Prodigal Son . . . the Reason Christians Don’t Believe in Justice.

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I wrote this article . . . oh . . . maybe fifteen years ago. It has set on my hard drive ever since. I’ve let maybe a dozen people read it to mixed reviews.

I recently offered this to another reader, and he insisted that I should publish it. He made a good point on why. . . . I’m an iconoclast and stir the pot of complacency. I kinda like being that . . . but . . . I don’t really like bible studies as blog posts.

And then at this year’s (2015) TANC conference, I heard that some folks objected to the fact that I wasn’t proof-texting my discussion of historical evolution of determinism. Why I needed to quote Bible verses for a history lesson is anyone’s guess, but Christians are funny that way.

Speaking of funny, I did read one scripture to sanctify a TANC lecture and then like a good New Calvinist preacher, I talked about what I wanted to talk about. But I would like to illustrate what it looks like to evaluate bible verses absent the theological bias predestined into every New Calvinists world view. This article isn’t a proof-text study. It is more of a textual evaluation. I figure my “Where is the scripture?” critics will be howling for me to abandon quoting Bible passages after this article.

>snicker<

That contrast might be ironic, but I don’t think the subject that follows is funny. Actually, I think the account commonly known as the Prodigal Son is the saddest tale in the four Gospels. And our interpretive conclusions of this account illustrate our profound bastardization of justice.

Read on . . . if you dare.

*   *   *

The Prodigal Son is a Christian staple. If a person has been in church for more than a month, it is probably statistically impossible that they haven’t heard the story. And certainly, Christians think they get the point: God is amazingly forbearing with sinful children and jealous siblings.

Who could doubt that is what we are supposed to get from it? Who would have the nerve to suggest otherwise?

Well, me, I suppose. I’m the problem child.

I’m going to cut to the chase. I think the account illustrates a stunning amount of family dysfunction. The parable is really about a younger son who merely failed to achieve his financial goals. (It was an epic fail, but nonetheless, it was just a financial failure.) The parable is about an unjustly treated elder son. And the parable is about a pining, neglectful delusional father.

Of course, Christians don’t see any of this dynamic because they are sure they know what the story is supposed to say because people come to their spirituality desperately unsure of themselves. Preachers spew indoctrinated self-doubt by the pound, so it takes nothing for pew-sitters to see themselves in the younger son—wayward and undeserving of a place in the family of God. And for those few who know they have done the father’s work and felt the sting of being ignored and taken advantage of . . . well, they never voice their objections because Christians don’t really believe in justice.

Love Foiled or Loves Foils

Let’s summarize our understanding. A younger son takes his father’s money and leaves the family to go find his fortune. He loses his father’s money and finds himself in dire straits. He returns to his father for a job so he might eat. The father receives his son back in grand style. The older brother is jealous. The father is magnanimous. Isn’t God wonderful? This is the story commonly called the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.”

First, let me point out that the story is not a parable. The account is introduced with the phrase “A certain man had two sons . . . ” which signals that this is the recounting of specific set of events by real people, which means this is not an allegory, and all such interpretations are error.

Second, I want to point out that prodigal means wasteful. I don’t know how many people know that, but odds are that most people think prodigal means sinful. Maybe in the loosest of interpretations, wasteful can be called sinful. But . . . like I said, that would be the loosest of interpretations.

John Immel


He's a generally ornery pot string iconoclast that loves to make people think. He's harmless (well, mostly harmless). And don't forget lovable in an affectionately blunt sort of way. Whatever your first feelings, read and listen long enough and you will come to agree with him.


  • Hey Sopy . . .

    Good to hear from you. Glad you are still reading. (and thanks for being my friend)

    I did want to respond to this . . .

    “This doddering fool (implyed in this story Jesus told) may very well be His –Jesus’ Father lõõking down the proverbial road for His Israel, a proverbial dead man; if we read the Old Testment and put any stock in it, we already know where He (The great I AM, God Almighty) was spending His time…”

    Of course I addressed this in the article . . . well, I addressed the interpretive methodology in the article. The account is about a “certain” man. by extrapolating this to be a metaphor for God is unwarranted. And no where implied in the passage.

    The moment we start using allegory to “interpret’ scripture we abandon any rational foundation for our conclusions. If the certain man is Yahweh . . . then what is the allegorical significance of the fields? or the party or the pig poo? Are we then to “interpret” every part of the passage as metaphorical for something else?

    If that is the case then the bible can mean anything .. . . which (as history illustrates) it renders the bible meaningless.

  •   __

    “Stay Calm N’ Keep Your Seats In The Upright Condition?”

    John,

    hey,

    Thank-you for your gracious reply.

    hmmm…

      In an initial attempt to address your astute questions, I am reminded by certain passages of Holy Scripture –of the importance and purpose of Jesus’, the Son of God, well, –His time spent with the children of Israel. 

    The Angel that ‘announced’ His (Jesus’) birth, said that He cane to save His people from their sins. (That was identified in scripture asvthe Father’s intended and stated purpose for His only begotten Son, that is, Jesus being sent to the earth.) 

      Jesus also spoke of a perl of great price hidden a field. He was most likely referring to Israel which God had placed, grown, and hidden within a planet now unfortunately controlled by Satan, after his (Satan’s) ambitious rebellion and subsequent fall.  

    The passage (the parable or story of the perl of great price hidden in the field) clearly demonstrates the importance of the perl itself and its find, and subsequently its value, and the importance of its retrieval. 

    Not unlike that story, the inference that Jesus ‘sold’ his ‘life’ to pay for what was most dear (of value); if Israel be the ‘perl’, then the focus on the salvation of Israel takes center stage (accorded the importance of God’s plan in sending His Son) and affirms more clearly the extended devoted desire of Jesus to meticulously gather ‘His’ chicks…

    NOTE: –That they (Israel) were ‘unwilling’, speaks volumes in understanding God’s gracious invitation to the gentiles (upon His resurrection) who are likened to the grafted wild vine in other passages of Holy Scripture.

    With this generous understanding, the scripture passages of the Prodigal son, IMHO take on new significance.

    *

    Thank you for your sacrificial and significant service to the body of Christ. It has NOT gone un-noticed.

    Cheeeeeeeeeeeeese !

    (…love cuz He does.)

    In closing, “Fatigue cracks are small… —barely perceptible with a microscope when they first occur. It’s when they become more severe and can be seen by the naked eye, that they can potentially become a (ed. serious) problem and are then subject to regular inspections.” -Review: “No Highway In The Sky”

    Not to worry? 

    Tell that to the frightened victims ‘on board’ these Calvinesta churches when C.J. Mahaney’s huge gash in the body of Christ is ‘glossed over’ by so many in the New Calvinist Reformed 501(c)3 religious movement. 

    Disaster waiting to happen?

    Suddenly, the body of Christ has been de-pressurized; beyond sheer terror for many, with much loss of spiritual life. 

    Beyond injury?

    Hardly.

    (sadface)

    The sudden spiritural de-pressurization of a church can serve as a vacuum, sucking out ‘all things of faith’ with the rapidly escaping confidence in Christ’s shepherds.

    When the ‘breach’ happens to occur to a child in a New Calvinist 501(c)3 church who isn’t adequately protected… 

    Well, you know the rest. 

    (tears)

    Thanks for taking a lõõk at all things Jesus’ church,

    ATB

    Sopy
    __
    Inspirational relief: Cir.1951 Cinema presentation: “No Highway In The Sky”
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GHycFe6oUDA

    🙂

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