Monday, October 3, 2011

The Power of Memorizing Book of Mormon Teachings



One of the statements that stood out to me while I was listening to General Conference this weekend was this one by Richard G. Scott: "Great power can come from memorizing scriptures." and "A memorized scripture becomes an enduring friend that does not weaken with the passage of time." 

My heart immediately recognized this as truth that was important for me, so I wrote it down.  Later I wondered just how I should go about memorizing scriptures to help me have more power in my life.  I mean, there are sooo many verses to choose from.

As I was reading The Book of Mormon this morning, the answer came.  I immediately started thinking of key words found in my favorite verses of scripture, and I realized that I could use the alphabet to help me remember them.  (Remember my Family Proclamation ABCs study plan?)  Yeah, it's kind of like that.

Now, I have focused specifically on scriptures from The Book of Mormon, because my major focus this month is to testify of and share the truths found in this sacred book to my friends online.  As part of this effort, 50 other bloggers have agreed to join me in sharing their testimonies online.  There will be testimonies, guest posts, and basic truths shared here on my blog, and I invite all of you reading to join me.  (Please comment here or email me if you'd like to get on-board!)

Anyway, an interesting thing happened as I searched for Book of Mormon scriptures using key words that matched up with the ABCs.  I found that every single scripture I looked up mentioned Jesus Christ, either explicitly or implicitly.  (I included most of those, but swapped out a few verses to include a few of my very favorites.)  

I have included the list of scriptures below that I will be working to memorize, because I think it gives a pretty good introduction to some of the truths found in The Book of Mormon.  I have many Christian friends, who like what we say and do, but wonder what The Book of Mormon really says and really teaches.  Well, my friends, your time to find out the answer to that question is now...starting with these scriptures that I am sharing with you below.

If you like what you see here, and would like to read more, please send me an email at jocelyn.christensen@gmail.com.  I would be happy to send you a copy of the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon ABCs

The Book of Mormon Forum

A – “ADAM fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” 2 Nephi 2:25, Page 58

B – “BELIEVE in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all things which the Lord can comprehend.” Mosiah 4:9, Page 155

C – “And we talk of CHRIST, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 2 Nephi 25:26, Page 100

D – “…there is a DEATH which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death.” Alma 11:42, Page

E – “…I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but his is unchangeable from all ETERNITY to all eternity.” Moroni 8:18, Page 526

F – “FEAST upon the words of Christ; for behold the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”  2 Nephi 32: 3, Page 115

G – “It is by GRACE that we are saved, after all we can do.” 2 Nephi 25:23, Page 98

H – “…Seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the HOLY GHOST, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in your forever. Amen.” Ether 12:41, Page 511

I – “I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest.  And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on IMMORTALITY, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he shall say unto me; Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.” Enos 1:27, Page 138

J – “And now the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of JUSTICE, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.” Alma 42:15, Page 312

K – “But seek ye first the KINGDOM of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” 3 Nephi 13:33, Page 435

L – “Charity is the pure LOVE of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.” Moroni 7:47,Page 524

M – “If there were MIRACLES wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being?  And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.” Mormon 9:19, Page 486

N – “For the NATURAL man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” Mosiah 3:19, Page 153

O – “…Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh receiveth, and unto him that knocketh, it shall be OPENED.” 3 Nephi 27:29, Page 460

P – “…Ye must PRAY always, and not faint…pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.” 2 Nephi 32:9, Page 115

Q – “And not many days hence, the Son of God shall come in his glory; and his glory shall be the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, equity, truth, full of patience, mercy, and long-suffering, QUICK to hear the cries of his people and to answer their prayers.” Alma 9:26, Page 231

R – “…the RESURRECTION of Christ redeemeth all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.” Helaman 14:17, Page 402

S – “When ye are in the SERVICE of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.” Mosiah 2:17

T – “By the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the TRUTH of all things.” Moroni 10:5, Page 529

U – “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in UNITY and in love one towards another.” Mosiah 18:21,Page 182

V – “…there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no VICTORY, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.” Mosiah 16:8, Page 178

W – “Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness.  Behold, I say unto you, WICKEDNESS never was happiness.” Alma 41:20, Page 310

X – “It showeth unto the children of men the straightness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which ye should enter, he having set the EXAMPLE before them.” 2 Nephi 31:9, Page 113

Y – “YE must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” 2 Nephi 31:20, Page 114

Z – “And they were numbered among the people of Nephi, and also numbered among the people who were of the church of God.  And they were also distinguished for their ZEAL towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end.” Alma 27:27, Page277



28 comments:

  1. This blog has become my new favorite! Thank you for your light and example! This is exactly the kind feel I wish I had for my blog. I'm working on it!

