A while back I posted that I would talk about the book of Luke chapter 15 and the prodigal son. I should start out by saying that this is not a made up story, parable or myth. Jesus says "there was a man…" So these people really existed. Most people look at this and see the prodigal son and the father but when I read it I see 5 distinct entities. The main ones of course are the prodigal son (younger) the father and the older son. The other 2 groups would be the ones the prodigal went to with his inheritance, and fell in with. There is also a group referred to as the father's servants, so there are 3 main entities and two minor ones to consider.
I would have to say that during my life (I'm 60 years old) at one time or another I've been in all these groups. We grew up religious but as I grew into my teenage years I became an agnostic, then an atheist, then agnostic again and then when I was in my mid-20s I started reading the Bible and became religious and then eventually turn to Christ I Lord and Savior. To me the people live in the far country or the son goes would go inside in my opinion the people in the far country. As far away from God as we can get. During my time as an agnostic and atheist I hated for anyone to bring up religion, God or Jesus to me. I was an angry bitter person.
I'm not going to post many quotes because I think you can read it for yourself. Were all familiar with the part of the story where the prodigal leaves with his half of the inheritance. He goes to a far country and falls in with some locals. One thing that I have read is that when the prodigal demanded his half of the inheritance that was also saying, in that culture, "that he wishes the father were dead". He demands and the father acquiesces and gives him half of everything. This is probably a little unusual in that culture for a son to demand this and a father to acquiesce. This young son must've been full of anger because he went to a far country as if he wanted to get away from his family as far as he could.
Of course since the younger son is flush with cash, he finds many friends in this new location. Money always attracts other people who care more about what you can do for them with your goods than they care about you. In this process the son loses everything. We're not told how long it was or how he went through is inheritance. Perhaps he was just the life of the party and threw away money for his fake friends and used it for partying. Perhaps he was the victim of someone trying to swindle him. I think it's possibly both but as the story points out he ends up with nothing.
So these people in a far country were really no friends of his. To me these people represent those who are far from God. They look forward to embarrassing people who have a Christian upbringing but don't really live in that way. I think the more they can embarrass someone like that the better they feel about themselves.
So I'm going to end this post reminding you that the son becomes destitute and his new "friends" find a job for him feeding swine and his food is what the pigs get to eat: pig slop. This reminds me of a larger situation. As long as you're valuable, you can find a place in this world but if you become poor there's really not much compassion. You find out your new friends only wanted you for your money and were not friends and all.
I would have to say that during my life (I'm 60 years old) at one time or another I've been in all these groups. We grew up religious but as I grew into my teenage years I became an agnostic, then an atheist, then agnostic again and then when I was in my mid-20s I started reading the Bible and became religious and then eventually turn to Christ I Lord and Savior. To me the people live in the far country or the son goes would go inside in my opinion the people in the far country. As far away from God as we can get. During my time as an agnostic and atheist I hated for anyone to bring up religion, God or Jesus to me. I was an angry bitter person.
I'm not going to post many quotes because I think you can read it for yourself. Were all familiar with the part of the story where the prodigal leaves with his half of the inheritance. He goes to a far country and falls in with some locals. One thing that I have read is that when the prodigal demanded his half of the inheritance that was also saying, in that culture, "that he wishes the father were dead". He demands and the father acquiesces and gives him half of everything. This is probably a little unusual in that culture for a son to demand this and a father to acquiesce. This young son must've been full of anger because he went to a far country as if he wanted to get away from his family as far as he could.
Of course since the younger son is flush with cash, he finds many friends in this new location. Money always attracts other people who care more about what you can do for them with your goods than they care about you. In this process the son loses everything. We're not told how long it was or how he went through is inheritance. Perhaps he was just the life of the party and threw away money for his fake friends and used it for partying. Perhaps he was the victim of someone trying to swindle him. I think it's possibly both but as the story points out he ends up with nothing.
So these people in a far country were really no friends of his. To me these people represent those who are far from God. They look forward to embarrassing people who have a Christian upbringing but don't really live in that way. I think the more they can embarrass someone like that the better they feel about themselves.
So I'm going to end this post reminding you that the son becomes destitute and his new "friends" find a job for him feeding swine and his food is what the pigs get to eat: pig slop. This reminds me of a larger situation. As long as you're valuable, you can find a place in this world but if you become poor there's really not much compassion. You find out your new friends only wanted you for your money and were not friends and all.
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