Beautifully stated.

2 Nephi 33:2 “But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught.”

Revelation 19:10 “…for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Matthew 7:15-20 “15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a ccorrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

You said yourself that you enjoyed The Second Comforter. I not only enjoyed it but felt the spirit confirm truths to me in that book that have been built on in each subsequent book, including Passing the Heavenly Gift. However without the basis from his other books PTHG could seem wrong headed, and negative.

If you have had any opportunity at all to share the Book of Mormon with many people you have seen how many will consider it a thing of naught over something small that they have read, heard, seen or felt. Most assuredly you have felt remorse in how they do this, because you realize that they are throwing away eternity in refusing to just read it and judge it in its whole. The same is true anytime anyone refuses any aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They damn themselves and turn down eternity with out realizing it.
Don’t be like them. If you felt The Second Comforter was inspired then I promise you that you will see how the rest of his books have equally been inspired by reading ALL of them.
Once reading ALL of them, you will see how PTHG is really an individual call to repentance.

I’d thought of #2 (Wise Men) more in terms of historic Christianity from Christ’s original apostles, through the apostasy & dark ages, to the renaissance and then the restoration. I suppose it could be describing the General Authorities, but I hadn’t ever thought of it that way.

#3 (Triangularity) is awesome and maps onto the history of the restoration perfectly.

#8 (Brakhill’s Greatest Citizen) is one of my favorites. I actually looked on a map of Wyoming to see if Brakhill was a real place or not. The interpretation of Ira Wilkas’s building as City Creek doesn’t seem like a good fit to me. (Although, what do I know?) I read it more as the difference between those who have their earthly reward now vs laying up treasure in heaven, as the fact that the written word endures and can touch generations yet unborn, as compared to the fleeting nature of purely temporal business success.

I agree #10 (The Missing Virtue) is obviously biographical. Of all the parables reflecting on it has caused me to change my personal behavior the most. Which is sad, because if I had truly internalized King Benjamin’s final sermon I wouldn’t have needed to repent.

For example, although the narrator told us the purpose of the plan was two-fold: to improve the health and vigor of the citizens as well as to test their loyalty, the king did NOT share the second purpose of the plan with his citizens, at least not in a direct quote in the parable. I wonder if this was an inadvertent mistake. Perhaps we were supposed to assume the king made it clear upfront.

If he didn’t announce it to all, then the complaint of some of the citizens at the end may have been legitimate. Had they known the competition was really designed to test their loyalty, they would have made a greater effort. Carol is of the opinion that the loyalty test was and still is very clear in real life. Perhaps that is because loyalty is a deep part of Carol’s personality.

Another difficulty she pointed out is that there are some elements that may not be doctrinally sound. For example, are those in the spirit world, both pre and post mortality, allowed to view the competition? That may be a matter of opinion or speculation. But, let’s not get hung up on that. This is just a parable, possibly first told as a bedtime story to one of his children.

The idea of having everyone together at the feast was new to Carol. I told her to wait until we got a little further along in the parable. The feast was not the end of the story. However, that brings up a point. If the purpose of this parable is to teach truth, as Denver writes in his preface, then what scripture or quote from a prophet can we turn to for verification of who attends the feast?

And is there a great feast at all? Is it the wedding feast at the return of the bridegroom that is being represented in this parable? Is this feast before or after the resurrection? I suspect it would be before. That brings up the question: at what point in time are we exalted? Is a resurrected being also an exalted being?

Just some thoughts that popped into my mind as we read this. Your thoughts?

http://denversnuffer.blogspot.com/2012/01/parables.html

Also, there’s a couple more posts that contain hints about his purpose in writing, you can find them both here (if you haven’t already read them):

http://denversnuffer.blogspot.com/search/label/parables