Good after noon friends of UM forum. It’s been a while since I checked in with a story but the Christmas month seems to drain all free time. But now that it’s over and life returns to normal I hope the new year (lucky # 7) brings twice the good as the previous. So in the spirit of returning to normal I wrote another parable for the new year.

Ridiculous jumps of patriotism

There was once a wealthy king that ruled a vast city. But civil unrest and rebellion was tearing the city to pieces, for many in the kingdom wanted a new king. So knowing the city was ultimately lost the king sent his son with all his wealth into a far away land to construct a new city. The wise price was a master builder and guiding the most skilled builders and architects he erected a grand city more beautiful than any other that had existed before it. Returning to his father with his councilors the prince informed the king the city was ready but his councilors said to the king.
“The city your son has built is too beautiful. If word of its beauty gets out there is not one person in this city that will not abandon their home to go live in the city you have built. Furthermore you’re enemies are hidden and scattered throughout the population. We can’t tell who is for us and who is against us. If allowed into the new city, they will tear it apart just as they have done to this one, and seek your removal as king. ”
Troubled by the idea the good king asked “What can we do? How can we truly know who is for us and who is against us?”
Some consolers said “we should make them swear an allegiance. “
Some consolers said “We should make them compete in combat.”
But the wise prince overruled them all saying “NO…for men lie and will break their oaths and men will fight for vain pride and selfish glory. I have another way.”
So the wise prince ordered a small land bridge be built in the middle of the city standing about a man’s height off the ground. The builders quickly assembled the bridge laying it’s two foundations firmly into place but before the two sides of the bridge were connected the prince stopped construction.
“Leave the expanse open and do not connect the sides.” He ordered. “gather the whole city and tell them “We go to a new city and leave this place to whom ever stays. Whomever wants to go with us and enter a new city must first jump the expanse.”
Upon hearing the order the consolers exclaimed “Your heinous…the expanse is wide and the distance is great. Surely even the strongest of our young men can’t not jump it.”
But the wise prince replied “let those who want to be with us jump the expanse and they will have a place with us in the new city.”
So the entire kingdom came. Those that hated the king were glad to hear the king was leaving and had no intentions of taking any notice of the bridge. Others who saw the great distance of the jump were afraid and stayed where they were. Still others grumbled against the prince stirring up dissension among the people by calling the king a fool; for the jump was ridiculously impossible, even for the greatest jumpers. But still some tried. Men women and children desiring to go with the king leaped across the bridge only to fail. Getting up many tried again boldly leaping across the expanse only to fall short. Still some desperate to get across built make shift connections, determined to succeed with rigorous effort. Others mocked the ones who tried jeering loudly as they all failed falling fast to the ground below. Some that tried hurt themselves, scraping their arms and legs in spirited attempts. Still some, jumping boldly, broke their legs and wrists crashing to the ground but still they jumped. Laughing and jeering, mocking and sneering the people unwilling to jump insulted the jumpers from the side saying ”What’s the use?...The jump is ridiculous. The king is making sport of you. He knows no one can jump it.”
But after everyone in the city was given their chance, the prince halted the attempts. Turning to his consolers the wise prince gave orders to gather all who have tried and prepare them for the journey to the new city. But the consolers replied “ Sir…No one has made the jump.” But the wise prince replied “ Do you not see?...The expanse was intentionally un-jumpable for we were not searching for ability to come with us but desire. For no one would have attempted such a ridiculous jump unless they truly wanted to be with us.”

It’s kind of amusing to me that people will begin questioning the bible based on the incredulity of the stories therein. They will then pick an account such as Noah’s building of an arch the size of the Titanic and begin pointing out how scientifically implausible this is, or how science has never verified how this could be possible. The most amusing thing to me about this practice is that they will pick arguments that ,scientifically speaking, have a chance of going either way. They’ll argue whether or not a person can survive in the belly of a whale for three days, or they’ll argue whether or not animals could have migrated from all over the globe to the Arch. They will argue whether or not Jesus was born in Bethlehem or whether or not Herod killed all the children two years and younger. And they do this based on the idea that if science hasn’t proven it happened or it could ever happen than that fact proves the stories in the bible are false.

What makes this interesting to me is that they dance around the slightly plausible. Why not just skip to the meat of things?

The bible says GOD made man out of dust.= well that has been observed many times…right?

The bible says GOD halted the sun so a old testament battle could continue.= do you realize the physical implications of this claim…happens all the time… right?

The bible says a burning bush talked to a man.= Science has totally proven bushes can talk…right?

Walking on water?= we see it all the time.
Water to wine?= sure…I saw it on the discovery channel once.

Talking fiery mountains, talking donkeys, people rising from the dead? Surely science has proven them all…right?

But I think that’s the point. The stories are not just unbelievable but ridiculous to common experience. If they were not in the bible no one would except them. If someone told me a bush was talking to them my first thought would be that they need to quit smoking that stuff. So why would a normally prudent person take or except such an irrationally ridiculous leap of logic? Surely if a GOD existed he would be aware of how these stories sound to us that live without the least common experience of anything described in the bible. Surely he is aware that no ones logic can possibly bridge this expanse. He would defiantly know we would have to make a jump trying to get to the other side and even when we jump we will not make it to the logically plausible other end of the bridge. This makes me suspect this was done intentionally. It clearly separates the people who want to know GOD and want to do his will from the people that don’t. The ridiculous gap makes it easy for people who don’t care to walk away feeling justified by the fact of the distance. Plus it gives credit to those who actually jump because you can’t jump without putting your self at risk. No one gets credit for believing the obviously irrefutable. No one gets credit now a days for believing man can fly, walk on the moon, travel across the world in a day, or talk to someone thousands of miles away. But someone would get credit for believing these things in the 15000 because believing them would take a leap of logic. Even more credit is bestowed on the people who believed so much that they made it happen. Scientific endeavors are not guaranteed to be successful so the people who attempt them attempt them with leaps of logic known as intuition. They want to believe and that fact separates them from the people who don’t want to, or are indifferent or scared. Many ask why GOD would expect us to jump this ridiculous expanse. I don’t think he is looking for people who can. I think he’s looking for people who will, even when they know they are not going to make it.