Dec 02

LDS Study Tools – RSS Feeds

There are myriad ways to communicate and disseminate information on the Internet. One that helps me keep up with news is called RSS (or Really Simple Syndication). These types of feeds are great for retrieving the latest articles and information directly from a website. This only works if the site offers RSS feeds, of course. You just copy the feed link from the site and put it into your RSS reader.

Of the thousands available, there are a few RSS feeds that will give you news and current events of the Church. Some give you access to wonderful articles on Gospel topics. Yet others will provide you with academic or scholarly research done on other theological subjects.

I wanted to provide you with a list of RSS feeds that I have found to be most related to the Church and Gospel. They are listed below:

So grab your favorite RSS feed reader and load those feeds into it. They are quite enlightening and informative.

Do you have other LDS RSS feeds that you really like? Post them in the comments below so we can share them with everyone.

Take a look at some of the other Gospel study tools that there are available.

Nov 26

Unique Gospel Study System

We’ve got a way to completely overhaul your scripture study. Take a look at what our study journal has to offer.

The Gospel study journal:

  • provides you with the full LDS scriptures online
  • allows you to quickly retrieve notes and thoughts that you have recorded.
  • you can print your journal notes out at any time.
  • makes it easy to share thoughts and ideas with others.
  • makes it easy to remember the entire thought you had when you made the note.
  • allows for new inspiration – not bind you to only what you’ve already learned.
  • helps keep your scriptures from wearing out because of over-marking them.
  • helps prevent losing all of your notes should your scriptures get lost.
  • provides some structure without being overly rigid.

The journal entries you create can be linked together. You can tag them with keywords. You can link scripture references to them. Entries may also contain citations from other books which you feel are relevant.

Take a look at the QuickStart Guide to see how easy it is to use.

We want to your feedback!

Please leave thoughts, comments, and suggestions on our Contact Us page.

Nov 11

Free Gospel Study Journal

Would you like to have the perfect scripture study journal? One that you will never lose? The Gospel study journal offered at LDSScriptureStudy.com is just what you’re looking for. You can have your notes online, printed out, or both.

The Gospel study journal will:

  • allow you to quickly retrieve notes and thoughts that you have recorded.
  • make it easy to share thoughts and ideas with others.
  • make it easy to remember the entire thought you had when you made the note.
  • allow for new inspiration – not bind you to only what you’ve already learned.
  • help keep your scriptures from wearing out because of over-marking them.
  • help prevent losing all of your notes should your scriptures get lost.
  • provide some structure but without being overly rigid.

The journal entries you create can be linked together. You can tag them with keywords. You can link scripture references to them. Entries may also contain citations from other books which you feel are relevant.

To create your free Gospel study journal, visit http://www.ldsscripturestudy.com/

For a more detailed explanation of how the study journal works, see “The Study Journal.”

Mar 04

New Version Released!

We are pleased to announce that a new version of the study journal has been released.  Most of the updates had to do with notes not saving properly.  The note editor has also been updated.  A few other minor things were fixed as they were found.  If you would like a free LDS Scripture Study journal, claim yours at http://www.ldsscripturestudy.com/ .  We always welcome feedback!  Please let us know about your experience on our Contact Page.

Mar 17

Gospel Scholarship: Why Keep a Study Journal?

Book of Mormon Study JournalWhat is so important about keeping a personal journal?

First, let’s establish a scope of what we are talking about. In my mind, a personal journal is something that I would pass on to my posterity. Therefore, I would write in it the things of most importance to me for them. This would be things like personal revelations and spiritual experiences, as well as major events in my life.

1 Nephi 19:3“And after I had made these plates by way of commandment, I, Nephi, received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon these plates; and that the things which were written should be kept for the instruction of my people, who should possess the land, and also for other wise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord.”

Nephi understood that the things that he was going to write on the plates were for the instruction of the people who should live in the land after he did. He wrote on these plates the plain and precious parts of the prophecies and ministry that took place among his people. Nephi wasn’t the only person who thought this way.

1 Nephi 5:21 – They were able to preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children.

Omni 1:17“And at the time that Mosiah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them.”

