... in defense of the bible.
PRODIGAL SON PARABLE
"A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father,
Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided
unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered
all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted
his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he
went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him
into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly
with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And
when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's
have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise
and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned
against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy
son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his
father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had
compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son
said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight,
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his
servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring
on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf,
and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and
is alive again; he was lost, and is found" (Lk. 15:11-24).

We see a son who believes that he knows everything that he can handle
his life on his own (US). Suddenly he finds out that he is nothing away
of his father (God). He decides to come back, and what does his father
do? He does not question his son, he does not judge him whatsoever. He
just loves His son.

That is the God I love. That is the God that the bible tries to teach,
but if we don't see the bible from a point of view of love given by God
and recieved for us as creatures. We always going to say that the bible
is a fairytale. We are always going to say that it was written to keep
the tribes in peace.

God Bless you my non-believer brothers and sisters.

TLW

God Bless you L.W..

Kat

This is the kind of connection with God I can accept in anyone. To
believe in that kind of love, to see it as unconditional, to feel worthy
of it, can enhance a persons compassion, their sesitivity to others and
to try, by example, to give it in the same way they would accept it.

Very nice.

Nice post LW.

and blessings back at you.

Great post.

TLW wrote:
“That is the God I love. That is the God that the bible tries to teach,
but if we don't see the bible from a point of view of love given by God
and recieved for us as creatures. We always going to say that the bible
is a fairytale. We are always going to say that it was written to keep
the tribes in peace.

God Bless you my non-believer brothers and sisters.”

I think you’ve made a good observation here in a world where there are
only two choices, atheism or Christianity. (i.e. you either believe in
the bible or you’re a non-believer implying that you don’t believe in
god at all)

However, there are other religions and philosophies to which the
original story you posted would apply with equal validity. There is
nothing inherent about that story that would conflict with these other
religions or spiritualities.

I could easy tell that story with respect to how I see god and it would
be a perfectly understandable story. So the story that you’ve quoted is
not unique to any particular religion even if it may have actually been
quoted from the bible. There are very similar stories in many other
religious doctrines.

thumbs up

James wrote:
"I could easy tell that story with respect to how I see god and it would
be a perfectly understandable story. So the story that you’ve quoted is
not unique to any particular religion even if it may have actually been
quoted from the bible. There are very similar stories in many other
religious doctrines."
My friend James I agree with you 100%. And you know why in the time my
Lord told this story he did to the Jews, when christianity expanded to
the rest of the know world (in thos days) this story was not exclusive
for the jews. All the teachings of my Lord were open to anybody who
wanted to believe in him.
The same concept applies the book of love (bible) applies to anybody who
accepts its teachings with love, and not trying to find "Logical and
rational incosistencies"