The best parables

Not just Jesus either . Any stories with a philosophical point that stick with you, just paraphrase your favorites here.

I'll start with one:

A wise philosopher was walking with his intellectual rival by a waterfall. They observed some fish playing and darting around in the water.
"Look at those fish swimming so happily" said the wise philosopher "That is what fish really like to do!"
His rival replied, hoping to catch the philosopher on his own words "You're not a fish, so how do you know what fish really like to do?"
"You're not me, so how do you know what I know?" answered the philosopher.
"I may not be you, but you're not a fish!" rebutted his rival "Stop evading the question and admit you don't know what fish really like to do!"
The philosopher smiled and said "Let's go back to the original question then. You asked me how I know what fish really like to do, not whether I know what they really like to do. Therefore you already know that I know."

admin: Luke 15:3-10
So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

I've always been a fan of the parable of the sower.
It's pretty well known even outside christian circles but basically it goes like this:

A Sower is walking along and sowing seed out-skool stylez - throwing it out from a basket.
The seed represents the message, (in this case, the christian message) and the ground it lands on represents the various types of people who hear it.
Some seed falls onto the path. The birds come and eat it. These are the people who hear the message but don't understand it. The birds represent the thing that snatches it away from them.
Some seed falls on rocky ground. The plants spring up quickly but quickly die because the roots can't go deep enough to support them when the sun comes. These are the people who hear the message and believe but their faith is not mature enough so they quickly fall away when trials come.
Some soil falls in the thorny ground. This too springs up but the weeds eventually kill it. These people hear the message and believe but eventually fall away because without a support network to turn to, they get persuaded away from the message by competing ideas.
Finally some seed falls on the good soil. These people are the ones that hear the message and believe. Their faith can mature enough to withstand trials and conflict and they are surrounded by fellow believers who will they can turn to when they have questions.

The thing I like about this parable is that it neatly sums up the various ways people react to a message. I like the analogy because it fits real life and it still works even when you consider the subtle shades of the categories of people described.
There are some who will maintain their faith to the end despite not having deep roots. In real life this can happen with seeds who cling to life despite not being in ideal growing conditions - they'll typically grow and live but they won't bear much fruit.
They're also some that'll maintain their faith despite being choked with competing ideas from all directions and not having a solid support network around them. This can also happen in real life with plants. The point is that even though it CAN happen - it risky and statistically unlikely.
Even in the good soil there are degrees. If too many seeds are sown, the plants will grow and bear fruit but they may not be as strong or as fruitful as the ones who have to compete with other plants.

I don't know, I just think it works.

If we're doing non-christian ones, I like Aesop's Fable about the dog who won't let the barnyard animals eat hay during the famine.

Basically, there's a famine and there's no meat. The barnyard animals eat hay and such so they are ok, but the dog won't let them eat it because he says that if he has to starve then they ALL can starve.

I think it's a situation that comes up all the time in real life to varying degrees and I often have to check myself to make sure I'm not doing the same. It's about looking at the bigger picture and accepting that, despite what the media tells us, looking out for yourself is NOT the best policy.

nzlockie: I like that.

My favorite one by Jesus is definitely the parable of the lost dollar. It's in Luke 15:8-10.

One day some lady had a lot of work to do around the house. As she began doing her chores, she noticed that a single coin was missing from her wallet. Immediately she threw up her arms and despaired, for her dollar was gone. For hours she searched every crevice of the house, totally neglecting all her housework. Then, at last, she found the dollar behind the couch. At once she was filled with joy, for her dollar was found. And then she texted all her friends and neighbors, telling them to come over to her house. When they were there, she celebrated a huge party because she had found her dollar. Her exact words were "Rejoice with me, for I have found the dollar which I had lost!"

I think of that parable every time I lose my keys.

admin: Some people don't think that's funny...

Pinkie: Um... it's not meant to be? Aside from the big God metaphor, I think there's an even greater message about how people obsess over things. It doesn't matter what the bigger picture is, to that woman all that mattered was her dollar. Same with the keys. Not actually really important in the big scheme of things, but the fact you don't know where something is makes you un-nerved.

admin: How is that even a question? Anyways, you changed it to make it look stupid, do not add to the Bible.

The real story is about a woman who has little to no money and loses part of it. It is important to her because her livelihood depends on it, even though it is just a coin she is overjoyed when she finds it again. That's what it's like when a sinner is saved, even though they are just one person they are important to God.

admin: How is that even a question? Anyways, you changed it to make it look stupid, do not add to the Bible.

The real story is about a woman who has little to no money and loses part of it. It is important to her because her livelihood depends on it, even though it is just a coin she is overjoyed when she finds it again. That's what it's like when a sinner is saved, even though they are just one person they are important to God.

Pinkie: It's a question because I want to know how it was meant to be a joke. I added that the dollar was behind her couch and that she texted instead of called (because who calls their friends nowadays) but nothing that changes the point of the parable. Every single translation to English is "adding to the Bible" in this sense - certain turns of phrase in other languages inevitably require some explanation to make any sense in English at all.

