My God is not.

Brother h

Matthew 5:6. Good news

6 “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires;

My friends in CR used 8principles.

The first we have the tendency to sometimes do the wrong thing.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. For they.

In CR the last / 8th principle is

Principle 8- Yield myself to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words. (Step 12) “Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.” (Matthew 5:10)

Harris

While back I was thingking about God the Father - God the Son - God the Holy Sprit - How could all three be ONE?? - then the thought came to me / I'm Ralph the Son-Ralph the Husband- Ralph the Dad - Ralph the Uncle- Ralph the Brother - Ralph the Grandfather - Ralph the FRIEND- etc.- I don't mean to offend anyone - maybe I'm just crazy. But it did help me to know/feel, GOD IS ALL THREE.

Also I am 3rd -- -- GOD is first - YOU are 2nd - I'm am third.

It might not click with everyone, but it did for me.


My finite brain attempts to grasp the infinite.
Sometimes it's like catching the wind..Sometimes I get glimpses.

I love stories as well as Praise and Worship Music.
My big EGO (edging God out) brain has been changed by God.
Playing Praise and Worship is a lot different than my ego driven wailing rock harmonica solos.

Here's one of my favorite lyrics..

(Chorus)
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I - will - adore You!
Yeah!

Filled with wonder,
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your Name is Power
Breath, and Living Water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

love
brother Harris

Most people use the illustrations for the Trinity to explain three in one, a task they accomplish quite well. Unfortunately, physical analogies tend to break down at some point when using them to illustrate spiritual truth. The illustrations for the Trinity suffer with the same deficiencies. Each of the illustrations breaks down in diminishing or distorting either God's essence (egg illustration for instance) or the role distinctions (shamrock for instance) or in teaching modalism (water illustration). I use the illustrations to help younger children understand threeness and oneness. Beginning with junior highers, I use the illustrations to help believers understand the various heresies. So the illustrations in my opinion actually help in accomplishing two tasks and I'm honest in pointing out the deficiencies in each. In fact, I now teach Biblical Studies at the university level and my students are quite discerning in spotting those deficiencies in the illustrations after discussing the various heresies. So, use them or not, but recognizing their strengths and weaknesses allows us to use them in a way that is instructive at appropriate levels.

How does the above discussion connect or contrast Jesus using parables
Love brother Harris

Born into a family line of Orthodox Jewish family
(Who loved to eat and tell stories and ask questions)

Harris, that is an excellent question I believe. Parables certainly have suffered from misuse and misinterpretation as times and one of the common misuses is the pressing of the parabolic details rather than focusing on the main point Jesus was trying to teach. From my vantage point I confess my weakness as a human being that lacks (for obvious reasons) the skill that Jesus had both for presenting and illustrating truth flawlessly. Alas, however, even his teachings have suffered from misinterpretation.

So, my goal whenever teaching and illustrating is to first be faithful to the text of scripture and second to illustrate, whether through story, example, analogy, magic, etc., in a way that remains faithful to the text and yet illuminates the truth rather than distorting or blurring the truth. This task is certainly a tall task, but should be the highest priority for us all. The truth of the text must remain the absolute priority as I communicate. That means even an illustration that I find appealing may not be a good choice because it fails the criteria I have listed above. If you're looking for a scholarly treatment of parables, I recommend Craig Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables (he is conservative evangelical).

I often wonder however, if we need to illustrate much of the parables since they are functioning already as an illustration. The punch that Jesus intended is in the story rather than in my explanation of the story so I also want to avoid drifting from his story. One book on parables is entitled The Sting is in the Tale (another fine volume on parables); the author's point is to let the story do its job. So maybe our illustrations when it comes to parables should revolve more around what this truth would look like in our lives today.

Thanks for the good discussion on this thread and my apologies if I have drifted too far from the purpose of the thread.

Bruce

http://www.amazon.com/Interpreting-Parab......blomberg

His parables were meant not to illustrate but to hide the mystery?

Both, Harris. In making the truth a bit more veiled, the religious leaders were forced to think more about the message before they reacted and rejected too quickly. But the parables also illustrated truth for those with receptive hearts. I think that's what makes them so brilliant. The prodigal son is a good example. The parable serves to illustrate the love the father has for the prodigal. But the parable comes in a set of parables where there is great rejoicing over the lost being found (lost sheep and lost coin). But in this parable, there isn't great rejoicing but great anger. The religious leaders would have caught on that they were the brother who stayed at home but he was just as lost as the prodigal who walked away. There's the sting in the tale! Isn't that a great message and great story? The story really focuses upon the second brother even though we learn truth from the other two characters. Sometimes Jesus communicates his point through a disjunction within the story, that is, some element that seems out of place.

I have many performers describe the self like the prodigal son.

I love the part where the Father rushes out to meet his son.

The brother on the other hand was not so welcoming.
Sort of like the workers who had labored all day for the same wage as those that were only present for a short time.


Love brother Harris

Oh, that's a good parallel isn't it-- both are excellent demonstrations of God's grace. Thank you for chatting with me about this topic, Harris. Blessings to you.