Prodigal Son Distorted by FB Pastor

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Socialite

The story of the Lost Son, which many have long regarded as a story about the father's prodigal love, was told as a subtle rebuke to Pharisees who listened. But recently one pastor on FB decided it was more about "rules" than anything else.




I'm not sure where said pastor got this from, and it completely disregards the entire context of the Story. The rule-abiding Pharisees were being rebuked (they were the rule-abiding elder brothers in the story), but somehow the parable is about how valuable rules are? Really?

The Story of the lost son is about a God who loves recklessly and even shamefully. I wrote about this recently (http://apostolicfriendsforum.com/sho...56&postcount=6).

It's amazing to me that such a beautiful story can be twisted in such a way as to make people believe it was about 'rules.' The fact is, we are all that prodigal who rebelled against God. What our exact motivations were are no mystery: selfishness, trusting our way better than God's way. The prodigal didn't come back to make right with God. He came back because it was economically feasible for him. However, before he could get out his scheming, the father was running for Him, throwing himself on him, and ordering up a party. This is Grace.

Context, context, context Socialite. You've gotta ignore the context of the passage to understand the Pharisees on Facebook.