She loses one-tenth of the silver coins she possesses. Doesn't mean she isn't wealthy - she has 9 other coins, a house and untold possessions. Jesus even specifies drachma (Greek dollars), which had a value of about $25 in modern terms. A poor person back then earned one drachma every two days, and that was enough to get by (anything more would be savings unless a person wanted a rich lifestyle). But objectively it's no reason to call her friends and neighbors together and rejoice over that dollar when there are four other dollars she could be thankful for. Instead she adopts a "no coin left behind" policy and begins to care about little else. I'm not denying that Jesus intended a God analogy, but there's a far more human one I relate to which Jesus exploited to clarify his teaching (which is why the parable is so great) - when people experience loss, they obsess over that loss. It's like the pony episode where the fighting of the three tribes over the whole land eventually descends to fighting over one cave and then one worthless rock. Human conflict is exactly the same. That same frenzied rush with which all humans seek their keys is how Jesus described God as seeking out sinners.

admin: It is adding to the Bible because it's changing the facts. She obviously did not call using a phone sort of sense but calling in a calling to someone. I would be shocked if you didn't know that so it's best to deduce that you purposely changed the facts. Different translations is changing the words to help people understand it more, not changing the facts or the meaning you get from the parable.

The housewife (We can deduce she is a housewife because it would say widow) who lost a coin faced sort of an economic disaster, since the value of the coin would be around her husband's daily wage. What would she say to her husband when he returned home from work? That she lost his money? Women weren't treated the same way back then. They were treated harshly. Maybe she told her neighbors that she lost it and wanted it back. Which is why she called to them to tell them its back. I mean, the Bible was written for us but not to us, we don't have the same problems in our daily life.

Pinkie: The point at which you're saying she was a housewife, her husband was poor etc is the point where you are adding stuff - Jesus never said any of that, it doesn't even say the woman was married, just that she was a woman - and then accusing me of doing the same simply because my retelling of the parable doesn't conform to your headcanon.

Rather than shout at neighbors across the street we now call them on telephones. Rather than speak Greek we now speak English. Both are exactly the same example of times changing. I can relate to it a lot better if I imagine her gathering her friends together with a couple of texts rather than visiting them all individually to gather them together. Unless she had hardly any friends and neighbors, of course. Remember she only told her neighbors and friends AFTER she had found it, not for them to help search.

Women were treated variously in different cultures. It's interesting to note Jesus says the money is hers and not her husband's. That implies women in whatever society Jesus was talking about could legally own property.

admin: No, I'm not adding facts to the story, I'm saying what it possibly could be. Difference.

There is no proof, that's just what's written. She could have asked for help, we'll never know.

Interesting thought, I'll have to think about that.

There's a danger in reading too much into any parable. One of the key elements to a parable is when the teller explains the intended lesson/moral. It is ESSENTIAL that people don't read anything else into the story as that invariably changes the lesson people take from it.

There's no need for us to guess what Jesus was meaning with this parable or what elements of the story were important because he tells us in the next part.
In this case there was one purpose/moral/lesson/truth to be taking from his parable about the coin. In the same way that the woman was happy she'd found her coin, and the shepherd when he found his sheep - so the angels rejoice when a sinner is saved. (the "lost" becoming "found".)

Now we can read into it a little deeper and theorise that the lost coin had MORE value to her because it wasn't hers or because she didn't have much - but if we do that we actually subtly change the lesson. WE are represented by the coin and it would be wrong to say that God only looks for us because of our value. You really can't transfer many of the properties in this parable to us at all - God doesn't search for us - he knows exactly where we are; We are never "lost" from him in the sense of hidden; Although we actively left like the sheep, we didn't randomly drift away like the coin... so on and so on.

This parable is ALL about finding stuff, not losing stuff.

(And I realise that in my "Sower" parable I said that one of the things I liked was that the real world analogy still works to explain different degrees of what Jesus was saying. That is a little hypocritical of me, which is why I prefaced it with a disclaimer - which I now realise I deleted before posting!
I would never say that my "degrees" interpretation was what Jesus was saying, that would be totally wrong. It's more a case that JEREMY is saying that the parable can be extended to also fit those other degrees. Sorry - probably shouldn't have deleted the disclaimer!)

nzlockie: I didn't mean to change the meaning at all! Sorry if it seemed like that.

Pinkie: It's cool - I don't think either of you did. I was only making the point that focusing on the details of the parables is always an easy way of unknowingly distorting the "truth" of the story.

Since this one is specifically talking about our salvation, it's kind of a hot button issue.
I don't think the fact that it was a coin that the lady lost means anything. He uses that because it's something his listeners can relate to. He could have used anything, including Admin's keys. The message would have been the same because the important thing is the joy in finding that which was lost.

