Scripture Journal Tutorial: Part 2- Studying By Chapters

As I mentioned before, I have two journals- one that is a chapter by chapter study,

Title Page

and the other is for Topic based study. Each of my journals has a table of contents that is blank so I can fill it in as I go along. (Template available in the Chapters Kit in the store).

Topic Journal Table of Contents

I start out reading a chapter of scripture and I fill out a form with the following categories:

• Book name and title
• Other Scriptures I looked up and what I learned from them
• People in this chapter, what I learned from them, and other journals I have mentioned them (This is for any character analysis I may do in a different journal)
• Words I looked up the definitions to, what verse its found in, and what it means
• Questions I asked myself
• Doctrines/principles I found within the chapter and what I learned from them, and any reference to other journals I mentioned those doctrines.

Then I take those doctrines/principles and create a page for them in my topics journal. I will write more about that later. Then I will add any personal insights of my own on the next page with reference to the verse.

As I mentioned you can download all these templates in the store, however if you would like to purchase a bound journal with pages predesigned, check out Shannon's at The Red Headed Hostess as she has some for sale which is where I got all the inspiration for mine. I just added a few things to mine such as a place to put the date for your personal journal entries section, different fonts, and some typography images that I love. 

In between these pages I have some other types of pages such as maps, character analysis's, genealogy charts, pictures, etc. For example, I took the map you can download for free here, added specific locations mentioned in the BOM using photoshop, printed it out, colored it in with colored pencils, wiped some Tim Holtz stain on it, wrinkled it all up and then sewed the path in red. I love it. Now as I am reading about each location I am adding some notes to it such as distances, duration of journeys, etc.

Lehi's journey in the wilderness

Then I am learning about each spot individually. I am looking up candidate locations present day. This really helps the Book of Mormon come alive for me. It makes me feel like I am there, feeling the blazing heat of the desert on my back, watching them set up their campground tents and trying to raise a family in this place. Here is a page about the Valley of Lemuel, with photos of a hypothetical cove researchers believe was the original valley of Lemuel and River of Laman.

Here are a few examples of character analysis's:

Lehi

Eve

Adam

Nephi

I try to attach my favorite picture of that person. I look up scriptures where that person's name is mentioned, and as I go through the chapters write down anything I have learned from them. I do a search on lds.org and depending on the person, sometimes there are entire talks written about them. In that case I may attach quotes that I like, more historical facts if there are any, personality traits, physical descriptions, important life events, what they have taught me, etc.

Then I go through the chapter of scripture that I read and mark everything in one color (I chose purple) and reference it to my scripture journal by volume:page number(s). This way when I read it again or any of my children/posterity read it, they will know where they can reference additional information that I have studied or journaled about.

Next I will show you a little bit of my Topics Journal so you can get the whole picture. 

Enjoy!

Aimee

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