Pitiful Study

One of the Mormons I have met on Quora bragged about how much he thinks he knows the Bible better than me. Is this normal behavior in the Mormon church?

My extended experience in the Church (almost 50 years) has led me to conclude that the Church is woefully unacquainted with the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon.

Brother Hickenbotham said "Latter-day Saints do study the Bible 2 out of every 4 years in their various class curricula" and this observation may lead one to believe that the Latter-day saints are regular scholars of the Word of God. He also points out Seminary and Institute as examples of the effort to come to a knowledge of the truth. I offer the following insights as one who has taught Gospel Doctrine which is the adult class where said curricula is taught and as a Seminary teacher and Institute instructor.

The adult curricula is called "Gospel Doctrine" and that is what it is. It is not a thorough exploration of the scriptures but a study of LDS doctrine. This calls for an example of what I mean.

The study assignment may include studying 1 and 2 Corinthians in preparation for Gospel Doctrine, there, at best, these books will be covered in 40 minutes on Sunday. This is rarely the case because of the time consumed by getting settled in class, announcements, welcomes and the teacher rolling in the video player, plugging it, and getting it to work. Microphones being readied is always touch and go. Then the "study" is taken up.

Of course, these books cannot be covered adequately in the remaining time so what happens is one or two verses may be viewed. This is where "Gospel Doctrine" takes place. Verses are selected that teach the peculiarities of the LDSaints. Context is usually ignored. A verse that the Church references to teach "Gospel Doctrine" is read and participation ensues. Members will burn up the time relating their experience with the doctrine. General authorities are extensively quoted. Ofttimes inane and, at times, irreverent, "visual aid" activities are employed. At the end, not a lot of studying the text of 1 or 2 Corinthians takes place. But Gospel Doctrine is presented.

Let me share an example.

When teaching these books one Sunday, I wanted to cover 1 Corinthians, the first 3 chapters, and present the subject of "Unity in the Church". We talked of the Body of Christ and members working together with different gift. I related the words of Peter regarding members being stones that build the Temple of God. and we talked about those who destroy “the Temple” by causing disunity. Hence we read 1 Corinthians 3:16-7:

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Paul was obviously talking about unity in the Church here. the "ye" means "you-all", members. I knew that LDSaints use this verse as a springboard to launch into the Word of Wisdom, the LDS health code. Members of the Class wanted to go in that direction. If I followed the established Curricula, I would have gone in that direction, knowing that participation would be active and passionate. But I asked the class if they really thought that Paul, in the middle of discussing unity, would deviate and throw in teachings about health and then take up unity again. It was obvious to them that this was not the case. One brother piped up and said something like "You sure ruined that scripture for us".

Because I made every effort to actually study the scriptures, they saw something they never saw before. Had I followed the curricula, we would have discussed coffee, tea, tobacco, caffeinated drinks, wine and hard liquor and had a wonderful time reinforcing "Gospel Doctrine". At the end, everyone would have left thinking they studied the New Testament. They, in actuality, would have abused the New Testament to reinforce "Gospel Doctrine" without knowing any better the writings of Paul.

This same phenomena is detected in Seminary, Institute and all other Priesthood and Relief Society lessons. Sad but true.

So, one would tell me, scripture study is more of a personal thing. Lessons at Church are little compared to taking up the scriptures personally on a daily bases, I am told. Unfortunately, the same approach, learned at church, is applied in personal study if personal study is taken up at all, which is, clearly rare. If, as a teacher, I ask how many people have read the chapters assigned, a pitiful few hands are raised.

An example is required here, too.

One of the main themes of the Book of Mormon is escaping hell through the merits of Christ. Hell is prominent from the beginning of the Book of Mormon to the very end. Unfortunately, the Book of Mormon teachings of hell are opposed to the teachings of the Living Oracles. Hence, as the rare LDSaint that reads the Book of Mormon is consistently exposed to the clear concept. Yet, they approach those words like they do in church. They don't read to see what the Word of God says. They approach the scriptures to reinforce "Gospel Doctrine". When they come across presentations of hell, they must reject the plain and precious presentation and apply “Gospel Doctrine” to deal with those verses. Hence, although their eyes slide across the Word of God even on a daily basis, they are none the better and are still in the dark. They think they know the scriptures better than anyone else in the Family of God, but they remain in darkness, having the form of godliness, but drawing close only by relying on the swaying reed of the commandments of men.

Want more examples from my 50 years? I will supply them on request.