M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
Tracking Down Scripture Statistics
By Kathryn H. Kidd
Recently, a reader asked how to get teenagers to love the scriptures. She cited a study showing that people who incorporate a daily scripture study into their lives have a much more solid foundation in the Church than people who don't.
Although we only got one terrific letter with suggestions (read it here), we got several requests for a source of the study.
Today we have two possible sources for that study, as well as a scripture-related request from a Primary worker. Let's see what they have to say:
I am not sure this is the exact same study, but I received this information from my local CES director.
Some years ago the Church did a study in which they interviewed hundreds of young men to try to discover what determined their faithfulness in the gospel. (Even though this study was directed at young men, we have every reason to think it would be equally true of young women.)
The first goal of the study was to find out what parents most wanted for their young men in terms of activity in the Church. The researchers learned that there were four "gospel outcomes" that were more important than all others. Parents wanted their sons to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, to be endowed, to go on missions, and to be sealed in the temple.
The next step of the study looked at the young men. They were placed into two categories. One category was boys who received the Melchizedek Priesthood, went on missions, and went to the temple; the other category was boys who did none of those things. The objective was to try to find out what made the difference between the two groups. Why did the boys in one category have the gospel outcomes their parents had hoped for, while the boys in the other category did not? What made a real difference in the lives of these young men?
The answer that came back was so strikingly simple that many struggled to comprehend it. The researchers learned that two basic practices had a far greater impact on gospel outcomes than any of the others: (1) Personal prayer and (2) personal scripture study, both listed under the heading “Personal Worship of God."
In their conclusion, the researchers said, in essence, you show me a boy who's having a personal prayer every day, and who combines that with daily scripture study, and I will show you a boy who goes on a mission and to the temple.
Could it be that simple, that young boys and girls who pray and read the scriptures will have the gospel outcomes we all desire? I believe in large measure that that is so. (Gene R. Cook, Searching the Scriptures: Bringing Power to Your Personal and Family Study , p. 140)
Hopefully this helps.
Kerrie Weitzel
Thanks for sending that, Kerrie! It was very informative. And here's another one, in the form of a link:
Was it this one? “Helping Teens Stay Strong” by Brent L. Top and Bruce A. Chadwick (March 1999 Ensign).If the link does not work do a search at lds.org, church magazines, for Brent Top, the author of this study.
Ann A.
Thanks for the link, Ann. That was a terrific article!
Now here's the question that is related to scripture reading and youth. Can any of you help this reader?
I have a question that maybe someone can answer and give me some clues.
I am the primary teacher of the CTR 7 class who benefited so much from your "Reverence" thread. We have been very successful in improving the reverence in our class. but now I have another challenge.
Even though my students are only 7 years old, they want to look up scriptures. The Primary leaders encourage them to bring their scriptures to Primary, but they use them in sharing time once a month and the rest of the time they sit idle on the shelf in the Primary room.
I have encouraged my students to bring their scriptures to class every week and encourage the children to read from them every week. The problem I have is teaching them how to find the scriptures we want to read. We have worked on Book, Chapter, and verse to help them but there are still many problems in finding even the book. The typical question I get is what book are they in (meaning NT, OT, BofM, D&C, or Pearl of Great Price). They use such terms as "Are they in the big or the little book," and those who have quads get all confused.
As my classroom is used for a Sunday School class just prior to our Primary class I don't have the opportunity to set the room up prior to class so there is a vacuum of time while they wait for me to get ready. To fill that void, I always write a scripture on the blackboard and they look it up while I am busy. We still get all kinds of questions, and their minds wander away from the task at hand. Every week there are some who never find the scripture.
So here is my question. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can teach them how to find the scriptures quickly and easily. (Remember they are 7 years old).
LA
I'll tell you what worked for me, LA. Back when I was that age, I learned to sing the books of the Bible
Go to this website and click on “Did You Ever See a Lassie.” Here are the words to the Old Testament song, which is sung to that tune:
Let us sing the books of Moses, of Moses, of Moses.
Let us sing the books of Moses, for he wrote the law.
There's Genesis and Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers,
And then there's Deuteronomy, the last of them all.Let us sing the books of history, of history, of history.
Let us sing the books of history, which tell of the Jews.
There's Joshua and Judges and the Story of Ruth,
And first and second Samuel and first and second Kings,
And first and second Chronicles, which give us the records,
And Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther the Queen.Let us sing the books of poetry, of poetry, of poetry.
Let us sing the books of poetry — the songs the Jews sang.
Job the Patient, Psalms of David,
And the Proverbs of the wise one,
And then Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon.Let us sing the major prophets, major prophets, major prophets.
Let us sing the major prophets — the greatest of them all.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, who wrote Lamentations,
Ezekiel and Daniel were true to their God.Let us sing the minor prophets, minor prophets, minor prophets.
Let us sing the minor prophets — there were twelve of them all.
Hosea, Joel-Amos-Obadiah, Jonah-Micah, Nahum-Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggiah, Zechariah, Malachi.
Whew!
The good thing about that song is that it also divides the Old Testament into sections — the books of Moses, the books of history, the books of poetry, the major prophets, and the minor prophets. That's helpful information to have!
As you've probably noticed, the verses here aren't of equal length. The way you make the music work for the longer verses is to repeat the last two lines of the “Did You Ever See a Lassie” melody until the verse ends.
There's also a song about Books of the New Testament, which you may recognize because it is to the tune of “Praise to the Man.”
There must also be a version for the books of the Book of Mormon, but I've never heard it. If anyone has a link to that one, please send it along and I'll post it here.
And if any of you have any other ideas to help LA, please send them along. LA needs help! Send your ideas about teaching children how to find the scriptures or teaching kids of any age to love the scriptures to this address: meridianmagazine@aol.com. Put something in the subject line that will let me know your letter isn't spam.
And when you write, be sure to include your full name, city and state or province. (If you'd rather be semi-anonymous, sign your name as “A Reader from Michigan,” or “Sandy from Timbuktu.” The important thing is that we hear from you.)
Until next week — Kathy
"Thy good word informs my soul how I may climb to heaven.
Isaac Watts
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