How do you mark your scriptures?

[Guest]

@Snigmorder,

Here is the marking system my BIL developed. It is tremendously complex.  I haven't idea why people would go through with such effort.  But everyone who used it really likes it.

One person says that the best part of this system is that you can mark the same words multiple different ways for multiple modes of emphasis.

Let me know what you think.

SelMarq.pdf

[Snigmorder]

13 hours ago, Carborendum said:

@Snigmorder,

Here is the marking system my BIL developed. It is tremendously complex.  I haven't idea why people would go through with such effort.  But everyone who used it really likes it.

One person says that the best part of this system is that you can mark the same words multiple different ways for multiple modes of emphasis.

Let me know what you think.

SelMarq.pdf

Seems good. Looks similar to mine but way more precise.

The new approach I've begun using has been to create columns in a notebook and at the top of each column write the subjects that I'm interested in at the top. And when I find something that pertains to the subject, I write the chapter and verse in the column. 

But I only add chapters and verses that are specifically about the subject, and not just a passing mention. For example, Mosiah chapter 3 is under the column "Jesus Christ" and half of Alma 32 is under "Humility/humble" and the other half under "Faith."

Really what I'm trying to do is become more familiar with the layout of the Book of Mormon and understand each chapter in it's complete context and not in bites.

Meaning, I don't need to mark the chapter because I know what's in it. (That's what I want anyhow.)

By the way what's, a BIL?

[SilentOne]

24 minutes ago, Snigmorder said:

By the way what's, a BIL?

Brother-in-law

[Guest]

So, I took a poll of 19 adults and a couple youth.

1. How often do you mark your scriptures?
2. What do you feel you get out of the process?

Results:

• Over half (mostly men) do not mark their scriptures.  I have no hard data on why it is so sexually skewed.  
• Even the BIL who set up that system doesn't use it anymore becuase his scriptures are all marked up now and there's nothing left to markup.  He's not ready buy another set just to mark up a new set.
• Many cited the reason for not marking being that paper scriptures are not part of their study anymore -- audio, gospel library, other electronic.
• A few people liked marking via the gospel library app.  One was an adept at it and talked about some things I didn't even know you could do with it.
• Almost all who said they mark the scriptures, it was mainly for quick reference for a lesson or talk.  When I mentioned the electronic tools we now have, they agreed that you could probably just do a search, but they simply liked it better this way.
• All who marked them said it helped them focus better.  Some because the process of marking was a mnemonic technique (I have to concede).  
• For others, their methodology focuses on several gospel topics, so it helps pull out these topics from verses in a manner that you may not pick up on by just reading (concede).
• One woman mentioned the "citation index".  I thought that was awesome.  I'm going to use that a lot more -- if I can find it.

The one concern I had that was a negative for marking scriptures is that it will have a tendency to make you read them the same way every time.  How could we expect the discovery of "Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him," when we marked them up to focus on the same words each time?

In the end, one woman echoed someone else's sentiment here -- it's just a good thing that we're reading them each day.  Marking them is above and beyond. (concede).

 

Edited August 9, 2017 by Guest

[zil]

28 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

One woman mentioned the "citation index".  I thought that was awesome.  I'm going to use that a lot more -- if I can find it.

http://scriptures.byu.edu/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.byu.scriptures

...sorry, no clue how to find it in the Apple or Windows app stores.

[JohnsonJones]

I normally prefer to not mark my scriptures, but I also understand why it can be useful.  In fact, it was extremely useful when I have done it.

It all started long ago.  I didn't mark my scriptures at all, but then came a fellow who was very into religion (I think he was even a religion teacher...by the name of Reed Benson, related to Ezra Taft...but I didn't know Ezra Taft Benson, but I did know Reed Benson for a short while).  He challenged me to do such if I recall right (memory fades with time), and so I took up the challenge that for three months I would read every day and I would have to find at least one or two scriptures that I thought were relevant to me at the time and mark them.  In addition, I needed to write down what I found and how they were relevant to me.

I didn't do anything special.  I took the normal red lead pencils/crayons that people used at the time, and took up his challenge.  I normally notated in the margins or edge of the page exactly WHY I felt the verse was relevant to me that day.  In some ways, it was like a scripture journal...inside your scriptures.  It was useful, not only in that reading, but later on I could turn to pages to see my thoughts and how those things could relate to me then...and realize that the could still relate to me now.

Now, when I read the Book of Mormon on a subsequent read if I intend to mark it, I always start with a NEW Book of Mormon that has no markings as of yet.  It is good to see how different scriptures can impact me, or where different areas of chapters may be useful.  Book of Mormons are cheap, and so this is relatively easy to do.

In many ways, I can see how this also was very similar to how I did studying in college (except I did a lot more marking than that even, but I did include notes in the margins there as well, and also correlation between my notes from classes and the book itself), and why what could be useful for classes, is doubly more useful in my study for  the soul.

[clbent04]

On 7/28/2017 at 4:57 PM, Snigmorder said:

What other ways to mark the Scriptures do you know about and what system do you use?

I just keep a summary of everything that's meaningful and interesting to me in a Word document so I can easily refer to it later if I want to

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by clbent04