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I mentioned this in passing in another thread, but I think it deserves its own discussion. Church leaders regularly drive the point that daily scripture study, especially the BoM, is essential for some reason or another. Usually it’s to maintain your testimony, which is usually paired with the idea where if you aren’t building a testimony, you’re losing it (an idea I don’t really believe to be true). That reasoning has (obviously) never been satisfying to me.
The only other reason I can come up with is the cynical one: you need to keep reading the scriptures to keep yourself brainwashed. I don’t think this is entirely true because I do get some good insights every once in a while from reading and I otherwise see their value in our theology.
I get why we should read the scriptures, but why daily? There’s no way anyone’s testimony can be so fragile that it falls apart if they don’t read the scriptures for a few days. Maybe that would be the case for building a testimony out of tissue paper (e.g. social reasons, good feelings alone, welfare checks, etc…), but not for people who build their testimony out of better materials (e.g. God loves us, Jesus is our Savior, etc…).
Would you consider daily scripture study to include reading the blogs where scriptures are quoted and discussed? I wonder if people realize we are studying the scriptures daily if we are talking about them. Isn’t that the point?
I guess to think about why leaders say daily scripture study is important, I think:
1- it’s something to say to someone who is searching for help on being spiritual. And it is one positive way. It is similar to someone asking how to lose 10 pounds, there are various ways, but one way is daily exercise. That gives them something actionable to go do and that can be helpful to go try to do…even if results will vary greatly by many things. But this response by leaders is well intended in an effort to help.
2- it is the experience of that leader that it is helpful, so they are speaking from their testimony
3- faith involves doing things that are connected to the thing you want to build faith in. Reading the book of Mormon had a chance of helping people see the good in the book, they need to see it for themselves and it is not to be found on every page, so daily is an exercise in faith and searching over time. That can help some people.
I guess rather than just talking about it, or taking conference talks where others express their experience with scripture, individuals need to find for themselves things like discipline to do it daily and the content in the book and how they view those teachings in their lives. They need to go to the source. Not have others digest it for them.
There have been times that daily study was helpful for me. But sometimes I wonder if it was just to feel some accomplishments of meeting a goal. It still doesn’t make it bad.
More important to me is if I have my mind reflecting on the spiritual side of things daily, to stay grounded and not lost in every day clutter.
I agree with both you and Heber. I have not daily studied scriptures in a number of years, but I do read scriptures. When my faith crisis hit full on I was daily reading scriptures along with the other Primary answers. I gave up after awhile because it seemed to be making no difference. I have not looked back. Do I feel peace when I read or study the scriptures? Probably around half the time to some degree or another. It is what it is. As to why, I think Heber hit the nail on the head, especially with it being more or less the only answer they know.
Beefster wrote:
Church leaders regularly drive the point that daily scripture study, especially the BoM, is essential for some reason or another. …
Here’s another reason. Church leaders regularly drive the point that daily scripture study is essential, especially the BoM, because they have been driven by other leaders that have driven the point that daily scripture study is essential, especially the BoM. It can be recursive. Look at the effect of ETB’s speech on members taking the BoM for granted. That was over 30 years ago but the impact of that talk alone is still felt today.
It’s been my experience that leaders love to quote that part where ETB said the whole church is under condemnation for treating the book lightly. It’s cited as motivation to get people excited to participate in yet another inspired stake goal where everyone is expected to read the entire BoM by [insert date]. Here, here’s a bookmark with a little square for each chapter so you can mark it off as you go. Elder, will you get up and tell everyone what you’ve been reading in the BoM as a part of meeting our stake goal?
But on a more serious note.
Why daily… or I’ll make it more palatable. Why “often?” There’s the standard answer of getting something new out of the scriptures each time you read them. Like life experiences, a new perspective, or circumstances can get you to look at the same thing in a different way. I don’t know who said this, maybe it was Yakov Smirnoff, but: you don’t read scriptures, the scriptures read you.
That said… rather than read the same book again, and again, and again I’d rather venture out and read other things. I don’t have to wait for a vote of common consent by the church to find other things that are scripture to me.
nibbler wrote:rather than read the same book again, and again, and again I’d rather venture out and read other things. I don’t have to wait for a vote of common consent by the church to find other things that are scripture to me.
I am there with you on this one.I can do better focusing my mind on my breath and meditating that trying to focus on MOST of the scriptures. Even on my mission they just put me to sleep after I had read them all several times. But some say you need to study, not just read. Other than a few parts, most of it seems rather confusing or at least not making much sense to me – even using the church’s companion study guides.
Now reading the NRSV version of the new testament – I can manage to stay awake reading that one.
It’s funny, last time I spoke with my bishop, he incouraged me to read from the Book of Mormon every day. Little does he know, this regular reading is what first brought on my “faith crisis”. Literally, the more I read, the less I believed. But I think the principle behind it is a wonderful one, and largely why the religious hold the moral highground over the secular. The secular largely believe that once you are told a simple “truth”, you know it, and you’ll always know it as well as you did then. What they often don’t realize, is how easy it is for humans to become distracted, and carried away with ourselves and our passions, that we forget what we’ve learned when its most important. When you create a ritualistic habit, as is found heavily in most religions, you are constantly reminding yourself of important “truths”, keeping youself grounded in the essentials of positive living.
