People who like Answer to question Do you think the big fish really swallowed Jonah
Do you think the big fish really swallowed Jonah? Jesus presented his answer to Jonah but I would also like to have your thoughts and your answer...
Thank you Niwamanya Onesmas for putting this important Question here.
Because Jesus so frequently used nature parables as a method of teaching spiritual values and ideals to the human soul, without arousing the enemies of truth it would be wise for those who teach and preach in this day and generation to understand and utilize these methods of teaching so that "those who have eyes to see and ears to hear" understand while also keeping the enemies of truth blind and unable to understand or disturb the revelations of God that flash on earth in the lives of the men and women who in actually knowing God reveal him to their fellows by the power of their love, spiritual insights and truth endowments.
You will notice in Jesus, answer to Gadiah he was very careful not to make the mistake this Melchizedek revelator warned about in the new revelation papers.
Because this story had so influenced what Gadiah understood as true, beautiful and good Jesus was careful not to disturb his outlook but rather put in new and even greater understanding of the teaching the writer of the scripture was attempting to place in the human mind about the goodness of God in his capacity to show mercy and save the sinner through the majestic power of the Father of love and goodness.
130:1.2 One day after the evening meal Jesus and the young Philistine strolled down by the sea, and Gadiah, not knowing that this "scribe of Damascus" was so well versed in the Hebrew traditions, pointed out to Jesus the ship landing from which it was reputed that Jonah had embarked on his ill-fated voyage to Tarshish. And when he had concluded his remarks, he asked Jesus this question: "But do you suppose the big fish really did swallow Jonah?" Jesus perceived that this young man's life had been tremendously influenced by this tradition, and that its contemplation had impressed upon him the folly of trying to run away from duty; Jesus therefore said nothing that would suddenly destroy the foundations of Gadiah's present motivation for practical living. In answering this question, Jesus said: "My friend, we are all Jonahs with lives to live in accordance with the will of God, and at all times when we seek to escape the present duty of living by running away to far-off enticements, we thereby put ourselves in the immediate control of those influences which are not directed by the powers of truth and the forces of righteousness. The flight from duty is the sacrifice of truth. The escape from the service of light and life can only result in those distressing conflicts with the difficult whales of selfishness which lead eventually to darkness and death unless such God-forsaking Jonahs shall turn their hearts, even when in the very depths of despair, to seek after God and his goodness. And when such disheartened souls sincerely seek for God -- hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness -- there is nothing that can hold them in further captivity. No matter into what great depths they may have fallen, when they seek the light with a whole heart, the spirit of the Lord God of heaven will deliver them from their captivity; the evil circumstances of life will spew them out upon the dry land of fresh opportunities for renewed service and wiser living."
To fully understand the use of Parables and then begin to use this method of putting new truth before the hearts and minds of your fellows attempt to understand how Jesus employed this method of teaching.
151:3.5 3. In teaching the apostles the value of parables, Jesus called attention to the following points:
151:3.6 The parable provides for a simultaneous appeal to vastly different levels of mind and spirit. The parable stimulates the imagination, challenges the discrimination, and provokes critical thinking; it promotes sympathy without arousing antagonism.
151:3.7 The parable proceeds from the things which are known to the discernment of the unknown. The parable utilizes the material and natural as a means of introducing the spiritual and the supermaterial.
151:3.8 Parables favor the making of impartial moral decisions. The parable evades much prejudice and puts new truth gracefully into the mind and does all this with the arousal of a minimum of the self-defense of personal resentment.
151:3.9 To reject the truth contained in parabolical analogy requires conscious intellectual action which is directly in contempt of one's honest judgment and fair decision. The parable conduces to the forcing of thought through the sense of hearing.
151:3.10 The use of the parable form of teaching enables the teacher to present new and even startling truths while at the same time he largely avoids all controversy and outward clashing with tradition and established authority.
151:3.11 The parable also possesses the advantage of stimulating the memory of the truth taught when the same familiar scenes are subsequently encountered.
151:3.12 In this way Jesus sought to acquaint his followers with many of the reasons underlying his practice of increasingly using parables in his public teaching.
In every attempt to enlighten our fellows to the ways of God we should keep uppermost in our minds these truth postulates from the 5th Epochal Revelation to the human family.
Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. Jesus understood the minds of men. He knew what was in the heart of man, and had his teachings been left as he presented them, the only commentary being the inspired interpretation afforded by his earth life, all nations and all religions of the world would speedily have embraced the gospel of the kingdom.
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