The Parable of the Labor Agents

Intention is the compass on the road map of life.

Those who follow the roads indicated by God, with good will, will end up by finding God.

We see more spiritual and supernatural crossroads in life than material ones.

Our conscience must face decisions over good and evil each day, and to avoid mistakes one must choose carefully.

If a mistake is made, and made apparent by God, one must return to Love humbly.

And I remind you,
that even if the way of evil looks easy, beautiful, and comfortable,
we must choose the rough but safe road of God.

Parable of the Labor Agents:

A group of immigrants went into a country to look for work. There were also agents sent to look for workers, by various masters or employers.

Some looked for men to toil in the mines, some for woods and forests, some for servants of a rich but wicked man, and some looked for men to make soldiers for a king who lived in a castle on a high mountain, which could only be reached by a very steep road.

The soldiers that the king sought to employ were not for violence, but to be servants of peace. to sanctify the king's subjects.

That was the king's purpose for living in seclusion. He could perfect his servants and also keep them from being corrupted by worldly distractions, which delay the perfection of spirits.

And that is what the king's agents explained, assuring them that they would obtain holiness and a reward at his service.

The agents of the owners of the fields and mines said, "It will not be comfortable life, but you will be free and earn enough to enjoy yourselves.

The agents of the wicked master promised rich meals, an idle life, enjoyment and wealth saying "All that is needed is to give consent to his exacting whims, oh! not painful at all, rather, you will enjoy yourselves like satraps.

The immigrants spoke but they did not want to part. In desperation they asked the agents "are all these places close to one another?"

"Oh no!", the agents spoke, "come to the cross roads and we will show you the different ways."

"Now see this wonderful road? it is covered with beauty and flowers! There are fountains and shade, this place leads to the wealthy man's palace." said the agents of the wicked man.

Those of the fields said, "See this dusty road? These pleasant fields lead to the fields of the workers. It may be exposed to the sun but it is beautiful after all, you can see!"

"This is the path to the King! It is steep and cut in rocks, it is inflamed by the sun. It is spread with thorn bushes and ravines, which may delay you, but they are an excellent defense against enemies. The path leads eastwards to the sacred and sever castle of the King, where spirits are perfected in good." said those of the King.

Of the immigrants there were ten. Five went on the road to the fields and mines.

The rest looked at each other and two of them said, "come with us to the King! We shall not make profit and we shall not enjoy ourselves on earth bu we will be saints forever!"

"The path there?! Do you think we are mad?
No profit? no enjoyment? It was not worth leaving everything to have even less than we had in our old country. We want to enjoy ourselves!" the other three said.

"But you will lose the Eternal Good! Have you not heard that the rich man is an evil and wicked person?"

"Nonsense! We will leave him after a little while, but we will have a good time and be rich."

"You will never get rid of Him! The first were wrong in complying with their greed for money, but you are being led by your greed for pleasure. Do not exchange your eternal destiny for a fleeting hour!"

The three said to them "you are fools and you believe in idealistic promises. We are after facts, goodbye!"

And the three began to run along flowery road, at the end of which was the magic palace of the wicked epicurean.

The two remainders took the steep path weeping and praying. They almost lost heart after just a few meters, as it was so hard, but they persevered. Their bodies seemed to become lighter and lighter the more they moved, and their fatigue was comforted by a strange rejoicing.

They were almost dead when they reached the top. and they were admitted to the presence of the King, who told them what he expected from them in order to make them his saints and concluded saying, "think about it for eight days, then let me know."

They thought it over and struggled fiercely with the tempter, who wanted to scare them with their bodies that said, "You are sacrificing us!", and the remembrance of the world was still alluring. But they won. They remained and became heroes of Good. Death came and it was their glorification.

From the height of Heaven the saints saw those who had gone after the wicked master. They were in chains after their lifetime and were thrown into the darkness of hell.

"And they wanted to be free and enjoy themselves!" said the saints to each other, pitying those in the fire.

And the three damned souls saw them and cursed everyone, and God first of all in a horrid manner, saying, "You have deceived us!"

"No you cannot say that, you were warned of the danger and you chose your own ruin.!" was the reply of the blessed souls, who stayed serene in the face of hatred.

Then they saw those who went to the fields and mines in purgatory and they said "we were neither good nor bad, but now we expiate our tepidity! pray for us!"

"Why did you not come with us?" said the saints.

"Because we were not good, but only men...
We lacked generosity and loved what was temporary, even if honest, more than what is eternal and holy".

----------------------------------

And that is the parable.

