference talks can help in the
discovery of important doctrines within the scriptures, especially the Book of
Mormon.
