Monday, August 3, 2009

The Prodigal Son

Tim Keller says of the story of the Prodigal Son - "If the Bible was a body of water, this story is where you can see all the way to the bottom."

The story of the Prodigal Son tells the story of Creation. It tells the story of us. And it tells the story of humanity in general.

Right off we have a son, a creature who wants nothing to do with his creator, the Father. In fact the son in the story wishes that the Father was dead. On the other hand this person does want all of the Father's things, all of his possessions, all the bling, all the physical goodies - Only this seems important to the immature. And guess what, like our heavenly Father, the father in the story loves his son enough to allow him to choose.

The Prodigal Son tells about a beginning born of a Father's love. That's what love does. It creates. It gives of self to what it creates.
In the beginning, prior to creation, the Father, Son and Spirit were in a loving, giving relationship. They existed in an other-love relationship and they created so they could love others. The act of creating was done so that we could know the beauty of knowing love from others and giving love to others.


The Prodigal Son tells about a fall; a decision to do things our way.
The son in the story is selfish and ignorant. He has no idea what his father has done for him nor does he care what the father wants for him.
In the same way, in the beginning we did not understand how our Father was trying to protect us. We believed satan in thinking that God was trying to withhold something good from us. As with the story of creation, the Prodigal Son, and with us, the love story turns to tragedy. All through the Bible we have account after account of people knowing the goodness of God, turning away from Him, and experiencing tremendous difficulty.

The Prodigal Son tells about restoration.
Finally, at least in some cases, there's a coming back home to a Father who loves us more than we love ourselves. For some of us, the longing to go home becomes like an overpowering craving. We remember how good we had it. We remember the warmth and safety of a Father's love. We remember the safety and the security. We remember the guidance and care. We recognise that the secular world does not deliver on its promises.


In this story, both sons are lost but only the first one recognises it. Only the first one asks for and receives forgiveness. The older son, like atheists resent the lost son finding home and being forgiven. Convinced of his moral superiority, like the older brother in the story, atheists accuse the Father or not knowing what He's doing. They tell Him that He's doing it wrong. The younger brother doesn't deserve forgiveness. He deserves to be punished. To be held accountable. Atheists love to see the guilty punished. Atheists love to see forgiveness withheld. Even if it means that they themselves will not experience forgiveness, few things please atheists more than to see the guilty lose that pound of flesh.

Of course the older son in the story, like many atheists was a good man, a moral hard working man, perhaps even a spiritual man. What he didn't know, couldn't conceive even, is that you can be these things and still be lost.


Remembering. That word is key to the turning point of the story. The son remembered. He remembered better times. Our world is not how it was meant to be.
. When a relationship turns sour, our primal memory knows that this is not how love is to be expressed.
. When we give in to resentment and bitterness, our primal memory tells us that forgiveness is how we were meant to live.
. When death and decay and loss overwhelm our lives, our primal memory reminds us that our world was meant for life, abundant life.
. When we feel far from God, when in fact we are tempted to think that He doesn't even exist, our primal memory checks our foolishness and we long for a time when we can walk in the cool of the evening with our Creator.

That's what Jesus was doing when He came to earth. Jesus didn't come to earth to start a new religion. He came to earth to prepare the way so that we could come home.
"God was in Jesus, reconciling the people of the world to Him."

7 comments:

Glen20 said...

"That's what Jesus was doing when He came to earth. Jesus didn't come to earth to start a new religion. He came to earth to prepare the way so that we could come home."

And if you don't do what his dad says, he'll throw you into a fire. He loves you though.

PersonalFailure said...

Wait a minute- you want to see people tormented forever in hell for minor offenses, but I'm the one against forgiveness?

Projection much?

Thesauros said...

Neither I nor the God I worship want to see anyone miss out on paradise. It's simply a fact or a reality that if you don't do this then you can't have that.

Let me ask, are there some people who don't deserve to be forgiven? Or should anyone and everyone be allowed to spend eternity with their Creator?

"God is not willing that any should perish."

The only way that anyone will experiece eternal separation from God is if they deliberately resist His will.

Rabhimself said...

"It's simply a fact or a reality that if you don't do this then you can't have that."

So the alternative is eternal damnation and eternal pain.

Nice.

Now if this is fact, let me make my 'free-willed' decision as to whether i want to live on in paradise or spend eternity in hell....


Ron, if someone were to hold you hostage with the threat they will barbarically torture you unless you worship them, in which case you will be rewarded with your own paradise - then is the statement: "It's simply a fact or a reality that if you don't do this then you can't have that", equally applicable to this scenario?

It should be.

Thesauros said...

Here's what I can't understand. Why do you obsess on the negative consequence instead of the positive consequence? What do you think you have to lose by coming on side with God? And if you don't believe that He's real why talk about it at all?

Glen20 said...

Here's what I can't understand. Why do you obsess on the negative consequence instead of the positive consequence?

Yeah and why do people obsess on the negative things Hitler did ignoring the positive?

And if you don't believe that He's real why talk about it at all?

People are using your worldview to show the absurdity of that worldview. This worldview has negative consequences and is probably false, of course people are going to talk about it.

Rabhimself said...

The point of the post, Ron, was to show you that your god is no different from the hypothetical hostage takers above.

You either worship them, in which case you will be saved and rewarded with paradise - or you refuse and you get tortured.

You either worship god and accept jesus, in which case you will be rewarded with paradise - or you refuse and spend eternity in hell.

What is the difference?

None.