Paul McKenzie

Memorization Techniques

How I Memorize:

I believe that memorizing is a lost art in the modern world of information. I think many have shut down valuable disciplines in their minds to remember things since they just need access to their mass media to find anything they want.

But I think we are coming to the reality that those who run mass media are giving you access to anything THEY want. Places I used to run to for information with a Christian standard are either deeply buried or censored. You really have to know what you are looking for, because the first things on the search lists are all based on profit and ideology.

There may come a time when Biblical access will be difficult, especially those passages that don’t pass the PC test. Because of the so-called “dangerous content” contained in Scripture, how soon will it be when the Bible will be taken out of the libraries and schools.

My early Christian reading consisted of those telling the story of how Bibles were made illegal in certain countries, and the only way to have any Scripture was from pages torn out of Bibles and passed along and memorized. If they were in this information age, many would have to learn the tools to memorize very quickly.

My thought is to prepare now. I think the Bible itself encourages us to memorize as much of its word, not only for knowledge, but for conscience’s sake. The more we have hidden in our hearts, the more we mature in Christ, being able to constantly weigh the Word against the daily walk in this present darkness. So, I’m going to show you how I memorize.

1: The Memory Books

I have a pretty crummy memory, but have learned to improve it immensely by studying and practicing many techniques. Some of the best books for honing memory skills for me was the late Harry Lorayne’s Memory Books, so I recommend that you purchase them or check them out of the Library if they still carry them. He took many centuries-old, tried and true memory tricks and put them in concise order so you can really improve your skills. My “Bible Games: The New Testament” utilizes these and other techniques to help you memorize not only verses, but full outlines, which I believe is one of the most important things you can do, especially with the larger books that you will never take the time to memorize.

2: Adapt skills to your brain, but use them all!

I’ve adapted many of these skills to the way that my brain works. You will have to do so as well, but all the skills work for most people. Some just work better depending on how your brain works.

But the best advice I can give you is that, even though you might be better at, say, remembering songs, or remembering through video, ALL of them work. Just like a baseball player may be best at hitting, he still needs to learn how to throw, run, field, stretch, control his temper, etc.

I’m best at music. I’m a musician, I write songs. I know how music works, so I can do what others cannot do as easily. But in many instances, it doesn’t always get me there. Video, Art, Acting, drawing, listening to messages pertaining to the verses I’m learning, linking lists, and many other things work better for certain types of verses, and when I put them all together, my brain finds all sorts of pathways to remember.

**Remember this: The More Pathways To A Verse,
the Easier For the Brain To Make It Unique.**

Some Different Techniques I Use:

Put Scripture to Music:

For me, this is the best thing for retaining Scripture Long-term. When you sing, and better, and music to your song, you have all sorts of pathways to cement a verse in your head and make it differ from another. You have the words themselves in a rhythm, different pitches, different chording, different emphases, etc. For those who don’t play an instrument, you have a voice recorder in your cell phone or other devices. Use those and sing in them. That way only you will hear it, but you will have a way to remember the simple melodies you sing.

Always Memorize Out Loud

It’s said that you initially retain things 70% better if you speak what you are learning out loud. And along with that: Say It Like You Mean It!

When you put different emphases on the phrasing, your brain will separate those phrases from others, and make them unique. Use feeling, get the mood of the author and express it!

Act It Out!

Pretend you are on stage! Actors always remember better this way. There is a term actors call “Blocking”, which means where they move from place to place on stage. This not only makes prevents them from running into each other, but it also helps them remember their lines, for they link their lines to the places and positions where they speak.

I have been in costume many times reciting books of the Bible on stage. I use blocking an awful lot to get me from point to point. Because I am where I am, it can only be that particular passage. I do it a lot in my own home, too, so I can remember particular verses.

Bits at a time:

Computers don’t only work this way, your brain does as well. Learn a little well, and then add a little more. And a little more. And a little more.

