Last time, I was discussing different ways that I have tried pondering the scriptures.  During my mission, as I had mentioned, I wrote short notes in my margins.  Then, I would write a unique number (for that page) next to the note.  Next, I wrote that number right next to the line and verse to which that note applied.  For longer notes, I wrote them out on a small sheet of paper, then glued them into the spine where the note applied.

In this way, I was able to keep track of all of my thoughts.  But then, I began to notice things I didn’t like about that way of studying the Scriptures.  My scriptures were getting quite messy and tattered.  I also realized that if I lost them, I would lose all of my notes.  Also, when I began studying a new set of scriptures, I would have to hand-copy all of the notes from the old set to the new set.

From then on, my method of scripture study slowly evolved.  When I got home from my mission, I began keeping electronic copies of my notes so that I could easily print them out again if I needed to.  Also, if I lost my scriptures, I wouldn’t lose all of my notes.

After a short while, I noticed that I would sometimes want to link notes to other notes.  I would have to write something like “see note on D&C 132:5 about marriage” at the end of a note if I wanted to link them together.  Also, I would want to add scriptures to the end of my notes so as to create scripture chains.  But then, I would have to physically write on the printed note that was glued into my scriptures if I wanted to have the changes in my current set.

It was at that point that I sat down and considered creating a method of gospel study that could be either electronic or printed out or both.  Next time, I will describe where that took me.