Oct 23

Exciting New Technology Coming Soon!

As Latter-day Saints, we diligently strive to gain a mastery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no more important body of knowledge to apply to ourselves as human beings. Consider the following quotation of Elder Boyd K. Packer:

“True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior…. That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel” (Elder Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 17).

We find that this proposition is based upon scripture:

“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 31:5

My life is a testament to the soundness of this principle. As I spend time straining to understand the Gospel, studying and pondering the Scriptures, and writing down things that come to my mind, my very core behaviors change. If only slowly, my own perceptions of myself and the world around me become more positive.

The purpose of Gospel Study Journal is to enhance Gospel study and further Gospel scholarship through technology. This will be accomplished primarily with a specially-designed Gospel Study Journal. There is no cost to you should you decide to create one. Your entries are your own, and are kept private.

As you study the Gospel, you may have inspiration that you wish to write down. Even while doing completely unrelated things, impressions may come to you. You may have an experience that you may wish to record. This Study Journal will offer to you a central location to record all such notes, thoughts, and impressions.

In addition, the study journal will allow you to:

  • link together entries that are related.
  • tag entries with keywords describing the content.
  • link related scripture passages to your entries for easy reference in the future.
  • include relevant citations to other uplifting books that are not in the Standard Works.

As I have spent a great deal of time considering different scripture marking systems, some of them seem to have certain drawbacks, for example:

  • Scriptures wear out – Over time as you mark your scriptures, they begin to look tattered and become difficult to read. There is no longer room for new notes.
  • Lost scriptures mean lost notes – Should you lose your set of scriptures, all of your notes are lost, too.
  • Storage and Retrieval of Thoughts – How many times do you say, “Now, where did I mark that thought or idea?” Many systems fail to provide a good way to retrieve thoughts.
  • Difficult to share with others – Sharing thoughts and notes isn’t as easy as handing them a copy.
  • Forgetfulness – To save space, we sometimes use symbols to mark our scriptures. This means we have to remember what the symbols mean. We run the risk of forgetting what we wrote down.
  • Skew of Meaning – Let’s say you write a thought out to the side of a verse that touched your heart one day. The next time you read through that passage, you may see that note and mistakenly tell yourself, “I already know the meaning of that verse.” This is more common than you might think, and you may not even realize it’s happening. The idea is to have a clean slate where you are able to receive continued revelation, even on verses you may have read many times.
  • Either too much or not enough structure – With many systems, you are either told exactly how to use the system, and it is in a rigid format (such as a book). The huge drawback with books are that they are linear. You read them front to back, and cannot access many pages or pieces of pages at once. You are tied into the structure of the book and cannot move things around as you want.

The Study Journal offered on this site will overcome all of these problems. You will be able to link journal entries to each other, tag them with keywords, link them to scripture passages, or even add citations from other books into your notes, among other things. The benefit of an immersive, intensive study of the Gospel is a tendency towards self-improvement. These are all things that have contributed to the creation of this site.

A preliminary version of the Gospel Study Journal will be available on http://www.ldsscripturestudy.com/ very soon. We will keep you posted on the progress!

Oct 16

Scripture Study Session Format

When studying the scriptures, one of the primary goals is to learn about the Gospel.  As it is the Holy Ghost that instructs us, it raises the question: How can we best study such that we have the Holy Ghost with us?

As studying the scriptures itself brings the Holy Ghost, that is one thing we will already be doing.  Singing a hymn also brings the Holy Ghost.  Before you study next time, sing all of the verses of “I Am a Child of God.”  Then take note of the feelings brought to you through the presence of the Holy Ghost.

What else is very simple that we can do to feel the Spirit as we study the Gospel?  What if we said a prayer asking the Lord to pour out the power and influence of the Holy Spirit upon us as we study and ponder His holy teachings?

It is my experience that a hymn followed by a prayer as a prelude to studying the Gospel brings a much richer experience in my studies of the scriptures and Gospel scholarship as a whole.

Oct 15

Study Journal Progress

Studying the Gospel has been important to me for a long time.  The system hosted here has also been available for a number of years.  I’m re-writing it so that it is usable for everyone, and not just myself.  We’re making progress.

The Gospel Study Journal has all of the mechanics for doing what it needs to, but it isn’t quite polished.  That’s what the new version is all about.  So far, it displays about 25 entries per page.  The entries alternate colors so that it’s easy to view.  I have paging buttons to move through your collection of entries. I have a rudimentary search available.

My focus is making it as easy to use as possible.  This enables just about anyone to study the gospel in a simple and easy way.  In future releases, I would love to have localization set up so that we can translate it for folks who may not speak English.

Although the progress is slow, it’s coming along nicely.  It is worlds better than what is available now.  Subscribe to the RSS feed to keep appraised of progress on the new version of the Gospel Study Journal.