Example: Say out loud: John 1:1: “In the beginning… In the beginning was the word… In the beginning was the Word, and the Word… In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God… In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word… In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

If you stumble at any point, do not progress until it is mastered. You will have repeated “in the beginning” six times by the time you are finished, “was the word” five times, etc. By the time you reach the end, you will have all the words right.

Repetition is the Key

There’s just no getting away from it. You gotta say it a lot, to get it down. And depending on how quickly you want to remember something, here is a little pattern I read from some memory book long ago.

We’ve memorized John 1:1. If we just forget about it till tomorrow, we’ll forget most of it, and have to start all over again. Then we’ll say, “See, I just can’t remember anything”.

Not like that, that’s for sure. If you have the time, here is what you can do, once you have successfully recited the verse without error:

1: Repeat it three minutes later.

2: Repeat it five minutes after that.

3: Repeat it fifteen minutes after that.

4: Repeat it an hour after that. (set your cell phone timer)

5: Repeat it three hours after that.

6: Repeat it 8 hours after that.

7: Repeat it 24 hours after that.

8: Repeat it 3 days after that.

If you follow that pattern, you probably will never forget it. The dent in your brain is pretty solidly dug. Of course, you will find you may not need all that, but from what I read, that’s how the brain works. And I want to make sure my brain remembers “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Don’t you?

Honestly, I rarely do that, but really, I should, especially if I’m just remembering one verse every day. But if a verse is really long:

Break Up the Verse!

Just because old Robert Stephanus back in the 16th century inserted numbers into the Bible doesn’t mean that you have to do the whole verse at once. You’ll see me dividing daily verses into 16a, 16b, 16c, etc. That’s because the verse is just too big for me to memorize in one day.

But I can remember one small part a day, and have the whole verse down pat in three days. It’s worth it to me. Besides, the verse isn’t going to change, and it’s better to take three days to memorize one verse than have no verse memorized, because you gave up in frustration because it is too big.

It might be very intimidating to look at a thirty-word verse. But three or four seven-to-ten-word segments aren’t so hard when memorizing one phrase for a twenty-four-hour period. So what if it takes a week to memorize a verse! That’s one more gem to put in the treasure chest of your heart.

Make a Comic Strip

I think they call it “Graphics” nowadays, because not all things in comic strips are funny. But the concept is very effective, if you like to doodle and memorize Scripture. Many verses are conducive to visual scenes moving from one stage to the next. For example, you could make a really good graphic on Revelation 12:9:

Panel one: “And the great dragon was thrown down (throw down a dragon)

Panel two: “That ancient serpent who is called (change him into a serpent)

Panel three: “The devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world (Pitchforks and everything!)

Panel four: “he was thrown down to the earth, (he hits the earth)

Panel five: “and his angels were thrown down with him. (all his demon angels fall on top of him)

Just imagine what you could do with that! And you don’t have to be an artist, just stick figures work. I do it all the time, and it slows you right down so you are focusing on the words. Put the words above or below each frame, so you can cover them up when you try to recite by looking at the frames. Then close your eyes and visualize your great works of art and voila, the verse is memorized!

Acronyms

Most of us Michiganders remembered the Great Lakes by the Acronym “HOMES” on the Great Lakes to represent Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. Making acronyms out of tough phrases or lists helps a lot. Also, familiar phrases may help as well. For example, my friend Jan Lundgren remembered the 5 books of the Major Prophets by “I Just Love Eating Donuts” for Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

Use Word Pictures

Many words are easy to picture, but concepts are not. We do it all the time, though, like having a heart for love. We have a blast trying to do it when we play charades, or working rebuses and the like.

I have pictures that I use regularly to help me remember words like that. For example, I use “Old Glory” the nickname for the US flag for “Glory”. A light bulb for “Light”. A nest writing for “righteousness” (got that from the memory books of Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas). You can use anything your imagination lets you.

