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Mon 15 Oct, 2007 04:10 pm
A Parable of Heaven and Hell
There once was a devoted priest who wished to see both heaven and hell, and God gave way to his pleading.
The priest found himself before a door which bore no name. He trembled as he saw it open before him into a large room where all was prepared for a feast. There was a table, and at its centre a great dish of steaming food. The smell and the aroma inflamed the appetite.
Diners sat around the table with great spoons in their hands, yet they were shrieking with hunger in that terrible place. They tried to feed themselves, and gave up, cursing God, for the spoons that God had provided were so long that they could not reach their faces and get the food to their tongues. So they starved, while their dish of plenty lay amongst them. The priest knew their screams were the cries of hell, and as this understanding came, the door closed before him.
He shut his eyes in prayer and begged God to take him away from that terrible place. When he opened them again, he despaired, for the same door stood before him, the door that bore no name. Again it opened, and it gave onto the same room. Nothing had changed, and he was about to cry in horror. There was the table, and at its centre the steaming dish, and around it were the same people, and in their hands the same spoons.
Yet the shrieking had gone, and the cries and the curses had changed to blessings; and nothing had changed, yet everything. For with the same long spoons they reached to each other's mouths and fed one another, and they gave thanks to God.
And as the priest heard the blessings, the door closed. He fell to his knees, and he too blessed God who had shown him the nature of heaven and hell, and the chasm - a hair's breadth wide - that divides them.
Author unknown
I like this parable - its been around a long time.
But- shouldn't this be in the religion forum?
Boy these Christians are a unimaginative lot.
What's the moral of this so-called parable? Be so dependant on everyone else that even simple problem-solving is not to be attempted?
Throw the spoon away and use your fingers for crissake. And quit waiting for someone else to feed you.
tycoon wrote:Boy these Christians are a unimaginative lot.
What's the moral of this so-called parable? Be so dependant on everyone else that even simple problem-solving is not to be attempted?
Throw the spoon away and use your fingers for crissake. And quit waiting for someone else to feed you.
Yer being an ass. The point is that it makes all the difference if everyone is looking out for more than just themselves. But you know that.
this from the guy who, when I was feeling badly and venting about it, told me to cut the navel gazing, wipe my goddam nose and stop feeling sorry for myself.
Bi-Polar Bear wrote:this from the guy who, when I was feeling badly and venting about it, told me to cut the navel gazing, wipe my goddam nose and stop feeling sorry for myself.
The two points - the world is better when people look out for more than themselves, and it is an act a friendship to tell someone when he is just feeling sorry for himself - are both true. You're just mad because someone called you on your wallowing.
well since you're not my friend you can keep your faux concerned act of friendship somewhere dark and warm... or up top of your high horse.
I didn't presume to call myself your friend, only said it was a friendly act not to indulge your wallow. But fair enough. Enjoy.
Quote:Boy these Christians are a unimaginative lot.
What's the moral of this so-called parable? Be so dependant on everyone else that even simple problem-solving is not to be attempted?
the moral is that people can only solve the world's problems by working together. we've tried division many times, and it's only made more problems as far as i can see.
i don't think this is a christian parable, at least i've heard it before, and i think it was a jewish parable first, like the ten commandments.
actually i think the ten commandments were possibly egyptian, then jewish, then christian. maybe this one was egyptian also. they worked together to build the pyramids, as i recall.
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