Mosiah 16:14

"Therefore, if ye teach the law of Moses, also teach that it is a shadow of things to come--"
Mosiah 16:14


This is interesting, telling people to put things in the proper context.  When Christ came to the Jews, he had a hard time convincing some of them that the law was fulfilled, and that he wanted them to live a higher law, because they were all tied up in doing things a certain way, and didn't necessarily see that it was a symbolic thing.  I think that we can all get caught up in the same kind of thing in our lives... focusing on details instead of the big picture.... and not realizing the way that God teaches us.  Someone asked me yesterday why family members couldn't go to Mormon weddings, and I found myself trying to explain the temple to someone who saw it from a  completely different perspective.  I was thinking to myself, now... if this person joined the church, how would you prepare them for the symbolism and the things that they won't immediately understand?  This scripture made me think of that... if you were living the law of Moses and didn't understand that parts of it were symbolic, and didn't see the purpose behind it... it would be exceedingly hard to understand why God would ask anyone to do some of those things.  I mean... the whole scapegoat thing.  If that wasn't symbolic, it would be crazy. :)  The same thing seems to apply with other things in the gospel... and when we broach those topics, we need to include the why, so that they can be seen in context. :)