ABOUT

​

The main purpose of this blog and any study guide of the scriptures is to testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the God of ours and countless other worlds,

our Savior and Redeemer, and the only way through which mankind may live Eternally in God’s Holy Kingdom

The Language of Scriptures

(Excerpts based on Study Guide: Second Witness)

One day long ago my grandson brought me a treasure. It was a rock. Doing a bit of illegal digging, he had found it in my dad’s garden. During their growing-up years, my granddaughters also accumulated treasures—stickers, markers, and even bags of Fruit Loops and later make-up, CD’s, jewelry, perfume, i-pods and cell phones.

I taught school for many years, and throughout my career I faced a rooms full of treasures each day. Sometimes the value of these treasures was hidden—to me. But not to our Heavenly Father, who, as our Lord has told us, knows everything and everyone He has ever created—including sparrows (Matt 10: 29-31); “I created them and they are Mine.”

How do we find the value and treasured potential in our children, our neighbors, and ourselves? Our Lord has commanded us to do just that—and He helps us do it!  He nurtures us with our prophets, who, since our primal parents, Adam and Eve, have given us treasure maps to Eternal Life—the scriptures.

Treasure chests open best with keys. The symbolic treasure chests, our scriptures, also open more easily with keys. Nephi said he delighted in plainness (2 Nephi 25:4), so, although he knew it was important that his people have what he called “the language of our fathers” (1 Nephi 3:19), he also taught the lessons of Isaiah to his people in their own more modern language (2 Nephi 25:1-8).

But language is something that changes throughout the years.  Some keys to finding the treasures within our scriptures are the keys of understanding them—the keys of “reading to learn.”

When teaching in primary grades, although reading for meaning was seriously involved, I concentrated on teaching children to “learn to read” (the symbols of print). When teaching in intermediate grades, junior high school, high school, and college, I concentrated on teaching students to think beyond the printed symbols—incorporating deeper symbols as they “read to learn.”

The main purpose in studying scriptures is to gain a testimony, through the Power of the Holy Ghost, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the God of our world, our Savior and Redeemer—the only Way through which mankind may live Eternally in God’s Holy Kingdom. 

            What does literacy—or being able to understand and use language effectively—have to do with building and strengthening this testimony of Jesus Christ?

            Living in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had direct and frequent contact with God. If they had questions, they could ask Him.  If He wanted to tell them something, they could discuss it face-to-face.

            One of the consequences of the Adam and Eve’s choice to eventually leave the Garden and have children was that it was then possible for the rest of us to be born.  Another major consequence is that there was no longer daily face-to-face contact with God.

            Yet God still communicated with Adam and Eve. They learned the Gospel through personal revelation, including Heavenly messengers, inspiration, and the word of God speaking to their hearts. They taught much of what they learned to their living posterity (Moses 5:4-12).

            How can we, Adam and Eve’s now living posterity, learn the word of God? God continues sending Heavenly messengers, living prophets, special people foreordained by Him to reveal His holy word, called from among the people to “nourish” us in the Gospel. They tell us, speaking and writing, many things God wants us to know.

            To understand the spirit of what prophets say and write, we must have the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Ghost. But we also have the responsibility to use our own efforts to comprehend the language in which the word of God is given. God’s word is first often spoken, either aloud or in the heart of the receiver; most of us study these scriptures from written discourse. Languages, translations, and cultures change over the years, so scriptures can be challenging to understand.

Learning the language of the scriptures is an important part in building and strengthening testimonies. Just as important as “learning to read” is “reading to learn!”

After many years of teaching elementary, junior high school, and prospective teachers in college, I took a year of sabbatical leave.  One of my hopes was to put together a sensible literacy program, based on solid learning theory connected to practical strategies and activities.

            Spring of that year, as I was walking and thinking about what I should do next with the program I had spent many months working on, the scripture “…seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all things shall be added unto you,” (Matt 6:33) came forcefully to my mind along with the thought that I should write a study guide that particularly applied literacy principles to add to further understanding of the Holy Scriptures. I had been re-reading Mosiah, Chapter 25. I now looked at Mosiah 26 with new eyes, transferring many literacy principles that I had learned over the years to the study of this enlightening chapter.  Voila! I soon found I understood what I was reading with much more depth. I continued on to Alma 14, and then decided to go back to 1 Nephi and study and write from there.

This blog contains excerpts from that nine-volume study guide written over the next several years.

Then, more recently, was impressed to make coloring packets of certain scriptural scenes. (I hope you enjoy them and use them.)

​

This year, as we follow the guidance in Come Follow Me, the blog is to supplement and hopefully expand the study of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, which is, of course, the major text.

​

It is my sincere desire that this blog will help others see that The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is truly a second witness to our Savior and His great atoning Sacrifice.  While this sacred book testifies of God’s love for us, it also helps us understand our responsibility and privilege as we do our part in the marvelous Plan of Salvation—the Plan of Redemption—the Plan of Eternal Happiness.

​

Kathryn Morgan-Larsen