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Goodbye Jesus

The Prodical Son's Brother


Justin

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I made the mistake of going to church tonight. Some friends wanted me to go along with them and since it had been a while since i had seen them i decided to go along. I leftt mad as hell, wanting so badly to tell the preacher off.

 

Long story short, his sermon was about bitterness and the prodical son's brother. He was actually trying to say his older brother was bitter and it was he who was in the wrong for how he acted upon his brother's return. I couldn't believe this. I know christians have some twisted logic but this left me thinking that hardly a one of them have any moral codes of conduct at all. How can anyone look at this story and see the older brother as the bad guy? He was left to take care of the farm and his father for years while his younger brother was off rebelling against not only his father but god himself, doing who knows what. Yet when he returns, his father gives him gifts and praises. Excuss me, but i do believe he had a damn right to be upset about this.

 

To wrap up the christian lesson here: good hard work, responsibility, honoring your father and god and doing whats right is wrong but rebelling against god and your father and neglecting your work and responsibilities will earn you praise and gifts. For crying out loud, had this little story been set in the OT, the prodical son would have been stoned to death for rebelling against his father. Or, god could have been like fuck it all and killed everyone with a global flood.

 

Pissed me the hell off. No wonder the whole lot of em are so fucked in the head.

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The way I was taught this story meant was that God is always willing to forgive us if we repent and return to him (our father-figure). Because he knows us, he comes to meet us even before we reach him. The second brother was bitter because he always served his father and now the older brother returns to ask his father's forgiveness. It also is a story of brotherly forgiveness, we forgive each other when we are wronged. It is also a story of how the same mercy and forgiveness comes to all who ask; God's mercy is for those who worship him every day and for those who repent and come to him. Tolkien wrote, I believe, 'not all who wander are lost,' this is the same type of moral story as the prodigal son. It is a tale of falling from grace, repentance, and forgiveness.

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The way I was taught this story meant was that God is always willing to forgive us if we repent and return to him (our father-figure). Because he knows us, he comes to meet us even before we reach him. The second brother was bitter because he always served his father and now the older brother returns to ask his father's forgiveness. It also is a story of brotherly forgiveness, we forgive each other when we are wronged. It is also a story of how the same mercy and forgiveness comes to all who ask; God's mercy is for those who worship him every day and for those who repent and come to him. Tolkien wrote, I believe, 'not all who wander are lost,' this is the same type of moral story as the prodigal son. It is a tale of falling from grace, repentance, and forgiveness.

 

I think the "good" brother got the short end of the stick, though a pastor once mentioned that the father tells him that everything he has will go to the "good brother". I also thought Pilate kind of got a raw deal. He seemed to want to let christ go. Sorry I keep getting the image of a lisping Pilate from Monty Python's "Life of Brian".... stwik him cthenturian, mosht harshly...

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The way I was taught this story meant was that God is always willing to forgive us if we repent and return to him (our father-figure). Because he knows us, he comes to meet us even before we reach him. The second brother was bitter because he always served his father and now the older brother returns to ask his father's forgiveness. It also is a story of brotherly forgiveness, we forgive each other when we are wronged. It is also a story of how the same mercy and forgiveness comes to all who ask; God's mercy is for those who worship him every day and for those who repent and come to him. Tolkien wrote, I believe, 'not all who wander are lost,' this is the same type of moral story as the prodigal son. It is a tale of falling from grace, repentance, and forgiveness.

 

Yes Heretic, i know what the moral of the story is. But the preacher totally turns it around and says that the older brother was the one being a hard ass was completly wrong. It flies in the face of what the Bible says too, especially the OT. There isn't a human being worth their salt who would actually not feel wronged by such treatment, let alone fail to see it from the older brother's side. Most would say, "all right, now that you're back home and have stopped wasting yours and our time, get to work."

 

I'm not saying that forgivness shouldn't be given to him, but the older brother who stayed by his father's side the whole time his younger brother was gone should not have been treated the way he was.

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