Nephi teaches us “…for I did liken all scriptures unto us that it might be for our profit and learning.” The implication is that with out this likening process they can’t profit us much. How then do we liken these teachings.
The scriptures are like a cake. The stories are the icing, they are the housing which is the first thing you see, the decoration, the attention grabber. However, they are almost worthless alone, eating icing alone isn’t pleasant but, hidden under this “icing” are doctrines and principles which must be mined out to get profit from them. For example: Nephi breaks his bow, Lehi murmurs, Nephi goes to Lehi and asks him what to do. He respects the patriarchal order, even when Dad isn’t being righteous. By this stage in his life Nephi knows how to get revelation by himself, and yet he still goes to his dad. Most of us won’t break our bow, or run out of food, but we will have opportunities to seek out the counsel of our Patriarch, and Matriarch, even when we are married and have our own families like Nephi did. Clearly stated then this doctrine is “Our patriarch doesn’t stop having stewardship just because we get a little older or get married.” Packaged like this it is easy to liken to anyone married or with married children, and in general to anyone who thinks their Father or Mother doesn’t know what they are talking about (Isn’t that all of us sometimes).
The value of icing is visual, it is there as a decoration. However, the cake must be ingested to be of any benefit to us. Likewise, doctrines and principles must be applied to have value. Separating out the doctrines help make them useful, although this makes your study harder than just reading some stories. Some doctrines seem to fly out of the stories, but many lie hidden beneath other layers of doctrines. Next time you study, I encourage you to separate the principles, and doctrines from the stories. Write them down and then attempt to apply them. If you can do this, then when you study the scriptures, you’ll BE different rather than just know some new fact. This changing is the profit Nephi was speaking of which I wish for all the children of our Father.
