8/26/2004

Lehi's Dream and the Parable of the Sower

Over on Meg's Book of Mormon Thoughts, she talks about Lehi's Dream in her Aug 22nd post. In it, she talks about the four groups of people from that vision.

I enjoy the resonance between this vision and the Savior's Parable of the Sower. Both discuss the same four kinds of people:

1) Those that hear the message, but don't do anything about it. In the parable, they are desribed as falling by the wayside and being eaten by fowls. In Lehi's dream, he says that multitudes felt their way toward the great and spacious building (apparently ignoring the rod and the path to the tree altogether.)

2) Those that hear the message and start to obey, but fall away quickly. The Savior says that these fell into stony places and sprung up, but having no root withered in the sun. In the dream, these would be those that started along the path to the tree but lost their way in the mist.

3) Those that hear and accept the message, but are lost to the world. The parable describes these as falling among thorns which choked them. In Lehi's dream, these are the multitude who make it to the tree and partake of the fruit only to hear the scoffing of those in the great and spacious building and become ashamed, falling away.

4) The last group are those that hear and accept the message and then endure to the end. The Savior describes them as falling into good soil and bringing forth good fruit. Lehi says that "other multitudes" pressed forward, holding to the rod, and partook of the fruit of the tree.

1 comment:

BB said...

Pate, What a great blog. Thanks for your faithful, intelligent thoughts. I'm going to link to your blog from mine.