funny thing about parables... the bible is a book of parable and jesus only spoke in parables to the crowd (meaning us, the reader of the bible, we are the crowd)


the bible, like all great works of art / literature is symbolic, metaphorical, allegorical... full of parables... it's not literal

the rabbit and the hare... obviously there never actually was a historical race between the two... everyone knows that... so change the names, there was a race between jesus and john the baptist and put the race in a city, say jerusalem... is the race now a literal historical truth because the names relate to people instead of animals...?

the bible is like a candy bar... the stories are the wrapper, the teaching is the candy bar. But far too often people eat the wrapper thinking it is the candy bar, and throw the actual candy bar in the trash and claim it's the best candy bar they've ever had. Yet when you point you the candy bar they threw in the trash, they yell at you and call you a satanist heathen.

the ancients taught in parable... and the same parables are found all over the world throughout different periods of time... they just change the names of the characters and certain elements of the stories to better fit the customs and traditions of the local community... they change the wrapper of the candy bar, but the candy bar itself, the teachings, is the same