To illustrate this, I wanted to let everyone know about what the LDS church has just done: they have allowed me to take my scripture study to the cloud. What is the cloud or cloud computing? I don't really know all the details, but the layman's term that I have come to grips with is that "the cloud" is the internet, and "cloud computing" is basically where all the stuff you would usually save on your computer is instead saved on the internet. Giant companies like Amazon are entirely reliant on it, and Google comes to mind as well.
You might wonder why I am so excited about being able to study the scriptures on the internet. After all, aren't there many different web sites where scriptures are available for reading? Yes. But this goes way beyond reading. What the church has done is to create a personalized online set of scriptures for me that I can write notes in and mark in a way far more organized than I could ever do by hand or with my own software.
Let me guide you through an example of how I used this tonight. I was just studying for a lesson on avoiding and overcoming temptation that I am teaching the young men tomorrow. The manual included the reference to 1 Cor 10:13 that many people are familiar with about how God will not suffer us to be tempted except for making a way to escape. I remembered that I used to know another reference that greatly clarifies this scripture and expands upon it, but I wasn't sure of the reference. Luckily, I remembered that I wrote it in the margins of my Bible. So, I looked away from my computer screen, took out my Bible, and found the reference.
Now, watch what I did with my LDS scripture study notebook:
(If you are reading this on facebook, you might want to click through to our blog so you can see the full-size screen shot if this is too small. Plus, at the end of this post there will be a really cute video of Enoch that won't post over to facebook)
Here is the scripture (Alma 13:28), but notice what I've done. First off, I highlighted it. I chose red, but I had 3 other colors I could have chosen or I simply could have underlined it. I also added a note, explaining why I thought this scripture's relation to 1 Cor 13:10 was significant. Plus, I tagged my note!
What is tagging? Tagging is where you group something into a category. This is a common indexing tool used in many websites, including blogs of people I know. Why is it useful? Well, in a physical scripture journal I used to keep (but have long since abandoned because of the difficulty in keeping it organized as well as pulling off the large binder from the shelf) I had many different categories of topics with my thoughts on each. For instance, I had pages dedicated to the atonement, prayer, and parables with my insights. Tagging is essentially doing the same thing, but far easier. Plus, I can tag one thing multiple times because it probably fits into different categories. Notice that I tagged this note twice as "YM lesson" and "Temptation". In the future, if I ever want to look up my thoughts about temptation or scriptures I have shared in lessons, all I have to do is look up this tag.
Naturally, this study notebook on lds.org saves. When I log in with my password, my journal is right there, waiting for me on the cloud. If I were to happen to read scriptures that I have made notes about in the future, my notes will still be there just as if I wrote something in the page-margin of my physical scriptures. All of these thoughts and markings are safe on my account. These online scriptures will never fade, be lost, or damaged. They are also password protected, which is something important to me because spiritual thoughts can sometimes be special and deserve to be stored in a secure place. As the internet becomes more and more ubiquitous, my scripture journal will become easier and easier to access. No matter where I am, I can pull it up on seconds, which is something impossible with my physical journal at home.
The church has solved a big problem for me. Growing up in a digital age, having a good, organized place to record my spiritual insights has always been difficult and this is the perfect solution. Most likely, the majority of people who utilize this tool will be members of the younger generation like me who have a much deeper-rooted reliance on technology. That's fine, but it is a marvel to me that a church run by elderly apostles and prophets would know exactly what the new generation needs. The church is true, and this is another small evidence to me that it is being guided by a living prophet to help us as times and seasons change.
As promised above, here is a cute video of Enoch taken in a lovely trip to Mexico. The roar at the beginning and the road-runner laugh at the end are his two favorite sounds.
