Tony did another ironic blog http://tonymusings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-parable-of-respectable-people.html
I have to check with everyone to make sure I understand these ironic blogs. Tony assured us that it was.
I suppose it is because I am the last, the least and the lost. Haha. What am I doing up at twenty-to-one in the morning? Well, I suppose because I was sick and slept during the day.
I was always told that the parable of the lost sheep means that one sinner is worth more than 99 Christians anyway.
But the Church of England isn't really a Christian organization. And I am a Catholic.
When - in the original parable - Jesus used the term "respectable", it was meant - as I put it - ironically. That is, they think they are respectable, but are not. This is made extremely clear in another parable - this is the original, not edited:
ReplyDeleteTo some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
I don't see a lot of humility from Mr Bruce Willing.
Thank you Tony. :) The church of England can be a bit perverse and forget the parables sometimes, but then, so can I. HG.
ReplyDeleteWe are all at different stages on our journey with God, that is what the Jersey Deanery forget in their judgement of me, and what the Catholic Church have taught me about how we should not condemn others.
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