Linking

This is a very common technique, which people use for shopping lists, parts of the body, etc. I used it when I remembered the Minor Prophets, also using word pictures to represent the weird prophet names. For example, I used a water hose for Hosea, which was squirting a baby kangaroo (called joeys) for Joel, who bumped into the famous cookie maker, “famous Amos” (for Amos) whose cookies plugged up an Oboe (for Obadiah) that Jonah was playing when he was swallowed by a whale (for Jonah), who, when he walked out now was singing with a huge Microphone (for Micah), which was bothering Nahum, who kept trying to get his attention by going “ahem, ahem” (for Nahum), but with no luck, and he, being a tobacco chewer (for Habakkuk) spit out his tobacco at him, but missed, hitting a flying horse from Greek myth called a Zephyr (for Zephaniah), which turned into a Hag (for Haggai), who flew over to a guy, deliberately knocking down his Checkerboard (Zechariah) and his glass of Milk (Malachi).

Silly as can be, but you will have a hard time forgetting it. And one link follows the other, and your brain will follow the link after two or three times of review. Try it!

Link Numbers to the Verses

Here is the toughest part, but it really is pretty easy, and I am greatly indebted to Harry Lorayne’s “Phonetic Alphabet”, the most surefire way to link numbers to anything, let alone verses.

But before we get to that, there are other ways used forever to remember certain numbers, especially up to about 20. But to progress to the larger numbers, like 59 or 136, you’ve got to have a system. Let’s look at the alternates for the lower numbers first.

Numbers within Chapters

Some are naturally suited for the numbers. For example, Romans 2 deals with 2 types of sinners – Jew and Gentile. The title is: Two types of Sinners, Jew and Gentile. John 5 describes a healing of a man at the Pool of Bethesda. John explains that Bethesda contained 5 porches. First Corinthians 3 talks of the judgment seat of Christ, and gives three types of works: Bad = Hay, Stubble and Wood, and Good = Gold, Silver, Precious Stones.

Pictorial Representations of Numbers

You can play with 11, like John 11, when LLazurus was raised. Use two ll’s instead of one to remember 11. Or, Matthew 11, which mentions that John the Baptist is thrown in jail. Visualize the 11 as jail bars. Revelation 11 describes two witnesses. I picture them standing side by side, looking like an 11. It works for me!

Rhyming numbers:

For example, One = Sun, Two=Shoe, Three=Sea, Four=Door, Five = Hive, Six= Sticks, Seven=Heaven, Eight=Crate, Nine=Sign, Ten=Den, just off the top of my head. So if you wanted to John 1:1 to In the beginning, you could have two Suns 1:1 getting ready to run on a starting line (beginning). Your version of the Apostle John could be the judge blowing the starting whistle. That’s a quick word picture link to help you remember.

Make Game Boards

I will make boards and cut out cards with the verse or book number on one side, and the verse or book title on the other side. I will shuffle the cards and learn these in and out of order. This is fun and takes away the tedium of rote memory. It is also a fun way to learn with others.

Common Number Representations

Other examples could be memorable events or pictures that relate commonly to a number. These will be unique to different cultures. You’ll find what works best for you.

A “five fingered hand” for five.

A quarter for 25, dime for 10, nickel for 5, penny for 1, dollar for 100, etc.

Two eyes, for 2, A young girl for “Sweet 16”

I use a graduate for 17, because I graduated high school at 17, and a soldier for 18, because that was the draft age when I was a kid, something many in my generation will never forget!

Others I use a lot are a baseball team for 9, because they use 9 players. 11 could be a football team, five a basketball team, 6 a hockey team, 7, the seven dwarves, 8, a figure 8 race track full of cars driving V-8 engines, etc.

But like I said, they only work for certain numbers. The Phonetic System works for everything.

Remembering Large Numbers: The Phonetic Alphabet

All of these systems work quite well for common numbers, but when you get to the 150 chapters of Psalms, or numbers larger than 20, it gets harder to find common ways to link numbers to themes. One of the best ways to link the chapter to the title is through a phonetic numbering system.

