Book Review: The Memorization Study Bible

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained, to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

The scripture text above is from the book of Jude, verses one through four. I started working to memorize these verses nine days before I wrote this blog. I spent about 10-15 minutes in the morning with the goal of memorizing a verse by the third morning. By Monday morning, which was one week later from when I started, I was able to memorize the four verses above. That was not utilizing Saturday or Sunday either. So in five days, I memorized 4 verses and on the 6th day I started memorizing the fifth verse of the book of Jude. This is significant for me since by the grace of God I was able to memorize the scriptures faster than I had planned (instead of one verse in three days, I was able to memorize 4 verses in 5 days essentially memorizing one verse each day). The book of Jude is only one chapter and twenty-five verses, so essentially I have memorized twenty percent of the book of Jude in just five to six days (including verse five that I am working on now).

Scripture memorization has always been a challenge for me. I have memorized random scriptures throughout the years and I have even memorized some verses with my children regarding the armor of God (Ephesians 6)  and the love of God (I Corinthians 13), but those were memorized over long periods of time with hand motions (which is another way to memorize as well). I also have memorized 26 scriptures for every letter of the alphabet with my children years ago by simply repeating them over and over for about a year. However I have never tried memorizing scripture via the method this book, The Memorization Bible, by Thomas Meyer, outlines.

There are three pillars the author utilizes to help one memorize the scriptures (New Testament, King James Version).

1. The first pillar is seeing the scripture in 8 words or less. As the author describes, "Our short-term memory, also called our working memory, can only remember around seven things at a time.In psychology, it is known as The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two. My memorization technique’s limit of 8 words per line of verse falls within that formula." 
2. The second pillar is reading out loud or hearing. The objective is to "leverage your sight and sound in making a lasting memory. Retaining words better by saying them aloud has been called the production effect by researchers.
3. The third pillar is writing the text down. The instructions are to write the verse over and over while speaking it out loud until it is memorized. The claim is by seeing, hearing and writing the scriptures in this way, the brain will memorize it more thoroughly.

I followed exactly what the author said to do except for one pillar: writing. In an effort to save paper and for convenience, I typed the scripture in a word processor instead of writing them. So far it seems to be working even though I am typing. Perhaps if I decide to write I will learn better or faster, but for now I will continue to type primarily for convenience and also to save on paper.

The book provides quick tips on how to memorize, provides engaging appendices for further study on memorizing the Bible, provides quick references to key scriptures to memorize, a one page summary for each chapter of the New Testament with interesting facts about the book and overall the book is uniquely laid out (for the purposes of memorization which the book explains). Here is a screen capture of Jude below so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

I believe this Bible is a great resource to have in your home library. So far I have had a very positive experience with this Bible and I am thankful for the opportunity to learn a new way to implant the Word of God into my heart and mind so I can more readily glorify Him with the life He has granted me!