Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
Matthew 13:14-15 – Is Jesus Talking About Us?
Parenting has taught me that the ability to necessarily infer improves as a child matures. They “get it” without having to be “told it.” So you would think that as we mature spiritually, our ability to necessarily infer would grow too. But I wonder if the ability to make excuses, find loopholes also grows, overshadowing the ability to understand. I wonder if some maturity is only in knowledge but not in Spirit. Some suggest, “The OT is not like the NT wherein it is not filled with laws.” Others pile on, “If God wanted us to do that, He would have told us,” but then say, “God expects us to use our brains, so He doesn’t have to tell us everything.” All those are true, but not exclusively so.
I prefer simple. When God says it directly, obey. When God lays out principles that infer behavior and choices, obey. Parables are examples of how to necessarily infer commands. Maybe we, too conveniently, forget the words of Isaiah, quoted by Jesus, about people like us: “You will listen and listen, yet never understand; and you will look and look, yet never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn back – and I would cure them” (Mt.13:14-15).
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