The Scripture Study Project

Then Elder Hinckley told a story in general conference about a time when he worked at a trainyard and heard that a passenger train had arrived without the baggage car. He explained, “We discovered that the train had been properly made up in Oakland, California, and properly delivered to St Louis. . . . But in the St. Louis yards, a thoughtless switchman had moved a piece of steel just three inches...

I just started a summer institute class in my area (hello to any of my students that are listening) focused on improving our scripture study skills. This week we kicked off class by identifying the two most important questions asked in scripture. In Mosiah 11:27, King Noah asks after hearing about the prophet Abinadi, "Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lor...

John 3:16 is one of, if note the most, oft-quoted verses of the Bible: "For God so loved the that He gave his only begotten Son". One of the reasons that verse has become so popular is that it represents a simple summary of a profound truth: God loves the world, including people such as you and me. In this episode we study the powerful story of Ruth that illustrates His love for all of us. Show No...

There's a chilling story President Kimball relates in his book "Miracle of Forgiveness" about a man who pulls himself from alcoholism, practices sobriety for years and readies himself to be sealed in the temple with his wife, and then, on the eve of his temple visit, is drawn back into old vices by persuasive friends. Although a stark example, it's probably not too far off experiences we all have...

I had a favorite object lessons from my seminary teaching days that introduced the idea of courage. I would take a rat trap, demonstrate how it could snap a pencil in half, then I would reset the trap and ask for a volunteer to touch the trap. Eventually, based on my incessant urging, a student would tentatively reach out their finger and touch the trap only to find, to their relief, that I had se...

Have you ever taken a "penny quiz"? If not, without looking, see how much you can remember about the penny. And when you realize you can only remember the barest details, ask yourself this: why is that something as common as a penny can be so easily forgotten? President Spencer W. Kimball once mused, "When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is?" His answer:...

Years ago, before even an apostle, President Eyring gave a powerful insight about spiritual sight. He taught that the repeated phrase, "thus we see" is often a scriptural writer pointing out what someone with spiritual sight will see when looking at particular story. That vision, often different from what others observe, enables that individual to act in closer accord with God's mind and will. In...

Our temples, benefiting from centuries, even millennia of experience, are structured in such a way to help us have powerful revelatory experiences as we come closer to God. This week as we study the end of Exodus and selections from Lev, we look at what those specifics are and how we can both see them in our temple experience and incorporate them into our personal lives. Show Notes: Connect with u...

This week we study a moment for Israel that taught them powerful truths about themselves and the Lord. Although they were not wrongly imprisoned like Joseph Smith, they had a "miserable experience" because of their own actions that brought them to "mourn". In that mourning, and in our own, we can see and learn truths about our Lord that can help us grow, heal, and change.   Show Notes: Dieter F. U...

In this episode we study Exodus 18-20 but look, not just at the 10 commandments, but why they are worth thinking about in the first place. Show Notes: Connect with us on Instagram or Facebook Music: by Steve Oxen    

In our episode this week we study Exodus 14-17 and examine our relationship with our prophetic leaders. We'll examine miracles, murmuring, and mediation through rods and logs. Most importantly, we'll ask ourselves the question, "How can I draw more power from my prophetic leaders." Show Notes: Connect with us on Instagram or Facebook Music: by Steve Oxen  

Perhaps the most common question asked about God is, "Why does God allow bad things to happen?" One recent survey found that this question, in some form or another, is at the heart of almost every faith question or struggle individuals have. This week we tackle that question head on as we study the rising action of the Exodus in chapters 7-13, specifically the plagues the Lord sends to Egypt. If i...

There were over 2,000 gods in the Egyptian pantheon. These ranged from Amun-Ra who was the god of sun and air, to Sopdu who was a god over a specific border and the forts on that border. In our episode this week we fast forward hundreds of years from end of Genesis and find the Israelites trapped in the land of these thousands of gods. The irony? It was in this place, surrounded by statues and sym...

Corrie Ten Boom survived the horrors of a WWII concentration camp. Years later she spoke widely of her experience of the power of forgiveness teaching, "Forgiveness is not an emotion. Forgiveness is an act of the will." After one such speaking event, one of her former camp guards recognized her, approached her, and stuck out his hand to shake hers. She recounted, "I, who had preached so often … th...

Elder Holland once taught, "Every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better… For emotional health and spiritual stamina, everyone needs to be able to look forward to some respite, to something pleasant and renewing and hopeful, whether that blessing be near at hand or still some distance ahead… My declaration is that this is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us...

As with others before him, Jacob, son of Rebekah and Isaac, receives a new name from the Lord that indicates something the Lord desires or foresees he can become. Jacob's name change is an interesting one: from Jacob, which means "supplanter" or "one who grasps or clings", to Israel, which at least means, as President Nelson has taught us, "one with whom God prevails". This week we study Gen 28-33...

BYU professor and artist Anthony Sweat wrote in his recent book, Repicturing the Restoration, about the [in]famous conflict between founding father John Adams and painter John Trumbull. Adams criticized Trumbull for painting the signing of the Declaration of Independence without depicting the arguments and debates that took place and without which, Adams said, Trumbull's picture was a fiction" und...

When once asked why Abraham was required by the Lord to offer up son Isaac as a sacrifice, Elder Hugh B. Brown answered, "Abraham needed to learn something about Abraham." Of course we know the Lord doesn't test or try us so He can learn something; which brings up an interesting question: what did Abraham have to learn? In this episode we look at one possible (and powerful) lesson to be drawn from...

This week we begin our study of the patriarch Abraham, and that word "patriarch" is an interesting one. In Gen 17:5 the Lord changes Abraham's name from Abram meaning "God is the exalted father" to Abraham meaning "father of multitudes". The change is subtle but significant: Abraham is expected and blessed to experience what it means to care for and lead a family. And what do parents do? They bles...

We all have memories as kids of trying to lie our way out of consequences. I remember scrambling through lies as a 10-year-old to try and prevent a grounding and, now as a parent, I can see my actions in almost a laughable light. However, we all have more recent and, thus, more painful memories of trying to cover our mistakes or escape their consequences as adults. This week we study two stories d...

I recently asked a class how they would finish the prompt, "In a perfect world…" The answers were fun: in a perfect world stickers would always peel off clean, in a perfect world ketchup squeezes out perfectly, in a perfect world certain unnecessary sequels are never made. After a good laugh, we began talking about what we would truly want to experience in a perfect world. As we started describing...

In C. S. Lewis's Screwtape letters where a fictional devil gives instruction to his apprentice on how to tempt humans, the devil counsels, "Let him do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm us if we can keep it out of his will… The more often he feels without action, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, thee less he will be able to f...

There's a story in John Bunyon's Pilgrim's Progress about a man who rakes muck and dirt. When an angel appears and offers him a celestial crown the man cannot give up what he has grown so accustomed to doing even for such a great reward. This week on The Scripture Study Project we study three stories of sacrifice and learn, not only why it's important, but what the Lord would have us sacrifice, ho...

We're posting this episode, our study of Gen 1-2 and the accompanying chapters in the Pearl of Great Price, on January 1, 2022. It's a new year and, at least for me, new years bring a sense of possibility at what can (and what I want to) be created in the coming weeks and months. In this episode we study creation--how God does it, and how can we can do it to. Show Notes: Connect with us on Instagr...

Welcome to our fifth season of The Scripture Study Project. We are brimming with excitement to study the Old Testament with you, and this week we begin that study by diving into two great visions by two great prophets where they learn the answers to two great questions. Those questions, important for them, are critical for us as we navigate our way through this upcoming year and the new world we a...