Let me be pointedly controversial. Why? Because I am going to be presumptuous enough to claim I know the "true" way to mark scriptures by pen.
I will try not to get too nasty as I make my pokes, but I may not be entirely successful. Simply, there is a right way to write.
Some people mark scriptures by drawing boxes around verses. Others put a circle around the verse numbers. But, the most irritating is when the verses are underlined by freehand with no straightedge. Looking at all those wavy lines is enough to make a person seasick.
Those of you who use a highlighter or colored pencil to turn important verses into a different shade might as well be playing with a child's coloring book. There is no challenge to that method.
I cringe at the thought of individuals marking scriptures using ink that bleeds through to the other side, and sometimes the bleeding goes right through multiple pages.
I cannot bear to be near individuals as they draw arrows from one verse to another – and perhaps the arrow goes right through the text of neighboring verses. How could I read a verse that has an indiscriminant line running through it like the stray mark drawn by a mischievous three year old who had grabbed his mother's pen?
It is hard to be tolerant of those individuals who mark their scriptures up in multiple colors. Sometimes at church meetings I ask them out of the blue what "green" means. I usually get a blank stare in return. But, if one is going to use green, red, and blue ink, then I think the colors ought to have a categorical meaning or necessity. For example, scriptural mastery verses could be associated with green, and "Preach My Gospel" verses could be in red. Usually, I discover to my dismay that the "variegated ink people" simply have grabbed the most convenient pen without any respect to color. Shouldn't ink colors in scriptures be orderly?
Do NOT get me wrong. I am all for marking up scriptures. Proper marking leads to learning, and learning leads to scriptural literacy. I am going to teach the "Faux way."
But, before I talk about the "Faux way" or Faux method, I need to gripe a little further. My blog name, S.Faux (pronounced Ess Dot Fox), is NOT a pseudonym! OK, true, it is just a part of my full name.
Cynics among the readers of this blog might think I am subtly using the term "Faux" as a parody suggestive of the term "false." Yes, the French word faux (pronounced "fō ") means false. And, yes, members of the Faux family have never been sent to a LDS mission in France, where they would be known as Elder or Sister "False." But, my name is NOT French. I am ENGLISH. I have NO French ancestors.
F-A-U-X is just an alternate spelling for the British name Fawkes, which is CORRECTLY enunciated as "fox." Even so, a fawkes is a falcon, not a fox.
Oh, yes, and if you are going to persist with questions, then there is a possibility that I am related to the British terrorist Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up Parliament with King James (of the KJV Bible) inside of it. Guy was Catholic and was prohibited from his religious practice by King James, who was a dictatorial Protestant. Now days the British celebrate November 5th as "Guy Fawkes Day," which is their version of Halloween. They also hang Guy in effigy.
While I apologize for a few wayward ancestors, the Fauxes stand for TRUTH, NOT falsehood. Thus, the Faux-method is just another way of saying the true method.
I will now proceed to teach the true method.
Sorry, just one more aside: Every semester I have a college student walk into my office and say they cannot understand the textbook. "Let me look at your textbook," I will ask.
When I open up the student's textbook usually it will be filled with psychedelic colors from highlighting pens. I will tell the student that she or he is good at coloring, but if the material is important enough to color, then she or he needs to slow down, take a straightedge and carefully underline the passages. I tell them to read the passage as they underline, and then to re-read the underlined passages MULTIPLE TIMES. Understanding a college textbook takes more EFFORT than one would devote to a coloring book.
The pen is just an extension of the mind. If you do not believe me, then you need to read the work of Andy Clark, the philosopher. In some real sense, understanding comes from the pen.
The same principle applies to understanding scriptures.
Finally, let's talk about the true method, without making a mountain out of a molehill.
Readers need a steel straightedge – about 6 inches. Why metal? Metal is firm, reminding one of all the sword imagery in the Book of Mormon, and besides, Latter-day Saints like metal writing. Buy the type with cork on the back. Otherwise you will be slipping and sliding, as you try to underline.
Use a pure red Zig "Millennium" pen (width "01" or 0.25 mm). Could there be a more appropriate pen name for a Latter-day Saint? By the way, do NOT bother with smaller or bigger pen tips. The recommended pen width is mandatory. Also, other brands or models of pen will NOT suffice. The ink in the "Millennium" pen is acid free, archival quality, waterproof, fade proof, and non-bleeding. The cost is about two dollars, and it is a bargain.
When marking with your Millennium pen and steel edge, be slow and meticulous. Read while underlining. Strive for perfection, because mistakes are permanent.
OK, this method does require that one be able to forgive the self. I have made mistakes, but I live with them. For example, in the Book of Mormon (p. 311) above Alma chapter 42, I wrote at the top: "Chapters 43 to 62 are known as the 'War Chapters.'" This statement needed to be written on the next page. I cannot believe I made that mistake, but life goes on.
I hope I have converted you to the truth, but if I have not, then I hope you will study and mark your scriptures anyway.
The good news is that all members of my immediate family, except for my independent wife, underline their scriptures the proper way.
My Army son took his Millennium pen and scriptures with him to the Middle East. To celebrate his need for scripture, he took this most wonderful picture, shown below. Can you find the Millennium pen?
[Click on the picture to zoom. Try to find the red Zig Millennium pen. If you give up and cannot find it, then click here to find the answer.]
I pray that we may all remember the straight and narrow way. Thanks for reading this bit of craziness.
Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.
Please feel free to give my blog site a "Blogged.com" rating and review by clicking here.
Support Mormon Insights by making a COMMENT.
16 comments:
Heresy! Everybody knows that verses forming the text of Handel's "Messiah" are boxed in blue, and that the footnote indications for JST translations are circled in green, but that beyond that color is necessary for beauty, variety, and to keep the reason you underlined something in verse 12 from merging into the unrelated reason you underlined something in verse 13. Coloring book, bah! With the two exceptions mentioned, color is a way of adding n-dimensional levels to scripture marking.
Heretical, indeed! But funny.
Ardis:
It never occurred to me that multi-colored scriptures could have esthetic value. De gustibus non disputandum est.
As for me, I need an ordered universe -- pure red. Additional colors would give me a headache.
Well, I'm very glad to learn the "true" way to mark scriptures--I have some new ones I haven't marked yet. I'm all for the straight-edge, but Ardis makes a lovely point about the beauty of colors. I do appreciate the tip about the "Millenium" pen.
Oh, and thanks for the explanation about your name--I was calling you "fō" in my mind--now I'll call you "fox".
Mary A:
It is nice to hear from you, even if you are one of the "variegated ink people." The good news is that the Millennium pen comes in a variety of colors.
I read your recent post. I assure you I don't mind if people disagree with me. What I hate the most, though, is when such people give me homework assignments. I would prefer that they do their own homework and then share the results with me.
Anyway, have fun colorizing your scriptures!! I am being sincere.
fair too violent a color for the scriptures. I always marked mine in green, the color of life :)
I no longer mark scriptures.
Ben:
Red is also the color of love, but there is nothing wrong with green.
In any case, the scriptures stand apart from and rise above almost everything. I hope you will start marking them up again.
Just wanted to de-lurk to say LOL and that *most* of the time I find your advice helpful.
In this instance, I *have* to use 4 colors (but I do have strict rules I follow as to what each color 'stands' for: Yellow/Plan of Salvation topics; Red/Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, Blue/Wickedness; Green/Prophecies). Maybe it's a male/female thing, but the multiple colors help me quickly find relevant scriptures. But my husband wld agree with you. He jokes that I'm taking out my crayolas.
ITA on the straight-edge and have found a business card works well in a pinch.
Keep sharing -- you are helping us all!
Lori:
I am glad you got a LOL, and I will very much accept a batting average of "most of the time."
If I can have a Faux Way, subtracting out that lousy French meaning, then it is OK if you have a "Lori" Way. I am pleased to hear that you study and mark your scriptures.
Although I have titled this blog "Mormon Insights," I do not claim to have very many insights. It is the philosophy of the Mormon way of life that is FULL of insights, not me.
We Latter-day Saints are sometimes viewed by outsiders as being rigid, humorless, mindless, and without personal opinions. I hope this blog will put a small dent into those stereotypes.
The greatness of the gospel is the freedom it gives to individuals through revelation and inspiration. We each need to develop our own styles and approaches. OK, my preference for red pens is a little extreme as an example, but I am glad readers knew I was just having some fun in this essay.
Heeheehee!
My colors actually made some sense. I underlined in gold the scriptures containing personal characteristics that I want to become. I underlined in red scriptures containing personal characteristics that I want to avoid. In the New Testament I marked in green all the passages that tell what prophecies Christ’s life was fulfilling.
I draw arrows between scriptures that I discover are subtly related to each other. I write with a pen that has as fine a tip as possible so that I can write as much as possible in the margins. I like to use the Zebra F-301
I do really hate it when my highlighters bleed through the page. Grrrrrr!
I number scriptural lists and they get rather messy, but it’s fun!
Michaela:
Comments here have given me renewed respect for the variegated ink people. Your system sounds pretty good, except I think you should convert to the Millennium pen. You may have to go to an Art Store to find it. Oh except ... I don't think it comes in gold. I like how you use gold.
I bought a new set of scriptures nearly two years ago, but never use them because I have extensively marked my previous set and have cross-referenced many additional scriptures in the footnotes. The old scripture set is simply too valuable to retire. Unfortunately, I also find cryptic symbols in the margins that meant something to me at one time and I no longer have a clue as to their significance. Thanks for a real chuckle.
Dee:
Thanks for responding. Marking up a new set of scriptures is a great personal study project. If you underline your scriptures using the Faux method, then you will end up re-reading all those good passages and nothing but good can come from it.
Like Michaela Stephens, I too have used the Zebra F-301 pen for writing quotes in the margins of my scriptures. My concern with the Millennium pen and any other archival-quality type of pen I have found is that the writing is too dark and is seen from the other side of the page since scripture pages are so thin. After trying many types of pens over the 20 years I like the Zebra F-301; however, I am a bit concerned that over time it, too, will eventually bleed through.
Thanks so much for the insights on scripture marking -- it is one of my favorite things to do as I study my scriptures. I am on my second set of scriptures, transferring information from my first as I read and study each day. It's a great hobby to which I am quite addicted!
Shelly, the Zig Millennium pen does NOT bleed. The ink does not show up on the opposite page.
Thanks for your comment though.
Okay, okay, so I went out and bought a few ZIG Millennium pens and I am sold that they are GREAT! Thanks so much for the research and the tips on marking scriptures. I just wish I had been using this archival pen for the past 25 years in my scriptures.
Thanks, Shelly, for accepting the "true way."
Post a Comment