"Feast upon the word" and Book of Mormon Challenge

Today I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. I can't put the whole talk here because some of it I made up as I went along but I can include some of the quotes I used to prepare the talk. The topic was feasting on the scriptures.

Elder Uchdorph:
Feasting includes searching, pondering, asking, praying, and living the word of God. Read the holy scriptures as if they were written for you—for they are. Nephi said, “For behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Ne. 32:3).

May I ask you to take time to feast upon the word of God? It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week but should not be treated like a fast-food service. Jesus asked listeners to go home and ponder what He had taught them (see 3 Ne. 17:3). This pondering, feasting, and meditating will help you “know to what source [you] may look for a remission of [your] sins” (2 Ne. 25:26).

President Spencer W. Kimball said “There are still many of the saints who are not reading and pondering the scriptures regularly, and who have little knowledge of the Lord’s instructions to the children of me. Many have been baptized and received a testimony, and have gone into this straight and narrow path, yet have failed to take the further required stop – to press forward, FEASTING upon the world of Christ and endure to the end.

The years have taught me that if we will energetically pursue this worthy goal (to study the scriptures) in a determined and conscientious manner, we shall indeed find answers to our problems and peace in our hears. We shall experience insights, witness and unfolding pattern of all scripture; and the doctrines of the lord shall come to have more meaning to us than we ever thought possible. As a consequence, we shall have greater wisdom with which to guide ourselves and our families.

I ask all to begin now to study the scriptures in earnest, if you have not already done so."



Quotes from Harold B. Lee
"It has always seemed to me that the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith in counsel to the brethren, impressing the value of the Book of Mormon, have greater significance than many of us attach to them. His statement was: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book” (History of the Church, 4:461).

If one wants to get close to God, he can do it by reading the Book of Mormon.

How long has it been since you have read the Book of Mormon? I was startled a little while ago by interviews with two men who were years ago in our seminary system and both of whom have gone into other teaching positions, who have obtained their graduate degrees. They have slipped away from gospel truths and now have been challenging and quarreling with and trying to destroy and criticize the teachings of the Church.

I have talked with both of them, and when I inquired about their reading the Book of Mormon, one of them said to me: “It has been fourteen years since I have read anything in the Book of Mormon.”

Another said, “I can’t remember when I last read anything from the Book of Mormon.” So it will be with any of us, if we do not continue to saturate ourselves with the teachings of this most precious book which the Lord has given us for a purpose—that is, to correct all of these errors and dissensions in our day just as He promised He would in other days.

I talked with a man who is prominent at our state university. … While a member of the Church, he had been insidiously inciting and magnifying the doubts that were intended to destroy the faith of these youngsters. He said, “I haven’t been doing it this last quarter, though, Brother Lee.”

When I asked, “What has changed you?” he made an interesting confession:
“For twenty years I had never looked at the Book of Mormon, but I was given an assignment in the Church to do something. That assignment took me into the study of the Book of Mormon and the gospel, and I have joined the Church all over again in the last few months. Now when my students come to me, disturbed because of the teachings of philosophy, I say to them in private, ‘Now, don’t get disturbed. You and I know that the gospel is true and the Church is right.’"

President Kimball said, “I ask us all to honesty evaluate our performance in scripture study. It is a common things to have a few passages of scripture at our disposal, floating in our minds, as it were, and thus have the illusion that we know a great deal about the gospel. In this sense, having a little knowledge can be a problem indeed. I am convinced that each of us, at some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves -- and not just discover them once, but rediscover them again and again."

Our Bishop challenged us to read the book of Mormon by the end of this year. If you read 3 pages a day, you will finish by the end of the year. As a ward we are going to be doing that. Feel free to join us! (If you start now you might need to read 4 pages for a couple of weeks to catch up)