A Parable Of Parables  PRO

A PARABLE OF PARABLES

The content of belief is important: Jonathan Whitfield was preaching to coal miners in England. He asked one man, "What do you believe?"

"Well, I believe the same as the church."

"And what does the church believe?"

"Well, they believe the same as me." Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, "And what is it that you both believe?"

"Well, I suppose the same thing."

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Theological belief is sometimes a murky matter. A candidate for ordination as a minister was asked, "What part of the Bible do you like best?"

He said: "I like the New Testament best."

Then he was asked, "What Book in the New Testament is your favorite?"

He answered, "The Book of the Parables, Sir."

They then asked him to relate one of the parables to the committee. And a bit uncertain, he began...

"Once upon a time a man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves; and the thorns grew up and choked the man. And he went on and met the Queen of Sheba, and she gave that man, Sir, a thousand talents of silver, and a hundred changes of raiment.

"And he got in his chariot and drove furiously and, as he was driving along under a big tree, his hair got caught in a limb and left him hanging here! And he hung there many days and many nights. The ravens brought him food to eat and water to drink.

"And one night while he was hanging there asleep, his wife Delilah came along and cut off his hair, and he fell on stony ground. And it began to rain, and rained forty days and forty nights. And he hid himself in a cave.

"Later he went on and met a man who said, 'Come in and take supper with me.' But he said, 'I can't come in, for I have married a wife.' And the man went out into the highways and hedges and compelled him to come...