Parables, That's The Way Jesus Taught...Parables are short stories that are used to illustrate a moral or religious lesson. If you look at the synoptic gospels in the Bible, you see that Jesus used this method of teaching the people. The Book of Matthew contains 23 while Mark contains 8 and the Book of Luke contains 24. This method of teaching was based on mashal, a Hebrew form of comparison and Jesus was a Jew (Hebrew) descended from the line of King David. To understand the necessity for this form of teaching, we must remember that, during the time Jesus was on the earth, the majority of people could not read and write. These short stories were simple and memorable enough for people to pass on to their family and others without them being written down. When asked, Jesus stated that He spoke using this method to fulfill prophecy from the Book of Isaiah. ( See Matt. 13:10-17, Mark 4:10-12, and Luke 8:9-10) In simple terms, Jesus spoke that way so that knowledge of God would come from God speaking to people's hearts and not from their minds and their own understanding. For a modern look at the power of prayer, you can check out Simon's Tears. This is a short story of how a congregation learned about prayer and it's effectiveness. For a modern look at obedience to God, you can read The Diamond Cross. This is a short story of how a young woman learned about the blessings that can flow from obedience to God. For a modern look at judging others, you can check out Someone else's dog This is a story about the effects of judging others and how important it is to guard our mouths. For an inspiring look at compassion, you can read
A House On The Hill
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