There is great power in reading inspiring things and being enlightened. Many members find the scriptures inspiring. Many members have thoughts hit them while reading the scriptures that are enlightening. I have had that sort of experience more than once – but I also have had that experience reading non-scriptural texts. So, I read both – but neither daily. However, given my participation here, I think about scriptures, to some degree, almost daily. 
Finally, just to say it, I don’t believe ANY of the top church leadership stresses daily scripture study to keep members brainwashed. I am certain you didn’t mean it to be literal, but we don’t go for charges of cultish brainwashing here. Just saying.
Old Timer wrote:
Finally, just to say it, I don’t believe ANY of the top church leadership stresses daily scripture study to keep members brainwashed. I am certain you didn’t mean it to be literal, but we don’t go for charges of cultish brainwashing here. Just saying.
I’m not sure if that was an Admin warning from Ray, or just a comment. But I hope my comments will be taken as a constructive exercise, and is in no way critical or cynical of the actions of Church leadership. I’m also defining “brainwashing” as something apart from its usually negative connotation. I mean no offense.
The Church leadership probably encourages daily scripture study to ensure the members persistently receive a witness of the truthfulness of the core doctrines of the Church. From the perspective of the GAs, and under the assumption that the Church and its doctrines are objectively true, this would be called “inviting the Spirit”, which is really a positive thing. Brainwashing has a negative connotation to it. If you brainwash someone to do good, to be happier and more at peace, and to live more fulfilling lives, is it really a bad thing? If it brings them closer to “the truth”, is it really brainwashing?
However, if the Church, it’s scriptures, and its doctrines are not 100% true, the confirmation that they are 100% true is considered IMHO as brainwashing, even if the intent to brainwash isn’t there. It’s leading you to act or believe contrary to what is objectively true. As the saying goes, “The best liars, are the ones who honestly think they are telling the truth.” In my own personal belief, influencing another person to act in a way contrary to how they would act if they had all the facts, and you KNOW of those facts, is unethical in the highest degree. I don’t think the Church leadership has that intent; they honestly believe it all. But that doesn’t make it true, and if its not true, you could call it brainwashing.
It all really comes to perspective, as to what you believe is the objective truth.
Is Anti-Mormon lit brainwashing?
- Is Scientology indoctrination brainwashing?
- Do the JWs brainwash their followers?
- Do sceintifically-minded public school teachers brainwash their students by teaching the principles of “Evolution” and “The Big Bang Theory”?
- Do certain religiously minded teachers brainwash their students by casting doubt on the legitimacy of “Evolution” and “The Big Bang Theory”, and teaching classical Creationism as a scientifically valid alternative?
- How many members of the Church, who testify “I know the Church is true, with every fiber of my being”, actually literally know?
- How many of them say they “know”, simply because they’ve had the “I know” mentality drilled into them since childhood?
One more follow-up question: How do we define a cult?
I think the advice to read daily, particularly the BoM is partly to increase commitment to the church as a whole. But I think the top leaders think you get closer to God by reading the BoM than any other book based on what JS said. I think that is their primary motive. I do see spiritual benefits of reading scriptures daily. I felt them as a missionary when I was studying 2 hours a day. You immediately feel spiritual and warm as you sit down and read the book — and you fill up your mind with ideas about love, devotion to God, helping others, miracles — all things that tend to breed optimism and faith. Contrast that with 2 hours a day spent with a negative, scheming, plotting, lecherous person. That also has a spiritual effect — a bad one.
I resist any intimations that Mormons are brainwashed or are part of a cult though. A cult is generally regarded as a group of people who follow the religious teachings of a charismatic leader. So, with that definition, Christianity as a whole is a cult. Any religion is a cult that has a leader at its head. However, the common useage of the term is a group of people who are “controlled” by a charismatic leader, have a set of religious values, have limits on their freedom, and are hoodwinked or taken advantage of in some way, in the process. LIke not allowed to leave a compound, or punished, or maltreated in some way as part of their membership in the “cult”.
Mormons are often considered a cult given some of the strange practices we have, like secret (sacred) temple ceremonies. The name “Mormon”, and the mystical parts of our history. The claim to a modern day prophet sounds strange to people at first. And of course, anti-Mormons have used all kinds of distortions to marginalize us, saying we aren’t Christian (STOOOOOPID statement) or call us a cult.
We aren’t the only religion who stresses daily scripture study. My evangelic friends always feel the need to comment on how long they “were in the word” that day. “In the word” is scripture reading. They have regular church reading, home church reading, coffee clutch group readings and personal. We are light years away from that. Buddhist monks make scripture reading apart of their mindfulness practice.
The brethren admonishment is in keeping with many religious traditions. Where ours hits a bump for me, is the BoM only focus. I’ve never fully comprehended it, but I think it’s cause I am wired more New Testament. (Small side note over the past six months I have come to realize that my family is wired that way. That is a post for another time.)
The flip side that my Llama side likes to throw out in SS is how many “heros” didn’t do all the Sunday School book answers and still had fantastic and amazing lives with God.
- Lehi never read scripture till he got the brass plates.
- Brother of Jared didn’t pray for nearly three years before he saw the finger of God.
- Alma the Older wasn’t a prayer/scripture dude.
That’s three right there.
My take-away is Sunday School answers are not a guarantee of connection to God. – These are Mom’s thoughts for the day.
Quote:Would you consider daily scripture study to include reading the blogs where scriptures are quoted and discussed?
Absolutely. I find that despite not opening up my scriptures, my daily perusal of Mormon-themed blogs gives me great insight into the scriptures.
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