Making the Scriptures Come Alive

Recently in my study of the Book of Mormon I read Alma chapter 30. In this chapter, Alma, the high priest of the Nephites, faces off against Korihor, an influential anti-Christ. This time in my reading through of the Book of Mormon I have been reading it out loud. It was quite engaging reading the different parts of the chapter. I started to kind of take on the mannerisms I thought Alma and Korihor might have. I thought, "more people should do this kind of thing because it's so much fun."

Then I remembered that there is a study suggestion in Preach My Gospel very similar to what I had been doing. In the back of Chapter 5 there is an activity that says to read Alma 11-14 with one companion acting as Alma/Amulek, and the other companion as the detractors. "Why can't this apply to more scripture passages?" I thought.

It is somewhat difficult to find sections of dialogue that will be engaging for people to read, since most of scripture is either narrative history or a single person preaching. But there are some accounts of conversations, and in some cases confrontations, that we can reference. For today, I have chosen to select one from each of the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and the New Testament.

Alma vs Korihor (Alma 30)
Moses' Vision (Moses 1)
Jesus vs Pharisees (Matt. 22)

My hope is that these will provide an exciting way to study the scriptures with friends and family. I have a few more that I would like to create in the future, but I am open to suggestions. Please send me a message/comment if these are helpful and if you would like a specific story formatted in this way. Enjoy!

Comments

Jesus Approves the Words of Isaiah

Earlier this year, I did some comparisons of chapters in the Book of Mormon which include quotations from Old Testament prophets (links below). It is interesting to see what the slight differences are between what we have in the King James Version of the Bible vs what the Nephites had in the brass plates . Christ with Three Nephite Disciples, by Gary L. Kapp The reading for the Come, Follow Me curriculum this last week covered 3 Nephi chapters 20-26 . These chapters contain commentary from the Savior on the words of Micah and Isaiah, as well as direct quotations from Isaiah and Malachi. Chapters 20 and 21 are (I think) the most interesting, as the quotations are interspersed with explanation from Jesus as to how the prophecies refer to the gathering of Israel in the last days. The other three chapters are nearly quoted verbatim, though I include them here for completions sake. Here are the links to the comparison pages for each the chapters in 3 Nephi 20-25....

"What Is Truth?"

I recently watched a video where science nerd Kyle Hill responded to the various social media conspiracies that have been popping up about the "fake snow" in Texas. Although I expected him to call them silly, foolish, or something worse, I was surprised when he instead talked about a more serious topic he calls the “information apocalypse.” Beyond being a good example of avoiding name-calling, it was an interesting discussion about information, truth, and our responsibilities as citizens of the world (13:00-17:20). We are indeed living in a time where there is so much information available, it can be hard to tell what is true and what isn’t. Some, like Pontius Pilate, may believe that it is not possible to determine the truth. He expressed this, perhaps cynically, perhaps dejectedly, when he asked Jesus, “What is truth?” ( John 18:38 ). Others may believe that there is no truth that applies to everyone. I believe that there are some facts which are always t...

Mothers Day 2023

A couple of weeks ago on Mother's Day, I gave a talk in church about how women in the scriptures exemplify attributes of Jesus Christ. I'd like to share it here so we all can appreciate together the great examples of righteousness we have in the scriptures. In church I had to shorten my talk somewhat, so you could consider the version here the "Director's Cut" :) Growing up I was grateful for my mom, for the same reasons that many young people are - she drove me to school, cooked dinner, and did the laundry. But there's a lot more to motherhood than doing chores, which I've been learning about in the past few years as I've watched my wife raise our 2 daughters. She sacrifices so much of her free time and personal desires for the benefit of our kids. I am continually in awe of her selflessness, and will be forever grateful for her. I was asked to speak about "Christlike Attributes shown by women in the scriptures". With it being Mother...

Gospel Cogitations

Search This Blog