Tyler McKellar - The New Testament Family Reader

Text 2019 Tyler McKellar

Illustrations 2019 Dan Burr

Maps 2019 Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company, at permissions@deseretbook.com or PO Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book Company.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

(CIP data on file)

ISBN 978-1-62972-571-0

Printed in China

RR Donnelley, Shenzhen, China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

COVER IMAGE CREDITS

Cover illustration by Dan Burr

Design: Shauna Gibby

Book design Deseret Book Company

Contents

Editors Introduction

The New Testament Family Reader was created to help children, youth, and families discover and discuss the most doctrinally significant passages of the New Testament in simple, five-minute study opportunities.

From my own experience, I know that reading the scriptures as a family can be challengingfor parents and children alike. Time is often short. Attention spans are even shorter. And the cultural references and language of the New Testament can be bewildering to young readers in particular. This book is an effort to help families spend what limited study time they have on the New Testaments most important passages.

I am not a scholar or professional teacher. And it is not my intention to diminish in any way the portions of the New Testament that are not included in this book. In deciding which passages to include, I followed the same pattern used to create The Book of Mormon Family Reader, by considering three factors: my six children, ages eight to twenty, and the doctrines I want them to understand; my own impressions from repeated readings of the New Testament; and the doctrines currently emphasized by latter-day prophets. With these factors in mind and through prayerful consideration, I made my best effort to organize this book. Even so, I acknowledge the subjectivity of this undertaking.

The New Testament Family Reader divides the content of the New Testament into 172 sections, presented sequentially from the Gospel of Matthew to the book of Revelation. Each section is designed to be read and discussed in about five minutes, allowing families a simple, consistent method for discovering and exploring the doctrines taught in the New Testament. Each section contains the following:

• A title that identifies who is speaking or writing and the doctrine or event being discussed.
• A short introduction that reminds readers what is going on in the overall narrative of the New Testament and offers simple explanations of some of the language and religious or cultural references found in the scriptural text.
• Selected scriptural verses from the New Testament, presented verbatim. While some verses are omitted to enable short scripture study opportunities, the verses that are included are unaltered from how they are found in the King James Version of the New Testament.
• A few follow-up questions at the end of each section that offer suggestions for discussing that section. Some questions focus on understanding the teachings of a specific section. Others focus on how to apply those teachings to our own lives. These questions are, of course, merely starting points. Guided by experience and the Spirit, parents will know the questions that best encourage discussion and understanding tailored to the unique needs of their families.
• Over 80 illustrations throughout the book that bring the people, events, and doctrinal topics of the New Testament to life. Your experiences with this book will be made more vivid and memorable through the artistry of my friend Dan Burr.

Dividing the New Testament into brief, sequential sections presents some unique challenges. In an effort to ensure this book is accessible to all readers (especially children) without losing the potency of the New Testaments inspiring words and events, the following considerations have been made:

• In the section introductions, I have attempted to explain only the most pertinent cultural and religious references to help children understand the scriptural passage. For the sake of doctrinal accuracy, I have used the Bible Dictionary as a source as often as possible. Additionally, I am indebted to James E. Talmages Jesus the Christ as a source for various cultural and religious explanations, and I have paraphrased some of his insights in the section introductions.
• The New Testaments first four books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) often contain duplicate accounts of the same event. In such cases, I have selected verses from only one of those books, striving to use the one that offers the clearest and most significant recounting of the event or doctrine. At the same time, I have noted in parentheses the locations of additional accounts found in the other books.
• Similarly, the epistles of Peter, Paul, and John contain large amounts of duplicate material, as their letters to different Church congregations understandably contained similar counsel and teaching. Duplicate content from their epistles is therefore not repeated in this book.
• The events recounted in the book of Acts, chapters 2128, are presented in a summary on page 169. This is done in an effort to help younger readers learn what we know about the conclusion of Peter and Pauls lives and establish the significance of the doctrinally rich epistles that follow.
• Only a small portion of the book of Revelation is contained in the concluding section of this book. Johns lengthy, highly symbolic vision can be difficult for even seasoned readers to interpret. To further ensure this book is approachable for families and focuses on doctrines emphasized by modern-day prophets, I have incorporated only the climactic conclusion of Johns vision.
• Included, where applicable, are the corrections and additions to the New Testament text as revealed to Joseph Smith. The presence of these additions (known as the Joseph Smith Translation or JST) are noted in the introduction of the sections where they appear. As in the Latter-day Saint King James Version of the New Testament, the JST portions of the scriptural text are presented in italic type.

Though designed for quick daily use by families, this book might also benefit personal study, family home evening lessons, and Primary and youth lessons. However it is used, it is my hope that the pivotal doctrines taught in the New Testament will be more clearly understood and easily discussed.

I believe the events described in the New Testament actually happened. I believe Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and find it thrilling to read the very words He spoke during His mortal life. More particularly, it is humbling and inspiring to consider the events that took place during His atoning sacrifice. Such is the content of the New Testament: a record of Gods love, His words, and His sacrifice for us. It is my hope that this book will help families and individuals more fully understand and apply these eternal truths.

Tyler McKellar

Tetonia, Idaho, 2018

How did the New Testament come to be?