Hello everyone. Thank you for reading my thread. I wanted to discuss Matthew 25:31-46.
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left."
The most common interpretation is that Yeshua is talking about Christians when he says sheep, and he is talking about unbelievers when he says goats. This is considered one of the strongest verses that proves God is going to send billions of people to have their flesh burned in hell forever and ever (because one forever is not near long enough)
I'm not saying this interpretation is impossible, because everyone knows "God is outside the bounds of logic and reality" or whatever...but I do believe this is highly unlikely.
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous (sheep) answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?"
In this part, Yeshua is telling the sheep (which are animals) that when he was hungry, thirsty, sick ect... they attended to his needs. The sheep then reply "When?"
First question...
When the King tells you, a Christian and disciple of Jesus (who has this parable in your English bible), that when he was hungry you fed him, what are you going to say?
Are you going to ask "When?"....to which Jesus will reply, "Don't you remember? I talked about this in Matthew chapter 25!" So far, the only reason I can think that you'd do this is because we will forget absolutely everything once we're ressurected, that way we won't remember all of our loved ones who's flesh is being burned for all eternity.
Or, are you going to remember this parable and say something else? If you say something else, you are not the sheep.
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Now we have four different characters in this parable. The sheep (animals), the goats (animals), a king (human), and the human king's human brothers.
Second question...
Who are the king's brothers? If you say other Christians, then this is a awful parable. Why would Yeshua use two different species, a sheep and a human, as a comparison to a single group of people?
"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
If this parable doesn't make any sense to you, but you believe there is some way of reconciling the sheep to be Christians by not taking this parable literal....please explain why the "everlasting fire" suddenly becomes literal.
If you have a literal interpretation, please explain why God is going to burn a bunch of goats. Thank you.
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left."
The most common interpretation is that Yeshua is talking about Christians when he says sheep, and he is talking about unbelievers when he says goats. This is considered one of the strongest verses that proves God is going to send billions of people to have their flesh burned in hell forever and ever (because one forever is not near long enough)
I'm not saying this interpretation is impossible, because everyone knows "God is outside the bounds of logic and reality" or whatever...but I do believe this is highly unlikely.
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous (sheep) answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?"
In this part, Yeshua is telling the sheep (which are animals) that when he was hungry, thirsty, sick ect... they attended to his needs. The sheep then reply "When?"
First question...
When the King tells you, a Christian and disciple of Jesus (who has this parable in your English bible), that when he was hungry you fed him, what are you going to say?
Are you going to ask "When?"....to which Jesus will reply, "Don't you remember? I talked about this in Matthew chapter 25!" So far, the only reason I can think that you'd do this is because we will forget absolutely everything once we're ressurected, that way we won't remember all of our loved ones who's flesh is being burned for all eternity.
Or, are you going to remember this parable and say something else? If you say something else, you are not the sheep.
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Now we have four different characters in this parable. The sheep (animals), the goats (animals), a king (human), and the human king's human brothers.
Second question...
Who are the king's brothers? If you say other Christians, then this is a awful parable. Why would Yeshua use two different species, a sheep and a human, as a comparison to a single group of people?
"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
If this parable doesn't make any sense to you, but you believe there is some way of reconciling the sheep to be Christians by not taking this parable literal....please explain why the "everlasting fire" suddenly becomes literal.
If you have a literal interpretation, please explain why God is going to burn a bunch of goats. Thank you.