This year we study the New Testament. Last Sunday was full of “Eye of the Needle” and “Salt that lost its savor.”
Those are interesting because they have so much context. A camel going through the eye of a needle was a contemporary figure of speech for “impossible” at the time of Christ.
Not surprisingly, the word “elephant” was often used instead of “camel.”
As for salt losing its savor there were multiple metaphors and teachings.
The first involved restoring the savor of salt with the help of a pregnant mule. The punch line is that just like mules don’t get pregnant, salt doesn’t lose its savor or saltiness if it is really salt.
The next involved blocks of salt used in ovens that were fused over time and replaced. The message there was that salt was consumed in doing good as we should wear out our lives doing good
It was also used as a metaphor for the impossible or for a metaphor that real salt keeps its flavor, only fake salt, like a wolf among sheep, would do something so out of place.
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
Ezekiel 34
Coming up we have Christ’s sermons on hypocrisy. Where much of the Old Testament is about the constant way entities tend to become corrupt and enrich themselves at the expense of the membership the New Testament includes the clash between Christ and the hierarchy of the church.
I often wonder what message this has for our time.
What do you think we should take away from the coming weeks study of the Bible?
Wheat & Tares 
Stephen R asks what is the message for our time that comes from the aforementioned Bible sections. The answer is clear: Avoid hypocrisy at all costs.
Far too many young Church leaders are practicing hypocrisy to such a degree that even the most depraved Russian Princess would blush in shame. They sit on the stand on Sunday, after having spent Saturday night at the local honky tonk consuming Irish nachos and German beer like there was no tomorrow. They give talks about morality, and then watch TikTok videos of Dua Lipa for the rest of sacrament meeting.
This must not be. That is the point of the Bible sections. Either talk of virtue and live a virtuous life, or behave like an excited rabbit but do so openly. The masses must choose one or the other.
A discussion about tithing, judgement, mercy, and faith in most of the wards I’ve been in would consist of dissecting all the nuances of tithing (not just net vs gross) and any conversation about judgement or mercy very likely would be labeled as political. A discussion about faith would digress into stories or mini testimonies about something that happened to them but would not ever touch any bigger topics like the substance of things hoped for but not seen. The New Testament is rich in topics that could be applied to today but serious self reflection is something we as “Mormons” many times want to avoid. It’s hard to talk about camels and the eye of a needle when LDS people are the most prosperous of any evangelical prosperity gospel. It’s hard to talk about judgement or mercy when it comes to BIPOC, BLM, LGBTQ, or even CRT (Critical Race Theory which has been exploited to get people upset about public school teachers when they don’t even teach it). Then the discussion about faith vs. science is black and white instead of realizing that it takes faith to move science forward. So it’s very frustrating for me to talk about the beautiful concepts in the NT and try to apply them to today when so much of our spiritual/political allegiances within the church are based on Fox News. I mean, is there a correlation between members refusing to wear masks or get vaccines when the prophet asked us to do it and bishops are asking ward members to pray for people in the ward who have Covid who refused to wear a mask and get vaccines? Who, by the way, ended up dying and having other members argue about their rights to not wear a mask or get a vaccine. The NT needs to be used as a guide for how to live today instead of an excuse to change the subject to another time.
Jesus gave few (if any) commandments or teachings to people as a group, or to governments. He criticized the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, but His positive teachings are all directed to the individual (or must be made meaningful at the individual level). He asks me, individually, to be a peacemaker, and to put my light on a candle, and to forgive others. He spoke to individuals, not to societies or groups. Imagine yourself sitting in the pews at church and as the speaker speaks, you think that this message is good for Larry, and I hope he is listening, and that message is something that Betty needs to hear and too bad that she isn’t here. Jesus didn’t speak to our neighbors: He spoke to each person with what each individual can do to become more like Him. The OP asked “What do you think we should take away from the coming weeks study of the Bible?” If the pupils in Gospel Doctrine learn that Jesus’ teachings in the four gospels are for each person individually, then we will have made great progress, instead of us thinking that I can use what is in the Bible to judge others for their failings (e.g, mote and beam). His words are for me, not for me to find fault with thee, and we can’t worry about them over there. Jesus called individuals to repent and to follow Him, not families and nations.
A message for our time from the Church? I’d recommend they stay from tithing for a few weeks.
Thanks for this post, Stephen. I certainly think it’s useful to understand, to the extent we can, what scriptural passages and particular word choices meant to the original author and audience. Of course, new translations like Thomas Wayment’s are likewise a reminder it is a good idea to revisit the writing process and ask how these old stories can be revamped usefully for contemporary readers. I try to stay openminded. This is also a well-timed post because we have entered the Christian season of Lent. As I’ve experienced it in recent years, and hope to again this year, Lent is a great time to engage in meaningful conversation and fellowship in the runup to Easter. It’s a time for heightened self-examination, change, and renewal. So, it would be nice if the next few weeks included awareness of the Lenten season, of its potential to make Easter feel powerful and climactic. Even for me, as an agnostic, there is something worthwhile about that.