Joyous1 Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Tim posted an extimony on the main page of this site titled "What if the prodigal son wasn't a washout?" It got me thinking about that parable, and how differently I would view it now that I've left Christianity. To make the parable more accurately reflect the Christian's relationship with God, I would rewrite it as follows: A man had 2 sons. One of the son's reached adulthood and had some ideas about what kind of life he wanted to build for himself. His plans required cash, however, so he asked his father if he would give him a loan using his share of the family inheritance as collateral. At first the father didn't want to let the son go, because he was basically a very controlling and manipulative parent who preferred to keep all his children under his control forever. Being a passive agressive personality, however, the father agreed to loan his son the money while silently forming a plan to sabotage the young man's efforts. So the young man took his father's loan and proceded to build his life's dreams apart from his father's enterprises. Meanwhile, the father secretly sent his servants out to undermine and sabotage his independent son's efforts in every way possible. Eventually the independent son was financially ruined and returned home heartbroken and financially devastated. The father was overjoyed that he had broken his son's spirit, thereby forcing him to remain dependent upon and subsevient to him for the rest of his life. The father celebrated by killing a fatted calf and hosting a huge party. The other son, who was something of a momma's boy, complained about the party. "Why are you throwing him a party when I'm the son who has been loyal to the family and you've never let me throw a party for any reason." And the father replied, "Don't you see, you get the entire inheritance now and your brother will be beholden to you and dependent upon you for the rest of his life. You will be able to hold that over his head and manipulate him into anything you desire. Isn't that worth celebrating" So the momma's boy understood and joined in the celebration. The independent son suspected that his family had sabotaged him, so he was filled with bitterness and resentment. At the same time, he was unable to ever support himself or a family of his own so he had to stay with them, living a miserable existence for the rest of his life. Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosingMyReligion Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 My problem with the parable of the prodigal son is that it comes to the conclusion that every child who wants to break away is a bad person. Grant it, the idea of a child becoming a wanderer and always having a place at home is heart warming(as far as Bible god goes)...however, as the ex-timony read why couldn't the prodigal son not just want to make his own place in the world? Just because he might not choose to believe the way his father did, or act as he did, and etc el....It doesn't mean he is a moral degenerate. It just means that he wants to lead HIS life and not allow his father to live through him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 I see the story of the prodigal son to be contradictory to the whole concept of the shepherd. In the prodigal son the father waits patiently for the rebel son to "party" and return. In the other analogues where jesus is the shepherd he actively goes to retrieve you. So is god patient or does he come for you right away? mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 So is god patient or does he come for you right away? Yes. Now go and pray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted May 18, 2006 Share Posted May 18, 2006 Now go and pray. Gah! It's not working. Must...pray...harder... mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CrazyCatholic5011 Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 I think you are misinterpreting the text. The message of this parable is that God will always take you back with open arms. The son has left and spent all this money and is now broke, and then goes back to the father. Rather than the father scolding his son he runs to him and embraces him with open arms. This shows God love, mercy, kindness and forgiveness to us. And yes God is patient waiting for us, and once we come back towards him in the horizon(contrition), he sprints to us and embraces us(forgiveness). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Ahhhh...ain't that swell? God is so loving and patient he sits around waiting for us to return. And where was god when we were down and out hoping to get some of what the pigs were eating? Oh, that's right. Free will. He can't interfere. And where's god if we manage to do well on our own and never return? Oh, that's right. Hell and eternal damnation. It's nice that god is so willing to take us back with open arms...but only if we come crawling back and accept him first (we were just so wrong to go in the first place). That's big of him. A fine lesson for all parents to teach their children in fact. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyous1 Posted May 21, 2006 Author Share Posted May 21, 2006 wow Crazy, you signed up just to respond to my post? I'm flattered. Let me make sure I understand what you are saying. If any one of us ex christians decided to "come home" God would come running out to embrace us? Only He is invisible, so we wouldn't be able to see Him, right? And we, like Mother Theresa, might not feel His presence either, right? So if we can't see Him and we can't feel Him running out to greet us, we should just take your word for it that He actually is doing what you say He will. Excuse me, we should believe what the Holy Bible says He will do, even when we so no evidence whatsoever for years on end in our lives? Why? Because this loving God will torture us for all eternity if we don't? Well, if we can't see Him torturing us and we can't feel Him torturing us, maybe it won't be so bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duderonomy Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Tim posted an extimony on the main page of this site titled "What if the prodigal son wasn't a washout?" It got me thinking about that parable, and how differently I would view it now that I've left Christianity. To make the parable more accurately reflect the Christian's relationship with God, I would rewrite it as follows: A man had 2 sons. One of the son's reached adulthood and had some ideas about what kind of life he wanted to build for himself. His plans required cash, however, so he asked his father if he would give him a loan using his share of the family inheritance as collateral. At first the father didn't want to let the son go, because he was basically a very controlling and manipulative parent who preferred to keep all his children under his control forever. Being a passive agressive personality, however, the father agreed to loan his son the money while silently forming a plan to sabotage the young man's efforts. So the young man took his father's loan and proceded to build his life's dreams apart from his father's enterprises. Meanwhile, the father secretly sent his servants out to undermine and sabotage his independent son's efforts in every way possible. Eventually the independent son was financially ruined and returned home heartbroken and financially devastated. The father was overjoyed that he had broken his son's spirit, thereby forcing him to remain dependent upon and subsevient to him for the rest of his life. The father celebrated by killing a fatted calf and hosting a huge party. The other son, who was something of a momma's boy, complained about the party. "Why are you throwing him a party when I'm the son who has been loyal to the family and you've never let me throw a party for any reason." And the father replied, "Don't you see, you get the entire inheritance now and your brother will be beholden to you and dependent upon you for the rest of his life. You will be able to hold that over his head and manipulate him into anything you desire. Isn't that worth celebrating" So the momma's boy understood and joined in the celebration. The independent son suspected that his family had sabotaged him, so he was filled with bitterness and resentment. At the same time, he was unable to ever support himself or a family of his own so he had to stay with them, living a miserable existence for the rest of his life. Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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