Week 6 Feb 5-11: The Study Tip Cindy Can't Live Without

Cindy: Welcome back to Primarily Scripture. I am Cindy Young and today I've got Ethan with me. Hi, Ethan! 

Ethan: Hi!

C: For those who are just joining us for the first time this week, this is a beginner's guide to scripture study. And so everything we do here is easy enough for children to join in. So for those big kids who are ready to go to the next level, but also for the youth who maybe just need a starting point, or even for adults who want a simpler approach, Primarily Scripture is for everybody.  We have available on the website free worksheets. Just go on to PrimarilyScripture.com and you can download these every single week, and it'll give you a couple of pages of things to do to just kind of help guide you through.  But I don't ever want you guys to think that this is all you should do for your scripture study. Don't rely on the worksheets alone. Be sure you dive into those scriptures yourself, okay?   All right. This week, what are we reading, Ethan?  

E: Um, we'll be reading 2nd Nephi chapters 1 and 2. 

C: That's right.  Only two chapters, but there is so much packed into these chapters! They're so, so good! Overall, what is going on in the scriptures right now? Do you remember?  

E: Um, I think Lehi is talking to his sons because he's about to die. 

C: He knows he's old and so he gathers his family in. So let's start in chapter one.   We're going to be reading off of the worksheets to start. Column one on these study pages is pure scripture. So you could also read this out of your scriptures. And then column two, puts it into modern terms, and it makes it a little easier, especially for our younger readers, to understand the story.  The verses we're reading are second Nephi chapter one, verses 12 and 13, 16, 20, and 21, 24, and 28. All right. You ready, Ethan? 

E: Mm-hmm. 

C:  "...my sons, I would, that ye would remember; yea, I would that ye would hearken unto my words."  

E: My sons, I hope that you remember. I hope that you listen to my words. 

C: "Oh, that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe." 

E: Oh, I wish you would wake up.  Wake up from that deep sleep of hell. Bad choices are like chains tying you up, and those who make bad choices become prisoners to them and they will be taken toward a place of eternal misery.  

C: "And I desire that ye should remember to observe the statutes and the judgments of the Lord; behold, this hath been the anxiety of my soul from the beginning."  

E: I really want you to observe to do the things that the Lord has asked. This is what I hoped for since you were born. 

C: "And he hath said that: Inasmuch as much as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence."  

E: The Lord has promised that as you keep the commandments, you'll be blessed in the land, but if you will not keep the commandments, you won't be able to be in his presence. 

C: "And now that my soul might have joy in you, and that my heart might leave this world with gladness because of you, that I might not be brought down with grief and sorrow to the grave, arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity;"

E: If you want me to be happy with your choices and my soul be filled with joy and so that I don't feel grief when I die, get out of the filth and be your best selves and have a determination in your mind and heart and work together to not be captured by Satan. 

C: "Rebel no more against your brother, whose views have been glorious, and who hath kept the commandments from the time that we left Jerusalem; and who hath been an instrument in the hands of God, in bringing us forth into the land of promise;  for were it not for him, we must have perished with hunger in the wilderness; nevertheless, ye sought to take away his life; yea, and he hath suffered much sorrow because of you." 

E: Stop fighting back against Nephi. He has had great spiritual experiences and kept the commandments since we left Jerusalem. And he has been an instrument in God's hands to help us get to the promised land. It wasn't for Nephi we would've all died of hunger in the wilderness, but you still wanted to kill him. You have caused him a lot of sorrow.

C: "And now... my sons... behold, if ye will hearken unto the voice of Nephi ye shall not perish." 

E: So each of you remember that if you hearken to Nephi, you will not perish. 

C: Excellent. Lots of great stuff in here. Awesome. What are your thoughts when you read this? 

E: I like when  it says,  like wake up from the deep sleep of hell because Satan doesn't make his sins seem obvious. He likes to lead us carefully. And when we're sleeping, we're not conscious of anything, and so I like how he compares it to a deep sleep. And we need to wake up from that, and we need to get on the covenant path and do better at studying our scriptures and such. 

C: I love that perspective. When it says awake from a deep sleep, I love that you thought about the meaning of that word. Like, what does sleep look like physically? And then you applied it spiritually. That is such an important study tool and a great strategy for finding lessons in the scriptures! 

If you are keeping track of study tips, then be sure you write this one down!   Ethan thought about the physical meaning of a word,  in this case sleep, and then he looked for a spiritual meaning or lesson that could go with it. 

C: Let's open up our scriptures and find that in the scriptures and mark it. Because the next time you are reading second Nephi chapter one, you are probably not gonna go back to these worksheets, but you will open your scriptures again.  Let's see,  verse 13.  Now I have to pick a color. I think I'm gonna go with orange. All right. How far are you choosing to mark your scriptures for this verse? 

E: Let's see,  I think I'm gonna stop at  shake off the awful chains by which you are bound. 

C: That's awesome.  And I'm choosing to mark,  "oh, that you would awake, awake from a deep sleep." So you guys at home, you can mark whatever's important to you, there's no wrong answer here. And actually it's better if you come up with, yourself, which words you want to highlight. And I'm even going to circle awake  and I feel like   📍 I want to write something in the margin right here to help remember that lesson.

E: Mm-Hmm. 

C: Writing in the margin is such a helpful thing because the next time I read, I may not remember what Ethan has taught us about how, when you're asleep, you're not really aware. 

E: Mm-Hmm. 

C: So I'm trying to think what I can put in my margin that would be a good reminder of that. 

E: Maybe like, be aware. 

C: That's perfect. 

E: Or spiritually be aware.

C: Mm-Hmm. I am writing that right in the margin next to that verse. Fantastic.  Does it surprise you that Lehi wanted to tell his sons to wake up?  

E: Um, no, not really because, they had done a lot of mean things to Nephi and he wanted them to repent and get back on the covenant path and like wake up and be aware of what they were doing wrong.  

C: Yeah, definitely. So this whole chapter, there's a lot of  little pieces of advice, right? So if you look on the worksheet over here in the third column, 

E: mm-hmm. 

C: We've got a couple of different boxes with activities to help you study.  And the second one here says, look for a to-do list.  I love looking for lists in the scriptures and for things that I can actually do. So if Lehi is telling his sons, here's something that I hope you do, then maybe it can apply to me as well. Awake is one of those that is on there and there are a whole bunch that you can find and find that to-do list and think about what Lehi would encourage us to do.

 And remember, as you find Lehi's list of things to do to receive blessings, you can use today's tip:  Think about the physical meaning of each thing you find,  and then ponder what that teaches us spiritually. If you want a little help finding some of them,  the worksheet can guide you, but if you like a challenge, then try finding them in 2nd Nephi chapter 1 all on your own.  Don't only study the worksheets. Remember, you can and should be studying primarily scripture.  

All right, podcast friends. We used four study tips today:  Understand what you're reading;  Think about the physical meaning, and then look for the spiritual lesson (that's our new one);  Mark your scriptures; and Write notes in the margin. 

See you next time guys! 

Thanks for tuning in to Primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website: PrimarilyScripture.com 

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Bloopers 

 C: And ... what else was I going to say?