I'm always in the market for new books that enhance my understanding and put life into my scripture study. What are some of your favorite books? I ask because Deseret Book has a 4 volume set on sale called "Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon". I don't live anywhere near an LDS bookstore, so getting to go leaf through it is not an option. The price is really good, $39.96 for the set. If you buy the books individually they're $14.41 each. With the amount of time it takes to order, process, and ship I don't want to order just one, find that they are really good, order the rest and pay more shipping. This month shipping within the US is only $2.99, not to mention I'd end up paying more for the books vs buying them as a set. Anyone familiar with these books?
I've been reading Jesus the Christ a little bit again (okay, I've never finished it. . .). It's kind of an obvious answer, but it really does bring the New Testament to life for me.
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
Because this year is the NT for Gospel Doctrine, I've been concentrating my studies there. Here are two resources I really like:
Basics of Biblical Greek by William D. Mounce. It's used in many first-year Greek courses in colleges and seminaries.
Synopsis of the Four Gospels edited by Kurt Alend. It's a side-by-side comparison of each event recorded in the Gospels. I find it interesting how many "holes" there are.
And for a thoroughly enjoyable read that gives a lot of interesting insights from a non-LDS perspective on our understanding of the premortal life and Satan's role in this world, I recommend "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis.
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
"True to the Faith" is pretty good. It is an offical church publication. It is sort of like Mormon Doctrine, without the need to add "not necesarily" to the beginning of the title.
I'm currently reading "Understanding Isaiah", which is pretty decent... very thorough...I haven't actually bothered with the ancient languages thing... it just seems... like one of those unending things that is too big to bother with, and has the serious ability to help you completely miss the point of the scriptures you're trying to understand. Jesus the Christ is the only other commentary I consistently return to...
I also like to simply listen to the scriptures on CD a lot... nothing helps you understand the scriptures better than, say, the scriptures themselves... :)
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Personally, I don't get into the commentaries/study helps too much. I find it sort of distracting when I'm pulled into someone else's way of thinking if I'm truly out for my own personal revelation and growth. I guess I look at the scriptures themselves as a means to personal revelation.
John 5: 39 39 ¶ Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
To me, this means the scriptures are not the "ultimate" spiritual experience, they are the way to the mind of Christ. It's just a personal thing, I guess. I find additional commentaries less than helpful. And yes, I've read Jesus the Christ, Doct. Comm. on the NT, etc... but I don't use them as a scripture study aid, as it were. To me there's studying the scriptures and then there's reading other stuff.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Because this year is the NT for Gospel Doctrine, I've been concentrating my studies there. Here are two resources I really like:
Basics of Biblical Greek by William D. Mounce. It's used in many first-year Greek courses in colleges and seminaries.
Synopsis of the Four Gospels edited by Kurt Alend. It's a side-by-side comparison of each event recorded in the Gospels. I find it interesting how many "holes" there are.
And for a thoroughly enjoyable read that gives a lot of interesting insights from a non-LDS perspective on our understanding of the premortal life and Satan's role in this world, I recommend "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis.
The screwtape letters are surprisingly accurate in their portrayal of how the adversary works. Of course, there are major flaws, but CS Lewis got close to the truth more often than not.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I utilize only Sunstone Magazine. In fact I don't even read the scriptures anymore just the magazine. I've even been thumbing through some Watchtowers recently for info for a Sacrament meeting talk.
fear of shiz wrote:How do you feel about non-LDS sources?
I use them often. While the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ may contain a fulness of truth, Deseret Book does not. I always gain new insights when I look at the Gospel from perspectives outside of mainstream Mormonism.
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
I find outside sources often to be trite and unchallenging, myself. I don't know that I know why this is... perhaps I'm just biased, but there always seems to be something missing that leaves me feeling like I need to say, "Yeah, but..."
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I will often go to historical sources, though not necessarily scriptural, but to get a perspective of the time or what was taking place at that time. I use Wikipedia a lot for this. While in the OT I read about Solomon and his worship of Molech. Solomon was a very bad man in this regard. I researched out Molech worship and learned a lot, enough to guess that Solomon's goose is pretty well cooked, pun intended. Btw, Molech worship involved...well, read up on it if you want to know.
I also like to watch archeological shows, Biblical archeology shows in particular.
Other books are the Pseudigraphia, Apocrypha, etc.
Like the scripture, these things all need to be studied with the Spirit.
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Lo, there I see my mother, my sisters, my brothers Lo, there I see the line of my people back to the beginning Lo, they call to me, they bid me take my place among them In the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live...forever
I like to read the sealed portion of the plates whenever Moroni stops by. He lets me use some really cool glasses because the font is kinda funny, kinda like wingdings.
Jase: And who can forget his comic on the evils of Dungeons and Dragons? Imagine having a child like this ...or this one http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0094/0094_01.asp (reminds me of some conspiracy theorists...)
Other Jase: Didn't Moroni sell the copyright to wingdings to Microsoft?
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Those Chick Tracts remind me of the videos they used to show us at the Evangelical Christain Elementary School I went to as a kid. They would show these horrible low budget movies about the rapture and the horrors of the world afterwards. They had people with bar code tattoos on their arms or forehead (mark of the beast) and they were executing people that became saved using a guillotine. It was almost comedic though. When those who had accepted Jesus in their hearts as their personal Savior were "taken" they showed cars going down the road with no driver and lawnmowers moving with no one behind them.
They often showed movies or had assembly's trying to get us to accept Jesus into our hearts so we wouldn't go to heck. I remember asking but about murderers and other really bad folks and didn't think it was fair that they could go to heaven if they accepted Jesus in their hearts before being executed but some little kid was going to hell. Obviously, even at a young age the true gospel of Jesus Christ made much more sense than the load of bull they were selling.
You know one of the reasons I don't rely upon scholarly experts to understand my scriptures, is precisely because of the understanding gathered by the Restorations. Weak things become Strong, and the Unlearned thrashing the nations... The problem with all the older christian traditions really comes from their understanding of scripture and the whole concept of continuing revelation. Ultimately that misunderstanding colors their reasoning at a very basic level, that IMO is very subtle and can lead us away from relying upon the Gift of the Holy Ghost (a thing they don't have) to intellectualism and logical games like the greeks played with each other... and which forged the Creeds we simply don't accept.
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I think anytime you're relying on someone else's inspiration and revelation to the exclusion of your own is not good, whether they are Bruce R. McConkie or Bart Ehrman. You can usually pick out these people when they give talks in Church because they do a lot of quoting and not so much "original" thought. That was one thing I loved about listening to Hugh Nibley. TONS of original thought.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Ray, how then do we apply the intellect to scripture study? Isn't there some advantage to be gained in seeking out learning from whatever source, and then using the Spirit to discern what is of use to us and what is not?
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I'm not voting for Ron Paul because it's not expressly prescribed in the Constitution.
How much doth it profit a man if he is the smartest SOB in the world, but burning in hell?
Intelligence should have a point. If it doesn't bring you closer to Christ, enable you to bear your burdens and help others more, and actually DO Christ's will, then it's profiteth you little.
You can't think your way out of hell... at a certain point you're gonna actually have to get up and walk out.
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)