The phonetic number systems have been around in various ways for centuries, as early as the 17th century by people such as Winckleman, Fienagle, and Grey. They were popularized along with many of the systems such as the link and word pictures in the 50’s by the late Harry Lorayne. Jerry Lucas utilized many of Mr. Lorayne’s techniques in biblical memory books as well, but Mr. Lorayne is the mastermind, in my opinion, developing the memory systems into workable systems for everyone. I’ve examined others, and found that Mr. Lorayne’s systems made the most sense, and are the ones I’ve adopted for memory purposes. You can find this system in many of his books, most recently in his 2007 book entitled “Ageless Memory” (Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, Inc.). Also, you can get a lot of good memory information from his MEMORY POWER at website at Harry Lorayne.com.

The phonetic alphabet is a simple but dynamic memory technique that gives each digit from 0 to 9 a phonetic sound. Here is the list I learned from the Lorayne books with some slight variations for my purposes:

0 = the s or z sounds (think Zero)

Notice that “s” and “z” have the same sound. “Z” is just the “s” with a softer sound. This goes with other consonants, as you will see. The soft “c”, like in nice, would also be a “0” sound.

1 = the T or D sounds (lay a 1 on top of a 1 and you get a “T”)

2 = N (turn N on its side and it looks like 2)

3= M (turn M on its side and it looks like 3)

4 = R (fouR, the only one that ends in R)

5 = L (Lift your left hand up to your face. See the L with index finger and thumb?)

6 = J, SH, CH, or soft G (like gelatin) (Turn a J around and close it. Looks just like a 6)

7 = K or hard G (like in girl) (Lay a 7 face down, then another 7 opposite. It will look like a K)

8 = F, V, or PH (many cars used to have V - 8 engines, or the yummy V-8 juice!

9 = P or B (turn around a P and you’ve got a 9)

All the vowels (a,e,i,o,u, and y) are used for fillers. W and H are also fillers. I remember them by a,e,i,o,u,why?

Practicing the Phonetic System

Here are a few examples. My name is Paul. In the Phonetic system, the only letters used are the consonants P and L. The rest are fillers. So, my name would represent 95. Now the word Bail would be another word that could represent 95, because B is the softer phonetic pronunciation of the P sound. Vowels are fillers. Other words would be like ball, pail, bill, pill. Notice I use one number for the double ll’s, because they still only produce one sound. PoweLl would be another 95, because the w is not in the phonetic alphabet and can be used as a filler. Can you think of other 95's?

Tom, would be a 13, T and M. So would ToMb, since the b is silent. “No” would represent 2. So would kNow, because the k is silent. Got it? This is a very handy system. If you want to remember an address, like 45321 Mockingbird Lane, you could link the letters R(4), L(5), M(3), N(2), T(1) and make a word or words out of it, then link it to the Mockingbird Lane. RLMNT you could think RoLL MiNT, or a roll of breath mints chasing a mockingbird down the lane. The bird has bad breath, but likes it. The mint roll wants to give him good breath, but the mocking bird doesn’t, and runs from him.

Applying this to the Book Titles:

As you can see, this unique system gives you a failsafe way to link a number to a theme. For example, Acts 27 describes the shipwreck of Paul’s boat on its way to Rome. The “N” sound represents 2, and the K or hard G sound represents 7. If you made the word NeCK out of 27, you could title the chapter “Paul is up to his NeCK in Water”. It could only mean 27.

This is a very valuable tool, and will be used quite a bit in the larger numbered chapters. As you move throughout the Bible Games, I will be using this system as a memory aid. To help you get a good grasp of this system, I will give you an example of how to use it in Matthew. In the other books I’ll just use it where I see fit.

Warning about Memory Systems

Let me give you a word of warning. Never forget that these tricks and systems are tools that you use to get to the important thing: Learning the Word of God. If you get carried away, or bogged down with these systems, you’ll miss the whole point. I did that for quite a while, and it slowed me up. Spend time with the Bible. Make the book you are working on your Devotional for that period. The more you immerse yourself in His Word, the more the memory systems will fade, and you will have the Word in your heart. The memory systems will serve as verifiers, to know you are on the right track.