I've heard a bunch of different denominations within Chrisendom use this parable to justify all sorts of variations of the Salvation plan. Most recently, a guy I was listening to used this parable to say that God wants us to "search" for the lost the way the lady/shepherd does. Even if that's true, that's not what this parable is saying and saying that it is is going to get that guy in trouble.

What about this one!
Back when it was legal to have two wives, a Man had one wife who was younger than him and one wife that was older. As the man grew older his hair started turning gray.
His younger wife didn't like it because it made him look too old so she would pull the gray hairs out.
The older wife loved the fact he was going gray because then people wouldn't mistake her for his mother - so she used to pull the black hairs out.

The moral of the story is that if you yield to everyone, soon you will have nothing left to yield!

nzlockie: Haha! That's funny.

ON the shores of a wide bay on the Atlantic coast there dwelt in old times a great Indian warrior. It was said that he had been one of Glooskap's best helpers and friends, and that he had done for him many wonderful deeds. But that, no man knows. He had, however, a very wonderful and strange power; he could make himself invisible; he could thus mingle unseen with his enemies and listen to their plots. He was known among the people as Strong Wind, the Invisible. He dwelt with his sister in a tent near the sea, and his sister helped him greatly in his work. Many maidens would have been glad to marry him, and he was much sought after because of his mighty deeds; and it was known that Strong Wind would marry the first maiden who could see him as he came home at night. Many made the trial, but it was a long time before one succeeded.

Strong Wind used a clever trick to test the truthfulness of all who sought to win him. Each evening as the day went down, his sister walked on the beach with any girl who wished to make the trial. His sister could always see him, but no one else could see him. And as he came home from work in the twilight, his sister as she saw him drawing near would ask the girl who sought him, "Do you see him?" And each girl would falsely answer "Yes" And his sister would ask, "With what does he draw his sled?" And each girl would answer, "With the hide of a moose," or "With a pole," or "With a great cord." And then his sister would know that they all had lied, for their answers were mere guesses. And many tried and lied and failed, for Strong Wind would not marry any who were untruthful.

There lived in the village a great chief who had three daughters. Their mother had long been dead. One of these was much younger than the others. She was very beautiful and gentle and well beloved by all, and for that reason her older sisters were very jealous of her charms and treated her very cruelly. They clothed her in rags that she might be ugly; and they cut off her long black hair; and they burned her face with coals from the fire that she might be scarred and disfigured. And they lied to their father, telling him that she had done these things her self. But the young girl was patient and kept her gentle heart and went gladly about her work.

Like other girls, the chief's two eldest daughters tried to win Strong Wind. One evening, as the day went down, they walked on the shore with Strong Wind's sister and waited for his coming. Soon he came home from his day's work, drawing his sled. And his sister asked as usual, "Do you see him?" And each one, lying, answered "Yes." And she asked, "Of what is his shoulder strap made?" And each, guessing, said "Of rawhide." Then they entered the tent where they hoped to see Strong Wind eating his supper; and when he took off his coat and his moccasins they could see them, but more than these they saw nothing. And Strong Wind knew that they had lied, and he kept himself from their sight, and they went home dismayed.

One day the chief's youngest daughter with her rags and her burned face resolved to seek Strong Wind. She patched her clothes with bits of birch bark from the trees, and put on the few little ornaments she possessed, and went forth to try to see the Invisible One as all the other girls of the village had done before. And her sisters laughed at her and called her "fool"; and as she passed along the road all the people laughed at her because of her tattered frock and her burned face, but silently she went her way.

Strong Wind's sister received the little girl kindly, and at twilight she took her to the beach. Soon Strong Wind came home drawing his sled. And his sister asked, "Do you see him?" And the girl answered "No," and his sister wondered greatly because she spoke the truth. And again she asked, "Do you see him now?" And the girl answered, "Yes, and he is very wonderful." And she asked, "With what does he draw his sled?" And the girl answered, "With the Rainbow," and she was much afraid. And she asked further, "Of what is his bowstring?" And the girl answered, "His bowstring is the Milky Way."

Then Strong Wind's sister knew that because the girl had spoken the truth at first her brother had made himself visible to her. And she said, "Truly, you have seen him." And she took her home and bathed her, and all the scars disappeared from her face and body; and her hair grew long and black again like the raven's wing; and she gave her fine clothes to wear and many rich ornaments. Then she bade her take the wife's seat in the tent. Soon Strong Wind entered and sat beside her, and called her his bride. The very next day she became his wife, and ever afterward she helped him to do great deeds. The girl's two elder sisters were very cross and they wondered greatly at what had taken place. But Strong Wind, who knew of their cruelty, resolved to punish them. Using his great power, he changed them both into aspen trees and rooted them in the earth. And since that day the leaves of the aspen have always trembled, and they shiver in fear at the approach of Strong Wind, it matters not how softly he comes, for they are still mindful of his great power and anger because of their lies and their cruelty to their sister long ago.