Every time I turn around I’m being invited to read a book of scripture on a schedule–usually a fast read. I zip through them and that has value, but it has a different kind of value than reading slowly. When I read on someone else’s schedule, I find myself keeping an eye on how many verses I’ve read and stopping when the chart says to stop. This year I decided to read the Old Testament as slowly as possible.
Although it’s the Sunday School subject for this year, I teach junior Primary and we’re doing the New Testament. I’m reading that, too, but just the parts I’m teaching. On my own, I’m reading the Old Testament in my own way at my own pace…no schedules. I am studying, not just reading, and that means I may not actually open the Bible each day.
I am still in Genesis. In general, I am using as resources:
1. The King James Bible
2. The Jewish Study Bible (very scholarly, and by Rabbis)
3. The Institute of Religion manual
4. Unlocking the Old Testament by Ed L. Pinegar, Richard J. Allen
I am also reading any reference books I happen to have on hand and am interested in at the moment I arrive. There are no actual rules for this process.
While reading about Adam and Eve, I veered off into several other books. Somehow, in true homeschooling fashion, reading about Adam and Eve led to me study the women’s role in God’s kingdom. As part of that study I read:
1. Eve and the Choice Made in Eden by Beverly Campbell
which led me to read:
2. Women and the Priesthood: What One Mormon Woman Believesby Sheri Dew because it seemed to perfectly follow the previous book.
To read more of Terrie’s articles, click the picture.
I read a large variety of articles and speeches along the way as well.
I am going to try to remember to start recording some of my discoveries and thoughts here on this blog. I won’t go back to the sections I’ve already covered, although many of my women’s issues articles will discuss topics I’ve researched. I am also beginning a scripture journal I hope to hand down to one of my grandchildren, but this will be another place to record thoughts–and I hope you’ll discuss them with me.
The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992.
Terrie, thank you for sharing your insights and your comments regarding studying in the Old Testament. We are studying the Old Testament for our Come, Follow Me course this year as a church as a whole. I am also studying the Old Testament for an online college course through BYU-Idaho. I appreciate that you shared that you use the Institute of Religion manual as part of your study. I think it is so valuable and important that we seek for good and true resources and use all that is available to us as we strive to learn what Heavenly Father is teaching us through the written words. I appreciate having additional resources available, especially as I am trying to teach my family and help my children to understand the scriptures for themselves, develop their own faith, and gain a testimony of their own.
This week we are studying in Genesis Chapters 24-50. While that is a lot of reading to do in one week and you can’t exactly go slowly but I have found that as I study daily, as you suggested, I really am learning new information and gaining a deeper faith of the truths contained in these scriptures. I have relied heavily on the Institute Manual as it helps me to get a better sense of the ‘big picture’ and to understand what is going on when sometimes I don’t understand the wording or understand the cultural references or meaning of the Hebrew wording. I know that these other resources are there for our benefit. I also know that there is a difference between just simply reading the scriptures and studying them. I know it is important to cultivate a habit of being in the scriptures daily but when we study instead of just read we really do learn and strengthen our testimonies.
This week one of the new insights I learned about was the vision of Jacob’s ladder.
I really liked the section about the vision of Jacob’s Ladder at Bethel as found in Genesis 28. I knew this story previously but I didn’t understand the meaning of the naming of the place Bethel. As explained in the Institute Manual it says, ““Because he had met the Lord and entered into covenants with him there, Jacob considered the site so sacred that he named the place Bethel, a contraction of Beth-Elohim, which means literally ‘the House of the Lord.’” 1 I love this explanation as it pertains to the vision that Jacob saw.
Jacob saw in a dream a ladder basically on top of the earth and at the top was the Lord. He came to understand through his dream that the rungs on the ladder when the covenants that Jacob would need to make in order to inherit his place in heaven. By living up to the covenants that he had made he would be blessed with exaltation. And because of this knowledge that he received he deemed this place to be holy, literally the house of the lord. Just as this spot was important to Jacob the temple should be important to us in the latter-days because the temple is our Beth-Elohim. The temple is our gateway to exaltation. It is where we make special promises to God that will allow us to inherit his kingdom if we keep those covenants.
With temple closures due to Covid and then limited access with restrictions in place it has been hard to get to the temple in the last two years. It has thankfully given me an increased appreciation for and desire to go to the temple. We have luckily been able to secure a monthly endowment appointment for about the past six months and will continue to do so going forward. I know that as we make the temple important in our lives we will be blessed for ourselves but also be able to bless the lives of our ancestors and our future posterity.
Finding greater understanding through the Institute Manual and spiritual promptings I received while studying I know that I can make more time to be involved in family history research and helping others of my ancestors be prepared to go to the temple for proxy work. I can also make certain to keep the appointments I have in the temple to serve. I know that anytime we are focused on the temple we are focused on the right thing.
Thank you again for sharing your insights and talking about what is working with you. I took a moment to read your bio and realized that we have a lot of things in common, to be exact I was baptized at the age of 17 as well. I love this gospel and am forever grateful for the things that I know and that I am being taught again.
1 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-student-manual-genesis-2-samuel/genesis-24-36-the-covenant-line-continues-with-isaac-and-jacob?lang=eng