2019 - Come Follow Me

For this year we are studying the New Testament, correct? It is my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, that next year we will move onto the Book of Mormon. If I am correct then my question is, "Why do we have to complete a book of scripture, ie. New Testament or Book of Mormon, in one year? Why can we not, at church, stretch it out over a couple of years and really delve into the doctrines and give the people more time to digest the information and then put it into practice?

I can't answer for the leaders who make those decisions, but I'm guessing the intent is to make sure people are studying from all of the standard works on a regular basis. Some people don't study on their own, and are only in the scriptures in Sunday School. If the Book of Mormon or the New Testament was only studied once every 8 years, they would only study it once as a child, once as a teenager, and once as a young adult. The Old Testament especially, because it is long and difficult to understand in places, would easily get left behind. Those who do take initiative to study on their own can freely extend their studies beyond the curriculum, but those who struggle with personal study are likely to benefit from a continual rotation.

When the decision was made to study the standard works on a rotating basis in Sunday School many years ago, the schedule was set for two years per book, i.e., 2-years Book of Mormon, then 2-years Doctrine and Covenants, etc., making an 8-year cycle. I do not believe they finished even one cycle before things changed to one book of scripture a year, probably for the exact reason sbradshaw suggested in the previous post.

Thank you for your response. That makes sense. I never fully understood until now. I appreciate your time to answer my question.