Likening the Scriptures
This week I watched a Gospel Doctrine teacher use a teaching method that fascinated me. He wrote on the chalkboard the words "Apply It!." As he taught, he often stopped the story and turned to the words written on the board. He asked, “What does this have to do with you?” He asked it so forcefully that my mind promptly went to work seeking an application. I felt alert and challenged throughout the class.
This method is called likening. We encounter the term in 1 Nephi 19: 23 in the Book of Mormon. Nephi explains that we should liken the scriptures unto us to help us learn and grow. In other words, we should help students find out how this story applies to them. Most teachers simply explain the connection. I liked this new way of being challenged to find the connection myself. While it does not work for every type of lesson, it is ideal for a lesson from the scriptures.
Likening serves several purposes to help teachers bring scriptures to life. Too many students, particularly teenagers, feel that the scriptures are about “old dead guys” whose lives are so far removed from their own that there is nothing to be learned by studying their lives. What does Noah have to do with me? He didn’t have television, or pressure to drink, or the need for a nice new car. (Although he did need a boat, something still desirable to many today!) When we challenge our students to find the relevance in a story, to liken the scriptures unto themselves, we help them to see that Noah isn’t all that different from them. Times change, but people don’t. God may not ask you to build an ark, but He will ask you to do things that seem hard, frightening or even perhaps a bit silly. He may ask you to do things that cause people to laugh at you. We can be sure that Noah’s friends and neighbors thought he was strange to be building an ark and preaching about floods, and it’s likely that gave him some moments of discomfort. What does that have to do with your life? In what ways are your challenges like Noah’s? What message can you take from this story that will give you strength or help you make choices?
While the stories and the history may be fascinating, these alone are not enough to make the scriptures sacred. They were given to us for our benefit. Teaching No Greater Call suggests students ask themselves what the prophet who wrote the account wanted them to gain from the story. Why is it there? What does it have to do with me?
To do this, students need to first understand the context of the material they are studying. Think about why the people were being told this in their own time, if that is the case. Is there a clue for our time? Are we having the same problems now? Ask students to reduce the message of the scripture they are reading to a word or phrase. This might help them to come up with a modern context for the scripture.
There are, of course, some commandments we are not required to obey. Often in the Old Testament, people were given commandments that are no longer expected, such as making animal sacrifices. However, there may still be a message in the story that applies to our own time. Why were the people asked to make an animal sacrifice? What did it represent? How can we remember the same thing or keep the same spirit of the commandment ourselves? If the Israelites were asked to do something to help them remember the Savior, ask what we do now to accomplish the same thing.
Likening the scriptures to your students is a powerful teaching tool that will help your students gain the most possible help from the scriptures. It will also help them to think about the scriptures so that they are meaningful.
So…what does all this have to do with you? Think it over!
By Terrie Lynn Bittner