Nice, except for the heretical hell and purgatory part. Does God not want all to come to Him? Yes Hes does, and all that God desires to do, He does. Therefore, all are saved in time. If you read an honest translation of the Scriptures, you may just see it.

Eternal destiny? I abhor immortality. You will run out of things to do and reasons to live long before you run out of life.

reply to post by Lazarus Short


It is the truth man. The lambs are separated from the rams.

You are wrong in thinking there is no purgatory and no hell.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


the soul does not die but to grace.

Originally posted by backcase
reply to post by Lazarus Short

 

It is the truth man. The lambs are separated from the rams.

You are wrong in thinking there is no purgatory and no hell.

What is this!? Lambs are baby rams and ewes! Is there something inherently wrong with aging and coming to maturity? Don't you know, it's the shepherds that lead the lambs to their slaughter!

reply to post by windword


I suppose I should stop using that one then, lol.

But what I meant is that the humble are separated from the proud etc.

As for the slaughter, if you read the parable you would understand that the death of a saint is his glorification.

Originally posted by backcase
reply to post by Lazarus Short

 

It is the truth man. The lambs are separated from the rams.

You are wrong in thinking there is no purgatory and no hell.

Consider:

"...we hope on a living God, Who is a Saviour of ALL MEN, especially of faithful." [Ferrar Fenton Version]

or consider Revelation 20:14, which states that Death and the Grave are to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Have you ever considered that after Death has been burned up in the LoF, no one [NO ONE!] can thereafter be dead, in Hell or out of it.

BTW, the sheep are separated from the GOATS, not the lambs from the rams, but even so, the fate of the goats in Hell is only a supposition on the part of those who delight at the thought of their personal enemies being tortured for eternity. Just so you know, I know when and from where the concept of Hell entered Christianity. It is a Pagan concept, but you may not know early church history.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
Eternal destiny? I abhor immortality. You will run out of things to do and reasons to live long before you run out of life.

Let's see - in a universe of at least 100 billion galaxies, you think you are going to run out of things to do?! Abhor immortality all you want, you will get it in the end. Maybe I'll check in on you from time to time in the afterlife...

reply to post by backcase


What I get from your "parable" is that some chose life and some chose death. Your saints chose death over life, for the belief in another better life. How ironic!

They selfishly chose personal glorification and sainthood over humanity. Instead of living the life that their "lord" had given them, they turned away from it. They added no fruit, tilled no ground, reaped nothing and invested nothing that could benefit the future generations.

Originally posted by Lazarus Short

Originally posted by backcase
reply to post by Lazarus Short

 

It is the truth man. The lambs are separated from the rams.

You are wrong in thinking there is no purgatory and no hell.

Consider:

"...we hope on a living God, Who is a Saviour of ALL MEN, especially of faithful." [Ferrar Fenton Version]

or consider Revelation 20:14, which states that Death and the Grave are to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Have you ever considered that after Death has been burned up in the LoF, no one [NO ONE!] can thereafter be dead, in Hell or out of it.

BTW, the sheep are separated from the GOATS, not the lambs from the rams, but even so, the fate of the goats in Hell is only a supposition on the part of those who delight at the thought of their personal enemies being tortured for eternity. Just so you know, I know when and from where the concept of Hell entered Christianity. It is a Pagan concept, but you may not know early church history.

edit on 24-5-2013 by Lazarus Short because: lah-de-dah

The concept of hell is a place outside of the secure bounds of the city of God where one can find love.

Anyone who is not on the path to righteousness is in hell. The only path that one can walk and truly know where he is going is the path of love. Those who choose to walk the path of love are rewarded with love in this lifetime.

Those who do not walk the past of love are rewarded with whatever they pursue. Greed, Lust, Addiction to sin. They are outside of the city, because to be inside is to be in love.

Love is spirit and the Spirit of Love dwells within each man who pursues love. The man who pursues love has found God, because God is spirit and God is love.

The one who does not pursue love, walks in the darkness, because love is light. The one who walks in the darkness does not live in love, therefore he lives apart from the Spirit of Love (he lives in darkness/hell).

Lazurus Shorts is correct. The bible says in the end all things that cause sin will be thrown in the lake of fire.

The flesh is at war with the spirit. Your spirit naturally wants to be at one with the Spirit of Love, and you will only find peace when you let go of the physical pleasures of life to more perfectly pursue love.

