Saturday, January 9, 2010

Rapid Pollution

I was reading a parable from Jesus today, this one has two strongly different interpretations which both make good points. Here's the passage:

Luke 13:20-21
Again he asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Okay, cool, if we read it super fast what probably comes to mind is how a little bit of God can permeate our entire being. That God's kingdom has a powerful influence that works from the inside out.

Then I thought for a second... Wait a minute- yeast is usually referring to sin or hypocrisy or false doctrine. So what could another meaning be? Maybe Jesus was warning us about how quickly human ideas and ways of doing things can take over the truth of God's kingdom. One worldly, immoral, power-hungry, self-righteous, false follower can pollute a whole congregation. Bad pastors can put on a godly facade long enough to pitch their human ideas to the congregation, effectually indoctrinating them. Don't think so? You must have never heard of prosperity preachers...

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