Searching the Scriptures

by Gene R. Cook

One of the most valuable purposes of the scriptures is to serve as a tool to help us hear the voice of the Lord. But, as Elder Gene R. Cook emphasizes in his book, that blessing doesn't come through casual effort. In Searching the Scriptures, Elder Cook explores how we can effectively ponder, question, and mark the scriptures and understand how they apply to our lives. He also shares his testimony of the power and blessings that come from knowing God's word. And he gives suggestions on how to organize family study and how to use the scriptures as a way to bless each family member. Relating personal experiences to show what has worked and what hasn't, Elder Cook shares ways to motivate everyone in the family to participate and work to invite the Spirit to be present at reading time. Elder Cook's hope is to help Latter-day Saints gain a deeper understanding of what scriptures really are and how they apply to us today, and thereby have a desire to learn more from them.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Lds, Church

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a useful book for someone inexperienced in scripture study or that was unfamiliar with different approaches to scripture study. It would also be useful to someone with a family and children. Those previous statements do not describe me, but I still found some interesting takeaways, like the author's analysis of Ether 12:27. That alone was worth the read for me.

[Erneilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sound advice from a faithful servant.

[EJ Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was helpful. Much is a repeat of things already learned but I liked the way Gene R. Cook gave true to life examples. I thought he gave helpful and hopeful ideas for how to keep scripture reading going in your personal and family life. He also gave good how-to ideas for actually studying the scriptures. One illustration he gave was that we often think of our scriptures as a box with 64 squares (actually I've never thought of it that way but I still understand his point). So we read a scripture and think "Now, I understand." But really we have just filled in one of the 64 boxes. The next time we read we think, "Oh, now I really understand." But we have only filled in one more box. By the time we get all 64 boxes filled in, then the Lord shows us that it isn't a two-dimensional box but really a three-dimensional cube with hundreds of boxes.

I enjoyed reading the book. It was informative and written in an easy style.

[Verona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was one of the best I've ever read! Brother Cook outlines the best ideas for teaching your children to love the scriptures. I always thought when we were raising our children that there was a better way to read the scriptures than what we were doing. I was glad we were reading daily with our children, but it wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be. This book was what I needed, but our kids are all grown. I hope they will use the ideas from this book in raising their children to love our Savior and the holy scriptures.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough good about this book. I felt strongly that I should get this book for a long time but kept resisting it giving reasons not to buy. But the feeling never went away. I finally gave in and bought it. I have not regretted it. I know this is one book I will refer back to over and over again. Reading this book gave me more reasons to love the scriptures.

[Joe Wisniewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really two books in one. How to enhance your personal scripture study effort .. and .. How to conduct and deal with scripture study as a parent. As someone else noted, this is something that needs to find a home in our Sunday lessons.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a great book to help give me the motivation to continue reading the scriptures and to do better with it. This book gives great insight and ideas in all stages of your family or scripture reading.

[Travis Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. Worth all the time and effort necessary to read this book. I improved my personal and family scripture study because of recommendations taught and shared in the book's pages. Thank you Elder Cook for writing this text.

[Linda Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was excellent in teaching us how to make the scriptures real to our families

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changed our scripture study and made it seem more possible and absolutely mandatory.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This inspired me and gave me good direction. It also gave me ideas to enhance my scripture study.

[Tannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book about reading the scriptures. I'd recommend it if you are looking for a way to change up how you feel about scriptures.

[Ernie Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written book. We need more material like this in the church.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of great insight on how to get more out of the scriptures. My favorite part was the section on family scripture study and how much of an impact it can make on our kids.

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just reread this. I've read this several times and I continue to learn new things everytime I read it. My scripture study always improves.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book for families, individuals, and parents. I love the plain and simple truths found in this book. We learned so much as a family! This is one to return to.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book and one that I'll reread often. I am now looking at the scriptures in a new light and excited to actually study them instead of just reading them.

[Crazy Uncle Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was full of a lot of great insights and ideas about making my study of the scriptures better. It also provided some great ideas about improving my family scripture study.

[Bryan Skelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on studying the scriptures.