naz
Full Member
SYNTHEIST
Posts: 245
|
Post by naz on Dec 3, 2009 16:00:29 GMT
“A Christian man was on his way home from church one day, and he was attacked by gangbangers. They stole his wallet, watch, and shoes, beat him up, and left him half dead on the street. By chance a Catholic priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Protestant minister walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
Then an atheist* came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the atheist tended the man's wounds as best he could. Then he put the man in his own car and took him to a hospital, where they took proper care of him.
As he was leaving he wrote the hospital a check for a few hundred dollars, telling them, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, send it to my address here.’
"Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bangers?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
(*or insert "pagan", "Muslim", etc)
|
|
|
|
Post by slamminsam on Dec 3, 2009 16:08:48 GMT
(Applauds)! That was good, naz.  I thought for a moment that you were going to do a play on an old movie of that name. Some poor schmuck named Sam is nice to everyone, despite how badly people in general treat him. At the movie's end, though, everyone realizes their mistakes and start being nice to him. Totally unrealistic, of course! ;D  And, no, the movie is not based on my life story... Although it could have been.  |
|
naz
Full Member
SYNTHEIST
Posts: 245
|
Post by naz on Dec 3, 2009 16:16:16 GMT
thanks--glad you liked it.
|
|
|
|
Post by dahduh on Dec 4, 2009 20:24:27 GMT
You know, given that the current rabid right is doing everything they can to sabotage health reform in the US right now, this story would be even more effective if you inserted 'CHRISTIAN'.
|
|
|
|
Post by AdrenalinTim on Dec 4, 2009 20:36:11 GMT
You know, given that the current rabid right is doing everything they can to sabotage health reform in the US right now, this story would be even more effective if you inserted 'CHRISTIAN'. Inserted "Christian" where? "A Christian man was on his way home from church one day..." |
|
naz
Full Member
SYNTHEIST
Posts: 245
|
Post by naz on Dec 4, 2009 21:59:28 GMT
You know, given that the current rabid right is doing everything they can to sabotage health reform in the US right now, this story would be even more effective if you inserted 'CHRISTIAN'. Inserted "Christian" where? "A Christian man was on his way home from church one day..." Yes, I am confused as well. |
|
|
|
Post by slamminsam on Dec 5, 2009 2:34:04 GMT
Hmm...change a word here or there and such a different story it could be.  |
|
|
|
Post by dahduh on Dec 5, 2009 8:38:00 GMT
Inserted "Christian" where? "A Christian man was on his way home from church one day..." Yes, I am confused as well. The religion of the victim is irrelevant to the moral of the story. The way you re-framed the parable, two Christians passed the victim by. According to the punchline, Jesus himself is critical of their actions; therefore they are not really Christians, they are fake Christians. Thus, "Then a CHRISTIAN came by..." |
|
naz
Full Member
SYNTHEIST
Posts: 245
|
Post by naz on Dec 5, 2009 22:56:45 GMT
Yes, I am confused as well. The religion of the victim is irrelevant to the moral of the story. The way you re-framed the parable, two Christians passed the victim by. According to the punchline, Jesus himself is critical of their actions; therefore they are not really Christians, they are fake Christians. Thus, "Then a CHRISTIAN came by..." I am trying to be as faithful to the original as possible. While the religion of the victim is not stated there it is implied he is Jewish ("a certain man went down from Jerusalem"). The men who do not help are a Jewish priest and a Levite. The man who does help is a Samaritan, a despised member of a rival religion and ethnicity. |
|
|
|
Post by AdrenalinTim on Dec 5, 2009 23:52:01 GMT
The religion of the victim is irrelevant to the moral of the story. The way you re-framed the parable, two Christians passed the victim by. According to the punchline, Jesus himself is critical of their actions; therefore they are not really Christians, they are fake Christians. Thus, "Then a CHRISTIAN came by..." I am trying to be as faithful to the original as possible. While the religion of the victim is not stated there it is implied he is Jewish ("a certain man went down from Jerusalem"). The men who do not help are a Jewish priest and a Levite. The man who does help is a Samaritan, a despised member of a rival religion and ethnicity. Dahduh, I think you're drawing almost the opposite moral from the story that I do. I don't think Jesus was trying to define a Real True Christian™ in contrast with a fake one -- I think rather he was trying to supersede this whole idea of defining who's "in" and who's "out" based on doctrinal, cultural, ethnic, or belief-system lines. A "good" Samaritan was the shocking punchline -- because it was considered to be an oxymoron. That's why I think that it's appropriate for an updated version, targeted at Modern Western Conservative Protestant Evangelical Fundamentalist (etc.) Christians, to use the concept of a "good" atheist. Or maybe a "good" gay person. (Since they evidently don't believe such a creature possible.) |
