One of the most lasting lessons I hope to teach my children is a love for the scriptures. I spent two thirds of my life without the Book of Mormon, and when I read 3 Nephi 11 for the first time, I felt the Spirit than I have ever felt it before; I could not deny it, even though until then I doubted the existence of the Holy Ghost. I know that I am far, far from perfect, and that many of the lessons I try to teach my children have been filtered through my perspective and experience, things which have been known to distort the gospel for many over the years. But I know that, so long as they cling to the scriptures, they will find their own testimonies and their own love for the Savior.
Like many parents, I purchased one of the various children’s books of the scripture, which puts things into simpler language. However, as I searched the Internet for information on homeschooling, I came across an LDS website that advocated reading the actual scriptures with your children from birth on. I also read various other personal websites advocating using the Book of Mormon to teach your children to read. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. After all, why not teach our children to go straight to the source?
Now, don’t get me wrong – the scriptured stories are great, and the children enjoy the pictures. They make great Sunday books and the kids love to read them throughout the week. They enjoy the pictures and like the simpler language. At the same time, when we have our family scripture study, we made the choice to push through and read the actual Book of Mormon, rather than the readers.
On the one hand, this makes the reading more difficult. We have to stop after pretty much every sentence and explain what various words mean – and not just the long ones. Concepts like ‘slay’ and ‘drawing lots’, not to mention ‘synagogue’, have given us quite a few headaches and mean we can’t just breeze through the reading. Instead, we wind up discussing various aspects. If you thought ‘synagogue’ would be fun to explain, you should’ve heard the discussions we’ve hit when we talk about ‘repentance’! And, when approached with the right attitude (as opposed to the one I sometimes get, the ‘let’s just read one verse and go to bed because it is so late’), scripture study becomes an enjoyable time.
But for me, the greatest fruit is watching my five year old daughter pick up her copy of the Book of Mormon throughout the day and read it. You can tell that she loves to study her scriptures, and she treasures the worn blue book with her name on the cover that we bought her for Christmas last year. She remembers the stories – and the difficult words and concepts – and discusses them not just at home but in Primary and with her extended family. Best of all, she asks to have scripture study all day long, and looks forward to the time we read together as a family from the word of God.
Related Articles:
The Blessings of Scripture Study
Primary Time: Sharing Time “The Scriptures Show Us the Way”
Primary Time: Personal Scripture Study