Quenching the Alloy

From the little research I've done on the topic, I've learned that quenching is the practice of suddenly cooling a sword so the carbon in the steel gets sealed into the structure of the iron, forming a harder sword. If one doesn't quench the sword and instead allows the steel to cool naturally, the result is that the iron and carbon will separate as the iron cools and solidifies. So, now that I understand the process better, let's see if we can attach meaning to some of the elements of this analogy and see what meanings we can draw from it.

We know that the sword ends up being the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Perhaps the iron can also be the Word of God, reminiscent of the Iron Rod. This could be confusing, unless the end result we're going for is an iron sword. I suppose the carbon could be some sort of addition contributed by us, people, carbon-based life forms. If the iron is the pure Word of God, and the carbon is additions introduced by people, that means that (depending on the concentration of each element) the resulting alloy is either the Doctrine of God mixed up with the traditions of men or the philosophies of men mingled with scripture. Either way you slice it, it's important to keep the teachings of those two sources separate, so we can keep track of which is which, and we certainly don't want to solidify this blend into a set of mixed up teachings that's hard and inflexible.

So, if the iron is the Word of God and the carbon is the teachings of men, then "Quench not the Spirit" essentially means to give these two elements enough time to sort themselves out and separate themselves from each other. That's a pretty good message. It's important to keep true doctrine separate from earthly teachings, and if/when the start getting mixed up, it's worth taking the time to sort them out. There are times when tradition is heralded as doctrine and when doctrine is derided as mere tradition, and both of those outcomes are potentially dangerous. It's vital that we uphold true doctrine, and that sometimes makes it necessary to break tradition. Getting those backward can be devastating for one's spiritual well-being. So let's be wary of anyone trying to pass earthly philosophy as God's Doctrine or vice versa. And, for the record, anything I write in my blog is earthly philosophy, unless I'm directly quoting doctrine from scriptures or a prophet. I've found that earthly philosophy can be helpful at times, but it's no match for True Doctrine, and it's important not to confuse the two.