Anyone who has ever been LDS, active or not, convert or lifelong, has heard and read about this passage. It starts the story of the famous (well, in LDS culture it's famous) iron rod. To non LDS-they don't have a clue what we are talking about. Let me try to explain.
In my view, the iron rod is a metaphor for those who leave and those who stay in the church. We as members are often told that we need to "cling to the iron rod." As the scripture says in later passages, many people choose to release their hold on the iron rod and fall away from the true church. The vision of the iron rod (it is a dream) tries to show this.
Being LDS is hard, no one should tell you otherwise. You have to hold to a higher standard than many other people in the world. For those raised in it, it's probably not as hard as converts. After all, if being LDS is all you know than you don't know what it's like to not live the standards. I think all of us could use more help and prayers in trying to hold to the iron rod. We also should be very careful not to look down on those who for whatever reasons they might have, let go of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment