Map and compass (Scriptures)

2 Peter 1:20

(http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/2-pet/1.20?lang=eng#19)

(bbc.co.uk)

Looking at this map you would probably be able to guess what most of it means strait away. The green part covered with trees is fairly easy to guess, and so is the gray box with houses put into it, but what about that purple line at the top, or the red ring to seems to around the island.

Everything on this map means 1 thing. if you don't know what a symbol means then you would likely mean that your going on the wrong road and could end very badly (I have enough experience with maps to know that this is very easy to do even when you do know what everything means). You can't just say, "I know what the green part is so I know enough." 

(lds.org and pixlr)

The scriptures are the maps to heaven, and just like the maps above, its very easy to go the wrong direction when you don't know what you are looking at. So what can we do to help us know what the scriptures mean? I can give a few suggestions that I have found helpful. but please feel free to put more things that you think would be good in the comments at the bottom.

1) Read them as much as you can. A map is no good if you never look at it.

2) Explain word's If there is a word you don't know or unsure about look it up in a dictionary, there no point going to a Fortress thinking it will be cool to see, only to find out it's a forest

3) Write down what you learn. If you find some cool spot next to a lake, you write it down so you don't have to search for it again. Don't lose cool things you find in the scriptures