Parable

There were these 2 Southern preachers, one Baptist and one Pentecostal, who taught in the same small town. They would argue on a regular basis, the Baptist preacher would defend predestination and the Pentecostal preacher would defend absolute free will. This kind argument went on for years and years, neither preacher conceding their belief. It wasn’t until they were old men that God finally appeared before them, annoyed. He said “I’ve had to listen to you two for 20 years argue over the same small point, so now I’m just going to tell you how it is.”

In a moment of rare moment of unity, the two preachers turned to God and replied “What gives you the right to give us the answer? Go back to heaven and let us argue.”

 

There are a few reasons why I like this parable. Primarily, it’s because it illustrates the importance of engagement with a belief. Even if understanding is the final goal, the process of getting there is what changes you. I think I feel that way about writing. Reading a novel is interacting with the author, it’s engaging in a very unique kind of communication that allows you to realize something on a deep and fundamental level.

So would I then call literature a holy act?

A group of brothers fight their way through Nazi occupied France during the last years of World War II while entrenched in the ethical debates of God, free will and morality.”Band of Brothers Karamazov”

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