The Scriptures are a Means to an End
Rosary Cathedral, Toledo, OH
John 5: 39
“You search the Scriptures, for you believe they give you eternal life. And the Scriptures point to me! Yet you won’t come to me so that I can give you this life eternal!" - The Living Bible
Following Christ or studying the scriptures, which is more important? Having a relationship with Christ and the Father or being a scripture scholar? Living a spiritual and kind life, or finding, knowing, and coming to Christ?
I'm not sure those are really realistic comparisons. One of the best ways to come to know Christ is to study the scriptures. They can't be separated so easily. Jesus makes a point while in Jerusalem that all the scriptures point to Him, yet he says people reject Him. If searching the scriptures (any of the scriptures) does not lead you to Christ, then Jesus tells you that you are doing it wrong.
I think it is also important to remember that the bible or scriptures Jesus was referring to was what we would now call the Old Testament, or at least something close to what we have today as the Old Testament. When Jesus was speaking, Paul had not yet been converted. Mark, Luke, John, and Matthew were still learning, they had not written any of this down yet. None of the letters, or epistles, we now study in our New Testament had been written. As a matter of fact, the churches the letters were written too did not even exist yet.
The bible we know today was put together hundreds of year later, then lost, dug up, translated, lost again, found again, and put together from many sources or hundreds and hundreds of years. It is still being edited today over 2000 years later. Remember, what they studied in the time of Christ and what Jesus learned from himself were the books we have now as the Old Testament.
With that said, and to to correct myself, I should have said if searching the Old Testament does not lead you to Christ, then Jesus tells you that you are doing it wrong. The bible should be means to come to Him. Coming to know, accept, and have a relationship with Him is the purpose of scripture, not a separate process.
I was recently reading Mark L. Pace’s conference talk from April of 2022 where he talks about the Come Follow Me program that was instituted in in 2019. For those reading from different faiths, that program consists of weekly study from one of the volumes of scripture through the year. Old Testament study one year, New Testament the next, then the Book of Mormon for a year, etc. Each week there is a reading scheduled for self-study, then we should have family discussions about that reading, and every few weeks after our main meeting on Sunday the congregation discusses it tother as well uplifting and encouraging each other. The timing of this new program was a miracle in and of itself. During the Covid years where so many of us were stuck at home for so long and public church meetings canceled, shortened, or lightly attended all over the world, we were given some structure and great ways to learn, share, and discuss in our homes. Turning our homes into places of worship even more so than our chapels ever could be.
It was and is a big change for all of us, so we are still learning and still progressing in how we all do this. I was reminded as I read John 5 recently of the promises that our Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson gave us back in 2018 about this program. It is good to review those promises often. He told us,
Our Sabbath days will be a delight.
Our children will be excited to learn and live the Savior’s teachings.
The influence of the adversary will decrease in our homes, and
These changes in our families will be dramatic and sustaining.
Stick with it if you have not felt all of those yet. Promises happen on the Lord’s time frame not ours. We can be assured that daily scripture study will make a difference in our’s and in our family’s life. The goal is to have a relationship with God, not to be an expert scholar. Do not read just to find good habits or only be be a better person. You will be a better person, but remember Christ told us the reason to study the scripture is to come to Him.
