Saints,

I've been working on a parable which illustrates what happens when a church becomes focused solely on training to the neglect of outreach. It's called "The Medical School". You can check it out here: [url]www.informedevangelist.blogspot.com[/url].

Please read it over and give some feedback. I'd like to develop this concept into something that can be published in print some day and would like to hone it a bit.

Thanks.

Blessings,

Jon

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Jon Speed

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Colin Murray

After reading your parable last week..I found it to be good but something seemed to be missing..so I asked God to reveal to me what, if anything, it was.

It is with great hope that you will be able to recieve my thoughts in the spirit in which they are offered..as I too have been working on a parable..and found that I had to grow into it myself in order to begin to see where the thing was meant to go..what it was meant to reveal.

In your parable thus far you have been able to identify the problem ..but the root cause remains ambivilant,vague.

You have directed this narrative to limit your audience..believers..perhaps this is what you desire to do being that there is no reference to the example of the founder of this medical school..what it looked like in practice before it became this way or the fact that there is not only this type of representation of his followers..and so we fail to see the contrast except by your narrative..parables are picture story as well as lessons to reveal the kingdom of heaven to the natural man mind..helping Him to grasp a priciple not yet embraced.

In order to do this we must ask the Master of Parables what we are to be revealing? Within the parable do we find the simple solution? Do we see the contrast between right way and wrong way?
Man's way and God's way?
Some parables..we look to Jesus' usage of them to gain insight..whether it be a simple parable..as in the pearl of great price found and all given to attain it.or faith as small as a mustard seed..where we see a concept portrayed using pictoral symbols to represent the working concepts of this mysterious kingdom or be it a complex parable as we see in the prodigal son or the neighborly-correct Samaritan,where we are able to see contrast between what is of the kingdom as in alignment to..an example of..and the counterpoint. You understand what I am getting at?

I thought that you could expand your foundation for how this medical school became established..who the great founder was..somthing so that it mirrors the truth of the kingdom..laying a foundation so that the parable becaomes accessible to any who would read..and perhaps have rejected Christ due to the nature of the followers who adhered to a form and lost the power,compassion outward focus,also remembering the reality of the few who do actually do the works and the will of God. These do exist to this day and not found in the places you have described..not having been welcome or because they have been unable to fit in and were sent ot be about the Father's business..the time being short..and these have their own set of challenges to overcome. God would unite the two camps if at all possible before He comes.

Your narrative could easily lose some of the details,choosing(this being difficult for me) fewer words to say more when describing what has happened to the focus of these students and faculty and why,as they(the details) become redundant and make the parable too long and repetitive..the details taking away from the simplicity of the message.Expand the concept..but sacrifice the quantity of content.

I'm very detail oriented myself..this is always a challenge for me.Being able to reveal the truth without losing my reader to my need to make them understand the ins and outs of the thing..when a few words would sum it up and i could spend the rest of their short attention span on a fuller content...a more complete message.

There is more I could add but this is your parable to puzzle out that it would represent the solution to the dilemma you are grieved over and are exposing..but to also give contrast and reveal Christ and His way.

I hope I have made clear what I felt might assist you in this..you have a very good start..also..remember don't forget to include the mystery..the marvelous power of the original template..because my brother in truth when you boil it all down..this is what has ..for the most part lost..Christ laid down His life..putting your finger on why these have built on such a strong foundation..but not been able to retain the mystery..the miraculous..the power and the selflessless..lies in the very intellectualism you have described.

Blessings abound to you and your family. I'm not trying to make your message more confusing by my suggestions just mentioning options that seem to need to be considerd for inclusion.

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G.M. (Destiny) Sweet

Maybe you could broaden your parable to say "but there was another school where there was hands on training .............."


David