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Dear Ron,
Thanks for this interesting and, if I may say so, civil response.
I am interested in what a Bible Christian makes of the parable and that is why I posted here. When you reply that we must take into account other scriptures too it reads as though you accept that the Bible contradicts itself. And surely here it does! The parable says clear as daylight that we are judged according to our works whereas Paul says we are saved through faith. It is not so much a question of 'taking the verses in the context of the whole bible' it seems rather a question of seeing that they flatly contradict.
[Modern or liberal Christians who do not think that every word of the Bible is inspired do not have this problem. They, as you will be quick to point out,have the problem of deciding which verses are inspired and which are not]
Now you tell me that I ought to ask some questions about the parable. I am not quite sure what they are getting at but I will try.
Q1. Why do people have to be saved if it is nations that judged?
I understand V32 to say 'all the nations' as a way of saying that everyone will be judged. However note that it is 'men' not nations that are separated into two groups according to whether or not they visited the prisoner etc. It is clearly their individual actions that determines which group they are in.
Q2 Why will there be sheep in heaven anyway?
This is a parable so we are not talking literally about sheep! They represent the people who have visited prisons etc.
Q3 Why does the King subscribe to the old custom of discriminating against the left hand?
As it is a parable I suppose this is another picturesque way of saying that people under judgement fall into two groups.
Q4 If God made all things good why does he pick on the goats?
[A very perceptive question. If God made all things good including Satan everyone would have existed in a perfect world and Satan would have had no reason nor motivation to sin. The whole story of Satan and the Fall is implausible. However this is another issue]
The orthodox answer is that the goats i.e. those that do not visit the prisoner etc were MADE good by God but they misused God's gift of freewill to do wrong and that is why God condemns them.
Now I would ask you please to explain what you were getting at when you asked me to consider these question.
I thank you very much for the well meant other remarks you make in your post. I will certainly ponder them BUT, if you don't mind, I will stick here with the subject of the thread.
With good wishes
Q
Email: mgt.harris@btinternet.com
Hi Ron,
You asked me some questions about the parable that really intrigued me and which I tried to answer. I am interested to know exactly what you were getting at when you asked them and what you made of my poor attempts to respond.
I would be grateful if you could tell me.
With best wishes
Q
Email: mgt.harris@btinternet.com
Laurie, the Questioner
You are asking about two different points in time.
Jesus preached this parable before he died for our sins on calvary. He had to explain to these people at the Mount of Olives how they could make it into heaven as it could be understood at that point in time. That was by good works and having God's law on their hearts (Romans 2:13-17) He did not mention to them that he would be sacrificed in a few days for their salvation. He left this up to the disciples to preach after his death, which is where you get all the other scriptures about having to accept Jesus's saving grace to get into Heaven. This is now the way into Heaven(Romans 3:21-26). If you[people in general] have truly accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, have been babtized in the name of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and use Bible teachings to guide you through a righteous life, you should have no problem doing good deeds.
Like I said before Jesus left it up to his disciples to explain salvation thru him. Paul does a very good job of this in the book of Romans after Christ's death. He explains the "evolution" of Salvation from works to faith in the first 5 chapters and then explains further the newest and most imparative salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I think you should read Romans and it should give you a better understanding.
The following verses might help you and others understand what is in store for people such as yourself. This is why we understand and choose to accept Jesus's saving grace instead of trying to make a mess of the Bible. This is why you will never convince us that the Bible is wrong:
1 Corinthians 1:18-2019 - For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discerment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
I hope also, since you believe that the way into Heaven is good works, that you have been doing these things. I implore you to take the next step and accept Jesus Christ as your savior and be baptized. It won't hurt. It definitely will not keep you out of Heaven, if that is really where you want to go.
Keisha
PS To those who like to debate about Evolution and Creationism: One is about science, the other is about faith. Therein exist the distinction and nowhere else. The creation story is not for us to understand how the animals, plants, earth, humans, were created, but for us to understand God's relationship with us, our relationship with eachother, our relationship with his other creations, where we stand on earth, and so on. It's neat to know how all the plants and animals evolved from unicellular microorganisms, to multicellular symbionts, to multicellular macroorganisms, to what they are today, but God quite frankly doesn't care. Man chases this wisdom and then allows it to defeat their faith in God, that is when God does start to care. But you can't let that happen. The Bible is not a science book. So please stop debating as if it is.