[ArGee]

The problem is that while many believe they know who is/isn't there, no one here on earth REALLY knows who is in or who is out, or if there even is a banquet. That is, until you die.

I know I am at the banquet. The food is good. The wine is excellent. The fellowship is divine.

Come to the table.

Shalom.

[stuartcr]

I'm very sorry, and I don't mean to be rude, but the more you say that, the less credible it sounds.

[gdani]

I know I am at the banquet. The food is good. The wine is excellent. The fellowship is divine.

If you're *really* drinking wine i.e. let's say we're not talking about imagery/parable/symbolism, etc, aren't you sinning?

[wai-ming]

I'd be interested in hearing your views on Matthew 7:14.

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

To me, this implies that there is only one gate, not several. And "find" implies that people have to "search" or at least put forth some effort on their own to get to the gate.

The locked gate part doesn't make much sense to me. The rich man can set the rules for entrance to his own party. Why would he provide alternate gates which lead nowhere? Seems deceptive to me to give people the impression that they can get into the banquet by means other than the prescribed way.

If there are other gates, they may lead to other banquets. Who's to say that the rich man's is the only party in town?

Perhaps one gate (to another building) is labeled "Nirvana" and to a third building's gate "72 virgins". And, as Matthew (7:13) puts it, the "broad" (and perhaps most attractive-looking) gate leads to destruction, and "many go in thereat".

Since nobody knows what is really going on behind any of the gates until they get there, they must rely on the hearsay of the people in the street, who have never been inside any of the gates themselves.

Therefore, the rich man himself must communicate fairly to the people on the street (over the voices of the crowd) that his is the best banquet to attend.