allegory vs. parable

One of the most common mistakes in understanding the Bible is to confuse teaching through parable and teaching through allegory as being the same. Jesus actually used both though he more commonly taught using parables.

The key difference:

• allegory - the similitude is intended to be drawn at many points
• parable - an everyday story told to illustrate one main lesson

examples of each:

• allegory - the Good Shepherd in John 10, the Vine and the Branches in John 15, even the Sower in Mark 4 (Jesus interprets the many points of allegory)
  
• parable - the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 (chiefly intended to illustrate the definition of loving your neighbor, not what the innkeeper represents, who the Samaritan represents)

-thanks to John Stott for good definitions found in Understanding the Bible

What To Do With Over Ripe Bananas

If you have bananas that get a little too ripe for your taste here's an idea of what you can do with them. Cut them into slices a quarter-inch thick and spread them out on wax paper side by side. Then put it them in the freezer and the next day you have a perfect frozen treat.

Once frozen, the mushy texture problem is gone and they are sweeter and tastier. Sometimes I will eat a few slices to satisfy my craving for something cold and sweet after dinner.

(I got this tip from my dad who puts the frozen slices in his cereal to add fruit and make the milk colder.)

Can you intentionally grow in humility?

Yesterday I ran across this list of five suggestions to grow in humility. They are from former (continuing?) Archbishop of Cantebury Michael Ramsey of the Anglican Church.

1. Thank God for anything and everything. Do it often and continually. Thankfulness is a soil which pride can not easily grow in.
2. Confess your sins to God. Criticize yourself in God's presence.
3. Be ready to accept humiliations. They can hurt terribly but they will help you be humble.
4. Do not worry about status. The only status that matters is your relationship and proximity to God.
5. Use your sense of humor. Laugh about things and the absurdity of life. Be able to be serious but not solemn or you run the risk of taking yourself seriously.

I think that's a pretty good list. Humility is a slippery virtue, you can't really pursue it directly. I also just started reading Brian Sander's Elusive: The Pursuit of Jesus and Humility. More thoughts on that latter.

I have always thought of humility as a accurate perception of who we are. It doesn't mean we pretend we're bad at things in which we're actually good. But when we perceive ourselves in relation to God we can not but see our smallness.

Is the Gospel Fire Insurance

It is quite common for Christians today to decry a Gospel that is presented as fire insurance. Usually, what is meant by this is that the Gospel is surely more than something we "believe" in which will keep us from going to hell.

I remember being told once that when a person becomes a Christian, the only reason for God not to take them to heaven right away is so that they can share the Gospel with others, so that others might be saved. This is the kind of thinking that is associated with the Gospel as fire insurance. And surely it is a misrepresentation of creation, humanity, and salvation.

But Jesus' statement in John 3 struck me the other day. Here are the two verses immediately following our beloved John 3:16.

¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

One reason the Fire Insurance Gospel is wrong is because insurance is something we get in case something bad happens to us. It will then protect us or restore us somehow. But John 3:18 states that whoever does not believe in Jesus stands condemned. The verdict has been pronounced. Condemned and guilty. It's not a question of whether something bad might happen to us. Like, we might get thrown into hell. We are condemned.

But Jesus offers us great news. We can trade our condemned status for not-condemned status. Who wouldn't take that? Make no mistake, this is no insurance, this is a life-line thrown to someone heading to the gallows.