|
naz
Full Member
SYNTHEIST
Posts: 245
|
Post by naz on Dec 6, 2009 0:23:14 GMT
I am trying to be as faithful to the original as possible. While the religion of the victim is not stated there it is implied he is Jewish ("a certain man went down from Jerusalem"). The men who do not help are a Jewish priest and a Levite. The man who does help is a Samaritan, a despised member of a rival religion and ethnicity. Dahduh, I think you're drawing almost the opposite moral from the story that I do. I don't think Jesus was trying to define a Real True Christian™ in contrast with a fake one -- I think rather he was trying to supersede this whole idea of defining who's "in" and who's "out" based on doctrinal, cultural, ethnic, or belief-system lines. A "good" Samaritan was the shocking punchline -- because it was considered to be an oxymoron. That's why I think that it's appropriate for an updated version, targeted at Modern Western Conservative Protestant Evangelical Fundamentalist (etc.) Christians, to use the concept of a "good" atheist. Or maybe a "good" gay person. (Since they evidently don't believe such a creature possible.) yes exactly |
|
|
|
Post by dahduh on Dec 7, 2009 21:02:01 GMT
I am trying to be as faithful to the original as possible. While the religion of the victim is not stated there it is implied he is Jewish ("a certain man went down from Jerusalem"). The men who do not help are a Jewish priest and a Levite. The man who does help is a Samaritan, a despised member of a rival religion and ethnicity. Dahduh, I think you're drawing almost the opposite moral from the story that I do. I don't think Jesus was trying to define a Real True Christian™ in contrast with a fake one -- I think rather he was trying to supersede this whole idea of defining who's "in" and who's "out" based on doctrinal, cultural, ethnic, or belief-system lines. A "good" Samaritan was the shocking punchline -- because it was considered to be an oxymoron. That's why I think that it's appropriate for an updated version, targeted at Modern Western Conservative Protestant Evangelical Fundamentalist (etc.) Christians, to use the concept of a "good" atheist. Or maybe a "good" gay person. (Since they evidently don't believe such a creature possible.) Fine, I agree; that probably is the correct interpretation. My apologies that a flippant one-liner devolved into an obtuse discursion. |
|
|
|
Post by AdrenalinTim on Dec 7, 2009 21:42:05 GMT
Fine, I agree; that probably is the correct interpretation. My apologies that a flippant one-liner devolved into an obtuse discursion.  Sorry if I came across as over-strident, but obtuse discursions are what I do best! Actually, I think your throw-away line was quite pertinent: "You know, given that the current rabid right is doing everything they can to sabotage health reform in the US right now, this story would be even more effective..."The U.S. rabid right is an excellent example of the people that would be excoriated by Jesus' parable. Maybe you're on to something that we could monkey with the identities of the parties. Maybe we could start it with: "An undocumented immigrant was attacked..." "A 'welfare queen' needed a surgery, and didn't have insurance..." The ones who passed by could be upstanding (*cough*) teabagger protesters, or pulled-themselves-up-by-their-own-bootstraps businessmen, or congressmen. (On second thought, probably not congresscritters. It's hardly edgy to accuse lawmakers of not serving the public interest.) And then, in the surprising twist, comes a 'good' Democrat - or maybe the Antichrist Kenyan Communist Socialist Nazi Muslim Atheist Hitler Pol Pot Chamberlain Stalin president himself! ;D |
|
naz
Full Member
SYNTHEIST
Posts: 245
|
Post by naz on Dec 8, 2009 0:45:01 GMT
Fine, I agree; that probably is the correct interpretation. My apologies that a flippant one-liner devolved into an obtuse discursion. Sorry if I came across as over-strident, but obtuse discursions are what I do best! Actually, I think your throw-away line was quite pertinent: "You know, given that the current rabid right is doing everything they can to sabotage health reform in the US right now, this story would be even more effective..."The U.S. rabid right is an excellent example of the people that would be excoriated by Jesus' parable. Maybe you're on to something that we could monkey with the identities of the parties. Maybe we could start it with: "An undocumented immigrant was attacked..." "A 'welfare queen' needed a surgery, and didn't have insurance..." The ones who passed by could be upstanding (*cough*) teabagger protesters, or pulled-themselves-up-by-their-own-bootstraps businessmen, or congressmen. (On second thought, probably not congresscritters. It's hardly edgy to accuse lawmakers of not serving the public interest.) And then, in the surprising twist, comes a 'good' Democrat - or maybe the Antichrist Kenyan Communist Socialist Nazi Muslim Atheist Hitler Pol Pot Chamberlain Stalin president himself! ;D Yeah, that would work just fine. |
|
