Thought Quotient

The story of the prodigal son…

Luke 15:11-32

Note that the father was on the lookout for the return of his lost son. When he saw his son coming to him, he raced out to meet him and loved on him and offered him grace while his son had nothing to offer him and was undeserving. That is grace personified. The father in this parable represents our Heavenly father.

question:
What was necessary for grace to be given?
answer:
Coming to Him. That’s all.

Note the differences between the sons in this story. While the prodigal was self-centered and went out on his own to do his own thing, the other son was self-righteous which led to a lack of joy and even a bitterness toward his own brother. By the end of the parable, we can conclude that one was a sinner and knew it, the other was a sinner and had forgotten it.

I heard David Jeremiah say this recently about this passage of scripture:
Jesus told this story to explain to the Pharisees that were questioning Him that indeed His purpose in life was the very thing they accused him of: not only hanging out with sinners, but seeking them out and offering grace to them!

In the spirit of 1 Peter 3:15 and the need to answer the many questions that are sure to arise after the release of The Da Vinci Code movie on May 19, we will look at a few claims from Dan Brown’s novel*:

• “I shant bore you with the countless references to Jesus and Magdalene’s union” (p. 247).
  THE TRUTH: There are only two such references — both in writings that have been universally discredited.
• ‘The New Testament is based on fabrications…. The greatest story ever told is, in fact, the greatest story ever sold” (pp. 341, 267).
  THE TRUTH: When standard scholarly measures are used, the New Testament emerges as the best-authenticated document in ancient history. The text we have today is virtually unchanged from the earliest manuscripts.
• “Fortunately for historians… some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert” (p. 234).
  THE TRUTH: Constantine did not attempt to eradicate any Gospels. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the 1940s; they contain none of the New Testament books or even a reference to Jesus.

*thanks to CRI for compiling this summary.

Related Links:

• 
• The Da Vinci Hoax (BreakPoint Commentary)