Investiture Achievement/Ranger/Spiritual Discovery

Standard Level

Requirement 1

Participate in a Bible marking program on the inspiration of the Bible

Requirement 2

Memorize the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17.

³ “You shall have no other gods before Me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵ you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
— Exodus 20:3-17 (NKJV)

Techniques

There are several approaches to memorizing Scripture.

Erase the words

Write the Bible verse on a white board and have everyone read it aloud together. Then erase a word and have them read it again, supplying the erased word. Continue erasing words and reading the verse aloud until all the words are gone. At this point, the entire class should know the verse.

Hand write the verse

Write the verses down several times by hand until you can do it from memory.

In song

Many passages of scripture have been set to music. Memorizing the lyrics to a song is a lot easier than memorizing raw text, and the memory will last for years. If the verse you are trying to memorize has already been set to music, switch to the version of the text that matches the song. If it has not been set to music, make up your own tune. Explore different translations of the text to see which one lends itself best to your song.

Say it aloud

Hearing it and saying it will reinforce it much better than just "thinking" it will.

Say it with rhythm

This is similar to the "in song" approach from above, but it is often easier to make up a rhythm than it is to make up a whole tune. Clap your hands and stomp your feet at various places in the verse if that helps. Turn it into a clapping game like "pat-a-cake" and learn it with a friend.

Add action

How many songs do you know that have motions associated with them? If you're making up hand claps and foot stomps, it will help even more if you add other actions such as casting a fishing line, or tracing the outline of a heart in the air.

Make a rebus

A rebus uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. For instance, the word "I" is represented with a graphic depiction of an eye. If you spend enough time coming up with a clever rebus for your verse, you will likely have memorized it by the time you are finished.

Find structure in the verse

Write the verse out so that it highlights the structure. Recall that Hebrew poetry works by repeating an idea using different words. Line them up! We also find structure in New Testament verses. For instance, 1 John 2:3 could be written like this:

Now by this
   we know that
   we know Him,
if we keep His commandments.

This approach lines up the common words "we know" and helps the brain to organize the verse more effectively. It also lines up the third "we" with the first two, so that it's possible to memorize a shorthand for this verse - "we know, we know, we keep". This forms a skeleton upon which we can hang the rest of the words. Look for other structure as well, such as that the word following "we" always starts with a 'k' and has four letters.

Use a Puzzlemaker Online

to create written activities for scripture such as:

• Crosswords
• Wordles
• Fill in the blanks/Missing letters
• Blank out (Similar to Hangman)
• Scripture Scrambles

Step On It

Print out each word of a passage on paper, one word per page in large print. Lay the paper on the floor and step down on each page as you say the text. Remove words from time to time.

Writers Block

Write each word of a passage on blocks of wood, one word per block. Mix up the blocks and put the text back together. Two block sets of the same verse makes for an exciting game!

Do you know some approaches? Click here to add them!

Requirement 3

Read the 13 Baptismal Vows of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and share why each of them is important.

Requirement 4

Read The Pathfinder Story.

Wilderness Ranger

Requirement 5

Complete Ranger requirements

Requirement 6

Read/listen to Steps To Jesus.

Requirement 7

Study and discuss two of the following life issues with your Ranger group and an adult: Gossip Lying Profanity The Worldwide Web STD’s