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  2. Awesome post, Jocelyn! I LOVE that picture! I'm excited to read all your Book of Mormon posts this month. Will be posting my first forum post tomorrow.

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  3. This is great. Thanks for sharing them. That was one of my favorite quotes as well.
    I would love to be a part of the Book of Mormon forum as well.

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  4. I've just started following your blog and I REALLY love this idea and I'm totally in. Thanks for sharing your talents with us!

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  5. I loved this as well!! Conference was great, I didn't want it to end~

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  6. Wow,you have come up with a great list. A few years ago I memorized 25 scriptures. A majority of them were from my Seminary teaching days.
    My favorite three are Proverbs 3:5-6 which I have used for years. I love D&C 93:1 and finally 2 Nephi 31:20; which was quoted several times durng conference.
    I love your plan for October.
    Blessings to you and I plan to enjoy reading your post and others on the Book of Mormon and perhaps write one too.

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  7. I also loved that quote- just pinned it.
    Thanks

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  8. Awesome! Those particular sentences stuck out to me too! In fact I was just working with my three year old on memorizing 2 Nephi 2:25 earlier today! Thanks for your list. It will be helpful to me!

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  9. The list is amazing!! Just know that you are inspiring everyone that reads your blog, members or not!! I am grateful for all that you do and for all the time you take to do it!!

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  10. That is a beautiful quote. I feel this same way about the hymns and primary songs, and am so grateful for the ones I know by heart. Memorizing scriptures is a lot more difficult for me, but I can see the great value of it. I will be pondering this quote and your list. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. I felt the same way during Elder Scott's talk, I definitely need to figure out which verses I want to memorize-although you've given me a great start. Thanks!

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  12. One of our goals at the beginning of the school year was to memorize at least a scripture a week as part of our morning school devotionals. We were very excited to hear Elder Scott's talk! Involving your children would be easy to do. Little ones have an uncanny ability for memorization!

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  13. What a great list! We are going to be going through the alphabet for school this year, and I think it will be a great way to incorporate the scriptures. Thanks for all of your hard work.

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  14. Um, that's a nice short skirt the lady on your graphic is wearing! Hope she's reading about modesty. :)

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  15. Excellent talk, beautiful picture. Thank you for sharing. I have shared it with my Seminary class.

    Oldham Seminary

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  16. I really love the Internet to make new LDS friends and be able to exchange knowledge.
    Jocelyn, you can trust that will attend the "list" and post on my blog.

    Kisses from Brazil

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  17. This idea for memorization help is pretty much genius, and your scripture choices are excellent!

    Maybe I need to get in on this Book of Mormon forum thing!

    =)

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  18. Love your list! What a great way to sum up the teachings of the Book of Mormon.

    We as a family have been talking about memorizing more scriptures lately, now that our son is getting old enough to begin memorizing. We're starting with the Articles of Faith since they also have songs to go along with them and that helps make memorizing fun for our 2 year old. :)

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  19. Great post, and I really like memorizing, little kids are really good at it too.

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  20. That same talk impacted me as well, and I also made a resolution to memorize scriptures. I too, wondered "which ones?" I LOVE this idea! I only skimmed the first few, because I decided that I will make my own list of ABC verses to memorize. Maybe then I will come back and compare them with yours. :)

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  21. Thank you for sharing this! I had found an idea of putting a flip book together for your kids for Easter of scriptures from A thru Z to help with memorization. However the ideas were from bible verses from multiple translations. So this is perfect and gives me a jump start of verses to use instead! This is the first time I have been to your blog and I am excited to see more of it!

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  22. Thank you so much! I just found your blog and am enjoying your site very much.

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  23. Thank you so much! I just found your blog and have read several articles that I really enjoyed.

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  24. Thank you for your post. Your idea was perfect for what I was looking for! Thanks a million for sharing! You made my day!

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  25. Thank you for this list, so great! I am leaving this next comment because I think you would want to know, not to be critical at all! But I think for your letter W you wanted Alma 41:10 :)

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  26. awesome list and would love to be a part of this...my email is transcendance44@gmail.com

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