Parables

[pete_bowes]

Parable: a simple story told to convey a spiritual meaning.

My first question: is that a fair definition?

My second question is, is there any harm in making up our own if they serve the same purpose, to draw people to God?

 

[Pitcharan]

Parable: a simple story told to convey a spiritual meaning.

My first question: is that a fair definition?

My second question is, is there any harm in making up our own if they serve the same purpose, to draw people to God?

As I see them, Parables are real and fictional examples from our daily life situations used to explain difficult or incomprehensible spiritual truths. To comprehend the incomprehensible, an apt parallel (simile) from our daily life is used.

 

[PJM]

=pete bowes;12448649]Parable: a simple story told to convey a spiritual meaning.

My first question: is that a fair definition?

My second question is, is there any harm in making up our own if they serve the same purpose, to draw people to God?

You may want to change “spiritual” to “moral”; and yes, I see no harm in following the example Christ set. HOWEVER I offer a cautionary note: Mt. 13:9-12 " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. [10] And his disciples came and said to him: Why speakest thou to them in parables? [11] Who answered and said to them: Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven: but to them it is not given. [12] For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall abound: but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away that also which he hath"

So if you do this be sure they understand, or be willing to explain it to whomever your sharing with..

 

[pete_bowes]

PJM: thank you for that. Could you simplify it for me please … I’m just a man in the country with the faith of God in my heart - yet I find it hard to understand a response such as yours - though I have no doubt of the truth that lies in your words.
I feel as though I’m back in an old classroom, being lectured in the Faith … and looking out of the window at God’s glory in the flowering trees, the billows of wind that loosens the petals so they fall in great drifts, carpeting the ground.