Taking a secondary element from Paradox’s thread on favorite scriptures: Scriptural marking methods (of which Paradox and Stady shared a bit of theirs) are a topic worthy of further discussion.

I have seen the personal scriptures of a great many wonderful, faithful church members, where opening their scriptures to almost any page reveals a sea of red.  Red words, red sentences, even entire sections of scriptural verses, all shaded in lovely red pencil. Some pages have even more red (marked) sections than white (unmarked) sections.

What this is, is an indication that these members love the scriptures, and find great meaning in them, even in ‘lesser-known’ verses.

What this is not, is terribly useful. If you open up a page and see a mass of red…now what? Does that actually help you understand the scriptures better the second or third time you’re looking at the page after you marked those passages, compared to if the page was its original pristine white?

I submit that scriptural marking methods, especially for missionaries, should be helpful somehow in studying and learning the gospel—if marking a passage in red is just an indication that “I like this section!”, then it really does serve no useful purpose than just thinking to yourself “I like this section!” and leaving the page unmarked.

I’ll share my personal marking system I used on my mission and afterwards.  Admittedly, it was based purely on practical use in the mission field, but still has some application in other contexts.  My system has four colors (the actual colors are mentioned below, but of course are completely arbitrary…), each color has a particular category of scripture, and I’ve followed each one with a brief explanation of what the category is, one or two examples from my own scriptures, and why that marking that category specifically might be useful.

Red—Personal Application: These are scriptures which provide personal guidance and suggestions for living a better life.

Example: 2 Nephi 9: 28,29, last part of 39:

O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.
…Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.

Helaman 3:35

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

Purpose: Oftentimes, in conversations with non-members, they’ll ask, “So what’s the ‘purpose’ of religion, or reading scripture? How is it supposed to help me?” If you are a full-time missionary (or member missionary) in this situation, you may have a good scripture come to mind immediately, but even if you don’t, you can open up your scriptures and find a Red scripture without even needing to know exactly what it is. Share a Red scripture (or three) and explain how they give us guidance in understanding how to live a righteous life and the benefits that gospel living can bring.

Green—Characteristics of God (or Satan): Scriptures that describe who God (or Satan) is and how He works.

Example: Jacob 4: 8,10,13

Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.   Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.

Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old.

Alma 36:27-30

And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me. And I know that he will raise me up at the last day, to dwell with him in glory; yea, and I will praise him forever, for he has brought our fathers out of Egypt, and he has swallowed up the Egyptians in the Red Sea; and he led them by his power into the promised land; yea, and he has delivered them out of bondage and captivity from time to time. Yea, and he has also brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem; and he has also, by his everlasting power, delivered them out of bondage and captivity, from time to time even down to the present day; and I have always retained in remembrance their captivity; yea, and ye also ought to retain in remembrance, as I have done, their captivity. But behold, my son, this is not all; for ye ought to know as I do know, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and ye ought to know also, that inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence. Now this is according to his word.

Purpose: In my mission (predominantly Buddhist), the fundamental ideas of God are very different, and frequently the discussion of God takes much longer than among people in Western nations with Christian foundations.  A fundamental understanding of how God works is important towards understanding the plan of salvation, and our place in it. Likewise, understanding who Satan is and how he works is also critical in navigating the straight and narrow path.

Orange: Testimonies of Jesus Christ—scriptures that testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, and our personal Lord, Savior, and Redeemer.

Examples: 2 Nephi 25:26,29 26

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out.

Helaman 5:9

O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world.

Purpose: Suppose you’ve encountered one of those guys on the street who sneers and says, “Mormons aren’t really Christians…” Again, you may have a rebuttal scripture come to mind immediately, but if not, no worries: you just open up your Book of Mormon and find an Orange scripture (or three or seven) to share, to show that the Book of Mormon really does testify of Christ.

Yellow: Doctrinal Explanations—Passages that describe and explain important doctrine regarding the gospel and plan of salvation

Example: 2 Nephi 31:4-13

Wherefore, I would that ye should remember that I have spoken unto you concerning that prophet which the Lord showed unto me, that should baptize the Lamb of God, which should take away the sins of the world.
And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!
And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?
Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments.
Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.
And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.
And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?
And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.
And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

Purpose: Like many, I don’t personally have a good head for numbers and memorization. I can ‘remember’ scriptures in the sense that I know what the scripture says, but couldn’t usually identify the exact chapter and verse for most of them without looking them up in the Topical Guide or something. I'll probably remember that the scriptures describing why Christ was baptized is ‘somewhere near the end’ of 2nd Nephi, but probably not exactly 31:4-13. No matter, I can just flip to ‘somewhere near the end’ of 2nd Nephi, and find that section of Yellow scripture.

(I should mention that, since my mission was in Taiwan, the importance of scriptural marking was increased by the use of Chinese scriptures. Even after learning to read Chinese, looking up Chinese scriptures, especially on the fly in the situations mentioned above, is fairly difficult—therefore, handy color-coding helped. Oftentimes, you didn’t need to look up the scripture in English at all…)

That's my system: Others are welcome to share their system and how they've been able to augment their gospel study and/or missionary work through effective scriptural marking.