Hey! You people over there in the mist of darkness! Can you hear me? I can hear you. You keep bragging about how you are following the true leader to a glorious future after “the storm.” You seem to believe that you are holding on to some infallible guide.
Watch out! Whatever you are clinging to, it is pulling you toward the great and spacious building and away from the Tree of Life! Let go now and join us over here! You are clinging to a fake! Lehi’s Iron Rod is over here!
How do I know? For one thing, the true Iron rod leads uphill, not down. For another, the true Iron Rod is stationary, it will not pull you along like that thing you are holding onto. Most importantly, the true Iron Rod brings you comfort and peace, not fear and anger.
Reference
Most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are familiar with the Book of Mormon story of Lehi’s metaphorical dream of the Tree of Life and the Iron Rod. The Book of Mormon contains Lehi’s original dream (1 Nephi 8:2-35) and his son, Nephi’s later, much more comprehensive, vision (1 Nephi chapters 11-14) during which he receives explanations for the imagery in his father’s dream.
Afterward, Nephi interprets his father’s vision for his brothers (1 Nephi 15) and explains that the Iron Rod represents the Word of God (1 Nephi 15: 24), or the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The fake “Iron Rods” that people cling to, out of fear and insecurity, are such things as arrogance, materialism, feelings of superiority over others, and the mesmerizing lies of charlatans.
Some history
In August 1967, Richard Poll (1918-1994), then chair of the history department at BYU, gave a talk entitled “What the Church Means to People Like Me” to the Palo Alto Ward sacrament meeting. It was then published in the Winter 1967 edition of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.
In the talk, Poll used two images from the Book of Mormon as metaphors for two types of Mormons: the “Iron Rod” Mormons who look to the church for exact answers, and the “Liahona” Mormons who see the church as more of a compass to guide their lives.
These metaphors became well-known in popular Mormon culture at the time — with political liberals tending to self-identify as “Liahona Mormons.”
A modern take
Looking back decades later, I find myself agreeing with blogger J. Max Wilson. He pointed out, in December of 2019, that the symbols of the Liahona and the Iron Rod are “functionally equivalent.” Both represent receiving directions from the Lord, both show you the correct path, and both require personal faith and effort to follow.
Failure to read and follow the Liahona has the same result as letting go of the Iron Rod. One has turned away from the guidance of the Lord.
The conservative misreading
In my view, conservatives in the Church have, over time, allowed the metaphor of the Iron Rod to lead them astray. I am not saying that the Iron Rod, the Gospel itself, has led anyone astray, but, rather, that conservatives misunderstand and misuse the metaphor.
The problem, I believe, comes from “clinging” rather than “holding fast” to the Iron Rod. In the story, those who “cling” to the rod reach the tree but then feel ashamed and fall away (1 Nephi 8:24-28). Others, who are said to be “continually holding fast” to the rod, arrive safely at the tree and stay (1 Nephi 8:30).
Blogger Arianna Rees, who is a rock climber, has pointed out that “clinging” is the result of insecurity and panic. It does not lead to the proper use of one’s climbing equipment, but rather leads one to acts of desperation.
Those who “cling” are motivated by fear, not by faith. They seek security, not truth. Their fear makes them easy prey for authoritarians who want to manipulate them.
Confusing authority with authoritarianism
Conservatives like the Iron Rod metaphor because it implies strength, stability, and assured success. And, in fact, the Word of God does have all of those characteristics. But conservatives then often mistakenly assume that the opposite is also true. That anything that puts on a show of strength, claims stability, and promises success, must be the Word of God.
This is their great blind spot. They fail to see the distinction between the God-given authority of the Church and the authoritarianism of their preferred politics.
The story of the Iron Rod was never meant to lead us to blind authoritarianism. It is intended to lead us to the love of God. (1 Nephi 11:21-23). If the “strength” you cling to promotes power and gain for the comfortable at the expense of the poor and suffering, you can know for certain that your “Iron Rod” is a counterfeit and is NOT the true Word of God.
Sources
Richard D. Poll, “What the Church Means to People Like Me,” Dialogue, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 109.
Richard D. Poll, “Liahona and Iron Rod Revisited,” Dialogue, Vol. 16, No. 2, p. 71.
J. Max Wilson, “LDS Conference April 1971 – A Rebuke from President Harold B. Lee and Debunking the Iron Rod vs Liahona Taxomony,” Sixteen Small Stones, December 29,2015.
BMC Team, “Why We Still Have to Cling to the Iron Rod Even Though the Path is Strait,” Book of Mormon Central, January 25, 2018.
Arianna Rees, “The Danger of Clinging to the Iron Rod,” Mormon Buzz, January 22, 2016.
Good points. I remember liking the notion of Poll’s famous essay, until I read it myself. Then, I decided that he made a distinction between the two symbols of the word of God that was more self-congratulatory than discerning.
And regarding authoritarian politics, I noticed this warning passage in Elder Oak’s Conference talk on the Constitution:
“We are to be governed by law and not by individuals, and our loyalty is to the Constitution and its principles and processes, not to any office holder. In this way, all persons are to be equal before the law. These principles block the autocratic ambitions that have corrupted democracy in some countries. They also mean that none of the three branches of government should be dominant over the others or prevent the others from performing their proper constitutional functions to check one another.”
And that reminds of Ben Rhodes’s comments on Rachel Maddow on June 1:
“I was talking to a Hungarian opposition figure and I asked him how has your country gone from being a democracy to a single party autocracy basically in a decade?
“He said to me, well, it`s quite simple. Viktor Orban, our prime minister, was elected on a right wing populist backlash to financial crisis, packed the courts with right wing judges, redrew the parliamentary districts to favor his party, change the voting laws to make it easier for his supporters to vote, enrich some cronies on the outside who bought up the media, created a right wing media machine that supported Viktor Orban, and wrapped it all up in a nationalist bow of us versus them.”
“In my view, conservatives in the Church have, over time, allowed the metaphor of the Iron Rod to lead them astray. I am not saying that the Iron Rod, the Gospel itself, has led anyone astray, but, rather, that conservatives misunderstand and misuse the metaphor.”
January 6th saw an attempted coup by President Trump. LDS owned media have not been forthright in pointing this out, not even close. So the deficiency you point out above is in large part due to the inability of the Church to identify Trump for the grave danger he is.
And why can’t the Brethren see Trump for what he is? Answer: because of our deep, deep involvement with far right kooky politics.