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Parables as a Teaching Tool 

 

Using the word “parable” in its broadest sense (to include word pictures, personifications, similes, metaphors and allegories), it is probably the most common and effective means of both spoken and written communication available. It is the primary tool employed by Jesus when teaching. Actually, there is scarcely any account of anything in Scripture where the parable isn’t used—from the Garden of Eden in Genesis to the New Jerusalem in Revelation. And yet orthodox Christianity prides itself on sticking to a literal reading of Scripture whenever possible. Of course there are countless instances where it isn’t possible for even the most literal-minded person to read it thusly.

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What Is the Word of God?

The writer of the book of Hebrews says concerning the Word of God:

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick [living and active], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

What is the Word of God that is so powerful? Is it the Bible?

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No Condemnation

I went to bed at 9:00 last night and awakened this New Year’s morning at 1:30, hearing the still small voice inside speaking words of life. I understood that I can never justifiably judge, condemn or criticize another because we are all on the same spiritual journey from the darkness of personality into the light of our true identity which is the Christ,

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The Mote and the Beam

Yesterday afternoon my best girlfriend and I of nearly 40 years had something of an “altercation” in which I responded out of my humanity and immediately regretted having said anything. I knew there was but one thing for me to do: get quiet inside and listen. I have long since learned (and written) that the Christ inside (which is my true identity) has a solution to any so-called “problem” that I can experience in my humanity. I understand that I in my humanity cannot rectify any condition that I have attracted to myself as a result of my fears, insecurities and false beliefs. I cannot blame another for what I myself create by living out of my human consciousness rather than out of my God consciousness (the “mind of Christ” that we all have (1Corinthians 2:16) but are often unaware of).

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What Do I See?

My consciousness is what I am aware of, what I see. And that is precisely what I experience. I can have either a human consciousness or a God consciousness—coming either from the carnal mind (which is no mind at all, but rather false beliefs in good and evil and in separation from God) or the Christ mind (which everyone has but may not be aware of). In the Christ mind is the expectation of only that which is harmonious and wonderful. Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit:

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Ten Righteous Men

Part 1

In Genesis 18-19 we read the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (the home of Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family) and of Abraham’s plea with God that the cities be spared from what we have believed to be God’s wrath against their many sins, including homosexuality. We even hear preachers today denouncing cities like New Orleans and Las Vegas, saying that hurricane Katrina was God’s wrath against the people of New Orleans. I’ve heard more than one minister make statements like this one: If God doesn’t punish America [or a specific city in America], He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.
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