He was a loving fellow. He believed he should love all of God's children. One day he came upon some kids mixing a glass of milk with arsenic. Well, he was shocked, to say the least. But he had to admit that, while he had never considered it himself, there was no reason to say that they shouldn't do it. I mean, that would be narrow-minded, wouldn't it? So, because he loved them, he assisted them. When they ran low on milk or arsenic, he would get them more. When their parents threatened to show up and spoil their fun, he would intervene. When others said that it was just wrong and they shouldn't be doing that, he would defend their right to do what they pleased. "Who are you to say? It's merely your opinion that it's wrong. I mean, it's not against the rules, is it? Leave them alone. It's not hurting you."
He went on like this because he was a loving fellow and he believed he should love all of God's children. Even when the kids started to get sick, he took care of them. It bothered him, being a loving fellow and all, that they were sick. He started looking into the possible causes. And he was dismayed to find that arsenic was poisonous. It was bad for children. It was wrong.
He was a loving fellow, and he believed he should love all of God's children, so when he discovered that what they were doing was harming them, he set about to stop them. He stopped providing them their arsenic. He warned them to stop and notified their parents. He started a campaign to warn all kids about the dangers of arsenic. He did all he could to stop them from killing themselves, despite their apparent pleasure with their favorite snack.
And they didn't seem to appreciate his efforts. "Why are you being so narrow-minded and bigoted?" they asked him. "Are you some sort of food Nazi, a closet arsenic hater? Are you some sort of nutritional fundamentalist? A bigot against pleasure? Why are you so mean? Why are you so hateful?" Try as he might, he couldn't get across the fact that preventing them from doing what was wrong was, in fact, loving. So, he gave up. The kids died. End of story.
Oh, wait, that's not a very good ending. I suppose it's the ending that we're supposed to give, though. I wonder.
3 comments:
Well said. That is just how the world loves.
This is also unfortunately how many Christians love.
I suppose if I have to explain a parable, I didn't do it right.
My parable is intended to illustrate someone who is confused at first, thinking that supporting people in their own choices is "love". Then he becomes aware that it isn't, that "love" entails seeking what is best, even if it means contradicting what they want.
Maybe I'll leave the parables to Christ (although He had to explain His parables).
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