It seems to me that the fact that their language had become corrupted had a direct relationship to the fact that they brought no records with them. Here is why I think this:

Moses 1:5-7:
“5 And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration;
6 And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled.
7 Now this same Priesthood, which was in the beginning, shall be in the end of the world also.”

Adam kept a book of revelations. He used it to teach his children to read and write. As a correlation to this, they had a language that was pure and undefiled. Therefore, his children were able to learn the same language. They were able to teach it to their children the same way. It’s interesting to note that this process is called “this same Priesthood”. The process of recording one’s personal revelations is considered to be a thing of the priesthood.

D&C 68:4“And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.”

How could it become “scripture” save it were written down? The very root of the word, “script”, means “to be written.” When we are moved upon by the power of the Holy Ghost, we need to write it down. We can thus preserve a perfect memory of the event. We then have that memory recorded for retrieval at a later date. This can be for many reasons, one of which Nephi mentions:

1 Nephi 19:18“And I, Nephi, have written these things unto my people, that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer.”

Throughout the Standard Works, the word “remember” and slight variations thereof appear 500 times. Do you think it’s important that we remember the teachings of the Lord to us? What about those personal things that He has revealed to you personally?

Just for the thrill of it, check out an article in the New Era, December 1980, page 26. It’s by President Spencer W. Kimball, and it’s called “President Kimball Speaks Out on Personal Journals.” He explicitly states, “We hope you will do this, our brothers and sisters, for this is what the Lord has commanded, and those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives.”

Well, a prophet has stated that it is a commandment, so that’s good enough for me.

Mosiah 17:4“But he fled from before them and hid himself that they found him not. And he being concealed for many days did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken.”

Why did Alma write all of this? He wrote it because he believed it and knew that it was true. So why don\’t we write down our own personal convictions and revelations?

2 Nephi 25: 23 & 26
23 – “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
26 – “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”

Jacob 4:1-4
1 – NOW behold, it came to pass that I, Jacob, having ministered much unto my people in word, (and I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain;
2 – But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers-
3 – Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents.
4 – For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.

Look at the reasons that these people gave for writing. They wrote to persuade their families to believe in Christ and to be reconciled to God. They wrote so that their families would know where to look for a remission of their sins. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Apr 22

Online Scripture Study Journal

Would you like an LDS Scripture Study journal? Take a look at what our study journal has to offer.

The Gospel study journal:

  • gives you the full LDS scriptures online
  • allows you to quickly retrieve notes and ideas that you have recorded.
  • makes it easy to share these ideas with others.
  • makes it easy to remember the entire thought you had when you made the note.
  • allows for new inspiration – not bind you to only what you’ve already learned.
  • helps keep your scriptures from wearing out because of over-marking them.
  • helps prevent losing all of your notes should your scriptures get lost.
  • provides some structure without being overly rigid.

The journal entries you create can be linked together. You can tag them with keywords. You can link scripture references to them. Entries may also contain citations from other books which you feel are relevant.

Take a look at the QuickStart Guide to see how easy it is to use.

We want to your feedback!

Please leave thoughts, comments, and suggestions on our Contact Us page.

Sep 19

Why Study the Gospel?

Studying the Gospel isn’t always at the forefront of most peoples’ minds.  They may think more about the immediate, weighty matters of life.  What some folks may not realize, though, is that a knowledge of the Gospel is part of why we are here.

Understanding the Scriptures should be a high priority for us all.  What loving parent, when a child leaves the house, wouldn’t make sure they knew how to get back home?  Of course it’s up to the child whether they do come back home.  If the child is away for an extended period of time, wouldn’t their parent want them to call home and tell them how things are going?  Thus it is with us: we are given commandments to read the scriptures and have daily communication with the Lord.

When you study the Gospel, you are also quite likely going to have the Holy Ghost to be with you.  The Holy Ghost has a refining, settling effect on your life.  If your life seems like it’s hectic, what more could you want than having the companionship of one of the members of the Godhead to be with you?  This is one of the reasons that I enjoy contemplating the Gospel.  I am able to feel the companionship of the Holy Spirit.

As you put more effort into your studies, you get much more out of them.  A slight daily glance at the Gospel will not get you very far.  But if you dig in with all your might and study the Gospel the best way you know how, you will gain an understanding of why we are here.  You will have the Holy Ghost to be with you.  You will have a more fulfilled life.