Ezra Taft Benson said that we ought to read the Book of Mormon for half an hour each day. The Lord many times declared that we were taking for granted the sacred book and treating it lightly. I believe Pres. Benson felt this would help 'redeem' the Church if they did that much study of this sacred Book. How about you? How many times have you read the Book of Mormon and what is it like each time you read it? If you have never read the whole thing before when do you plan to start / finish?
I can't actually remember how many times I have read it cover to cover. I purchased the Book of Mormon on tape last spring, and have listened to it all the way through three times already. I have a ½ hour drive each way to work, so it really only takes about 16 or 17 days to listen to all of it. I don't always listen every consecutive day, but it still doesn't take all that long.
NightHawk
Hey the idea of the tapes is good, I would like to try it.
I think I read the whole Book of Mormon maybe once, yeah, I could do better huh? this thread is reminding me of what are the things I should improve and the Book of Mormon is the key of our religion, therefore I should study it more often.
The first time I read it in english it was soooooooooo hard to understand! now my english abilities are not the greatest but I can understand a lot more than I used to.
Eeeek! I've never read it from page one through to the end. But I think I've read enough of a chapter here, a book there, 20 pages over there, half an hour here, to maybe make one "read through." But i could be wrong about that. I have a hard time starting at the beginning and wading through all the "and it came to pass" and "battling with the Lamanites" to make it all the way through. So I start in Alma, go back to 2 Nephi, re-read King Benjamin, scan through Mosiah...I love reading it. I really do need to start at square one and go all the way through. It has helped me to get the children's version and read with my daughter. (although it's kind of violent for her!) And I also got the study companion book from the church website to help me understand some of the deeper meanings.
Roz
I never read it when I first joined the Church. When I returned to activity after 12 ½ years away, I read the entire Book through. Then last January, our Bishop challenged everyone to read it from cover to cover before April 1, which I did. I try to do scripture study everyday, but to me this is more than just reading the scriptures so it takes a long time to get through one book to the next. I used the institute manual to study the new testament and it took me about 1 ½ years, but I feel I learned way more than I would have by just reading the new testament.
I am now about to begin teaching seminary home study so I will be focusing on the Old Testament this year.
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I have a hard time starting at the beginning and wading through all the "and it came to pass" and "battling with the Lamanites" to make it all the way through. |
I know of someone who set up a schedule to read it once a month. He went through and divided it up into 30 sections. Actually each section is only about 8 ½ pages long. He said that it takes less than ½ hour per day to read it all the way through in a month.
Last I heard, he had been doing it for over a year....
I don't have any problem at all "wading" through it. The first few times, I had problems with the Isaiah passages, but I don't think that is going to be much of a problem anymore
I know the story well enough now that I can really think about the messages in various sections. For example, have you ever considered by what authority Alma baptized people at the waters of Mormon? He baptized himself at the same time he baptized Helam, but didn't do so later on. (This could turn into its own topic, I just wanted to point out a relatively obscure point)
The tapes work out very well if you have "dead" time to listen to them. I don't always pay as much attention to them as I would like while driving, but I do get a lot from them.
NightHawk
QUOTE |
I know of someone who set up a schedule to read it once a month. He went through and divided it up into 30 sections. Actually each section is only about 8 ½ pages long. He said that it takes less than ½ hour per day to read it all the way through in a month. |