Symbols in Scripture part 1

When I was a seminary teacher in Utah, back to school night was a time for parents to come to the seminary building to meet me and ask questions. One Mother asked me, during the year covering the Book of Mormon, what we were going to do with the Isaiah Chapters. She asked me to skip them because they were not understandable, especially for 9th graders. I was shocked.
Since symbolic teaching is hard to understand, why then all of the symbolic teaching in the scriptures, and temple ceremony? The short answer is because its better, much better. Here are a few reasons; First it causes us to put in more effort, second very complex doctrines can be understood by a common analogy, and lastly, for us, it can keep teaching far longer than stories can.
First, what we get out is directly dependent on how much effort we put in. When it is harder I’m forced to try harder to understand it, as well as rely more on the Spirit. Don’t be afraid to not understand it because it is difficult, I had a college professor who said “embrace confusion because it is only after confusion that understanding comes.” If we fake understanding then there is never confusion.
Second, imagine the atonement described with out the analogy of a mediator, difficult to do especially for someone new to the gospel. Imagine describing complete purity with our speaking of lambs, or clean garments. These simple symbols demonstrate the importance of this type of teaching to simplify very complex concepts so that the babe in the gospel can understand and begin to exercise faith.
Third, I cannot count the times I have relearned important truths from the symbols of the Book of Revelation, or from the teaching in the endowment ceremony in the temple. I thought I had the symbol “figured out” but went on to learn other insights and be converted more deeply because the symbol kept teaching. I’ve discussed meanings of symbols with others and found that most often, they had seen something I hadn’t and I had seen something they hadn’t. Both were “correct” intrepetations of the symbol.
In the coming week I’ll continue to discuss symbolic power in teaching and learning. And maybe even discuss a couple of basic symbols Comment if you have specific symbols you’d like to see me address.

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