Thursday, March 25, 2010

Daily Scripture study

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are counseled often to read our scriptures daily. We should read our scriptures with our families, individually, as part of our Sunday lessons, and for some even as part of a church calling. In our church, high school students attend Seminary. Seminary is a class dedicated to the teaching and education of the scriptures for teenagers ages 14-18. The Seminary year follows the school year schedule. Depending on where you live, seminary might be held early in the morning before your school day even begins, on Saturdays for a few hours, or even as part of your high school curriculum. In many schools in Utah you would find Seminary instruction as an elective. Even at Kahuku High school here on Oahu, seminary is offered in school.

I remember my years of seminary. Since I attended Kamehameha Schools, it was already a given that I'd be waking up earlier than the rest of the kids in my school district because I'd be traveling to town. But since my seminary was held at 6 am every morning in Kalihi, I'd often wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 am every day to make it in time. It was rough, but sincerely the BEST way to start your day, especially as a teenager. I was no angel, by any stretch of the imagination, but I wonder how much worse I would've been had I not gotten a spiritual shot every morning! LoL!!

So I did have daily scripture study all throughout high school, but afterwards, it wasn't so easy for me! That's why I'm so glad my friend Carol posted this blog post! Thanks to her I've been reading my scriptures daily! You don't have to be Mormon or LDS to use this website and if you don't want to read the Book of Mormon, then you don't have to. There's also the King James Version of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. But if you're a little curious, I would HIGHLY recommend you check out the Book of Mormon! As an LDS member, the Book of Mormon DOES NOT replace the Bible in any fashion. We study and read the Bible along with the Book of Mormon. We believe the Book of Mormon to be ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ and of his visit to the Americas.


So this website, LDS SCRIPTURES-READ THE SCRIPTURES, allows you to create schedules for your readings and will eMail you your daily readings! You could set up a schedule that sends you a chapter a day of The Book of Mormon (or whatever you book you'd like to read); Or if you have a specific completion date as a goal, you stick that date in and then it sets up how many chapters/verses you need to read and will email them to you in order to reach your goal! Besides the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price, there are a few other resources to choose from including various editions of LDS Church magazines, such as The Ensign and The New Era. The Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society lesson books are included too! It's a pretty awesome tool!

Once you have your schedule all set up you can even highlight scriptures and journal right on the website! Of course it's your own personal profile so you don't have to worry about everyone reading your thoughts. There's a notation function after each verse. And by far, my favorite feature, is that I can listen to an audio recording of the scriptures! Sometimes I even prefer to listen AND read along. So check it out and at the very least, get your daily scripture reading in!

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