we will compare the word to a seed...

[deacon blues]

Alma 32:28 .....so we planted the seed. I didn't cast it out. I watched it grow, and so did my friends and family. I noticed it grew, but when I heard others describe it I thought, "it doesn't quite look that way to me. Others said they saw strong branches of obedience, and I saw some branches that looked a little twisted with pride. Others said they saw perfectly formed leaves of temple worship, and I saw some misshaped leaves of self justification. Others boasted of the strong trunk of doctrine, but I saw that it leaned toward the angle of accommodation with prejudice and tradition. Then I saw the others were looking at the leeward side of the tree and I was walking around the whole tree, and saw both the windward and the leeward sides. So I said, "come and look at this side of of the tree," and the others said, "No, I like this beautiful side." I said, "yes that side is beautiful, but it isn't the whole tree. The tree looks straight from the leeward side, but from the other sides you can see it's leaning. Maybe we could do something to make this tree grow straighter." But no matter what I saw, or said, many of the others stood obstinately on the leeward side of the tree. They said, "We can clearly see from here that the tree is perfectly straight." I replied, "All you have to do is walk around the tree, and you can see that it is leaning, and if it keeps leaning farther, sometime in the future it may fall. A couple of the others walked around the tree with me. But the rest of others convinced each other not to look at the tree from any other angle, than the one from which it looked perfectly straight. And the tree kept growing, and the winds blew ......

[RubinHighlander]

Noice!

We should do a whole new NOMish allegory for the olive tree and the vineyard. 2nd Nephi could stand to gain some entertainment value.

[Hagoth]

Hey, that's not a tree at all, it's just a cardboard cutout of a tree surrounded by people shouting that it is the most beautiful tree they have ever seen.

[slavereeno]

2nd Nephi could stand to gain some entertainment value.

or spiritual value.

[dogbite]

The emperor's clothes are from the fibers of this plant....

[græy]

And the tree kept growing, and the winds blew ......

Oh man, now I'm in suspense! What happened to the tree? What happened to the people standing under the tree?

[RubinHighlander]

And the tree kept growing, and the winds blew ......

Oh man, now I'm in suspense! What happened to the tree? What happened to the people standing under the tree?

The same thing that will happen to the crusty old captain of the rusty old dinghy and the poor people on that boat that are drinking stale water and eating crappy crackers.