But the flesh, Satan, and all things that cause us to stumble will be destroyed in the lake of fire. We are in the lake; do you feel the heat of all that causes sin? War, Greed, Hate, Religious intolerance that leads to judgment? These are the fires of hell. Sin is fire, hell is spirutal seperation from God. These thing occur here, we are in the lake.

When we die physically do we not spiritually leave all the things that cause us to stubble behind in the lake of fire, earth? When we die physically we are removed from this existence and our spirits enter into heaven. The promise from Christ is the ability to taste a bit of death and heaven here on earth, prior to the actual physical death of the body.

By letting go of physical desire and by loving others as Christ commanded we will become filled with the Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of Love makes a permanent home within a man that man can experience a small piece of heaven here on earth.

If everyone would love one another than we could make Chrsits prayer to the father come true.

The Lord's Prayer.
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kigdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Love is the will of the father, and Jesus himself prayed and told us to pray that love be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Should we not all say Amen to the lord's prayer? Then maybe we could overcome Satan/Sin here on earth.

reply to post by Lazarus Short

Let's see - in a universe of at least 100 billion galaxies, you think you are going to run out of things to do?! Abhor immortality all you want, you will get it in the end. Maybe I'll check in on you from time to time in the afterlife...

Why does everyone want to be immortal? Are they so afraid of running out of time? Perhaps if people were to use the time they already have in a productive manner, they wouldn't be so concerned. Every time I hear someone say, "How cool would it be to live forever?" I look at them and say, "You're an idiot. Immortality is the vice of procrastination. If you actually used your mortality in a meaningful manner, you wouldn't be worried about dying."

And I say the same to everyone here. The only people who want to be immortal are the people who have wasted their mortality.

reply to post by windword


"The soldiers that the king sought to employ were not for violence, but to be servants of peace. to sanctify the king's subjects. "

this was in the OP.

reply to post by Lazarus Short


The soul can die to grace, and that is the dreadful death. Those who are in hell continue to curse God.

Originally posted by backcase
reply to post by windword

 

"The soldiers that the king sought to employ were not for violence, but to be servants of peace. to sanctify the king's subjects. "

this was in the OP.

From the OP:

that even if the way of evil looks easy, beautiful, and comfortable, we must choose the rough but safe road of God.

There is no violence that is indicated in an easy, beautiful and comfortable path. Didn't Jesus say "My yoke is easy"?

How is a rough road, filled with pot holes, thorns and demonic confrontation, safe and free from violence?

Originally posted by backcase
reply to post by Lazarus Short

 

The soul can die to grace, and that is the dreadful death. Those who are in hell continue to curse God.

No, it is the second death, and it is not stated that they burn forever in a conscious state. No - it is the second death, so they are dead, and being dead, they do not curse God. Read what Solomon said about death. Anyway, if they are dead and in Hell, how can God ever become All in all? Your theo(ill)logical position leads to severe contradictions and discrepancies between one scripture and another.

These are the props of Hell:

A misunderstanding of "soul" and "spirit."

Pagan concepts and mythology, including the Greek concept of the immortality of the soul.

Bad theology.

Bad translation.

Fictional accounts (Dante, Milton, etc, etc, etc) which cannot be proved or disproved.

reply to post by Lazarus Short


Christianity was taken largely from the pagans. Most of today's Christian symbols can be traced back to Sumerian paganism. Even the so-called "tablets", as I've explained here.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Lazarus Short

 

Christianity was taken largely from the pagans. Most of today's Christian symbols can be traced back to Sumerian paganism. Even the so-called "tablets", as I've explained here.

You are mistaking Churchianity for Christianity. I don't care for Icons, relics, any of those pagan symbols. or even the sign of the cross, which I regard as "two pieces of senseless stick," in the words of a medieval martyr.

reply to post by Lazarus Short

You are mistaking Churchianity for Christianity. I don't care for Icons, relics, any of those pagan symbols. or even the sign of the cross, which I regard as "two pieces of senseless stick," in the words of a medieval martyr.

Your words make me wonder just what you do care for, though I feel a certain trepidation at the possible answer I might receive. The cross began as a representation of the overlap between mortal and divine, earth and heaven, physical and metaphysical. Your lack of comprehension suggests a certain shallowness and ingratitude for the various gradients of meaning and understanding that give this universe such a rich and vibrant quality.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


Do you really think it is a lack of comprehension? Maybe, just maybe, this Laz, who used to love the image, has learned to prefer the Word over the image. A symbol, after all, is just a symbol, not the thing itself.

When I say "the Word," of course, I am referring to every Word proceeding out of the mouth of God - that is to say, the Holy Bible.