[Havoc]

Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? [11] He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Not in bizzaro world, in Christ's words. He obscured with parables in order to get the meaning accross only to believers. And he said so himself "it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is NOT given. This is the thing that one among your crowd once called "near blasphemy" when I quoted it verbatim without attribution. Once I gave the attribution and noted that it was a direct quote - oh boy was there backpeddlin lol. If you want to fight Christ, that's your choice; but, don't tell us that doing so is Christian.

[D-fendr]

That is a good point, and I appreciate it. I will of course take exception to applying its use in the case cited - "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" - to all parables.

For example, the parable of the prodigal son: here Jesus states his point before the parable and uses the parable to illustrate the point more fully.

The parable here is not to obscure, but to clarify and illustrate.

Metaphors, of course, are used for the same purpose.

Still, your point in using a parable to communicate mysteries to those who can hear, while obscuring it from others is valid; there are two communications uses, and I retract "bizarro world" - and have regained my speech.

thank you.