Why did God and Jesus speak in analogies and parables--were they trying trick people?

Question

The O.T. use different animals to represent governments; Jesus spoke to the people in parables, and Revelation is totally symbolic. Why?

Answer 1

A salute to my brothers and sisters in Christ who have answered your question far better than this poor Christian could.
And this caveat:
I thought that if I read the Quran, as our Muslim friend suggests, I might better understand Islam, and so, help myself to not be so frightened of it. So, I asked for and recieved a free copy from CIAR (I think I got that right, check me on it). I have been working on it, but I gotta tell you, it is a very l-0-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-n-g and complicated book. Also, those things you've heard about violence in the Quran...yep, they are really there. So is the promise of sexual debauchery in heaven for those who die defending the faith (i.e. sucicide bombers). They not only get 72 "houri" (I thought the virgins were human women, more in a sec) but they also get a number of young boys who gleam like pearls....
As for women, according to the great prophet, hell is mostly full of women. Women are a curse, like a dog or a palm tree. Honestly, I'm still working on how a palm tree is a curse. Dogs and women are bad enough...but come ON, Muhammed, whatever did the poor palm tree do??
Don't believe me? CAIR will send you your own free copy if you just ask for it. It's big heavy thing, and you won't want to relax in the tub with it (I've gone through more Bibles that way!)...but it is worth looking over, if you really want the truth about Islam...

Answer 2

I think it is because of these reasons:
1) The Bible can mean different things to different people. One parable may have multiple meanings over time(as society changes). It may also mean something different to one culture than to another. By speaking in parables Jesus allowed a certain timelessness to his words. They carry truth today as they did two thousand years ago.

2) Revelation is forecasting an event many ,many years in the future. I think that is part of the reason for the way it is explained. It was said in a way to make us think about that time. It is a lesson just as much as anything else.

Answer 3

In children's books, we use animals and "parables" to convey certain messages.

Like the Tortoise and the Hare. It teaches use that slacking off just because you think you're better than everyone else, doesn't get you far. And that those with high hopes can win.

The bible used parables to convey messages in a simple way, a symbolic way that most people would understand at the time.

Answer 4

Remember Jesus had his ministry with the ordinary people. During his time there was no formal education yet like what we have now. Most of his followers were fishermen, ordinary folks. The best approach therefore is to teach them through stories and parables or analogies. Teaching someone an intangible idea is best taught with something real or they have experience and familiar with.
Revelation is symbolic i agree. Perhaps this is so because God wants us to seek for the truth. It is not meant to scare us but to put our trust in God and through the saving grace of HIs Son---Jesus Christ.

Answer 5

To show us that he really is God, that kind of thinking back then was unheard of, if you could just say something then you would. But becuase of parable talking is one of the reasons why he was killed. Also parable talking makes the bible living water, all the problems we face today can be found in the bible with similar stories and facts. it is a 3 in 1 kill

Answer 6

Two Thoughts, one stories with meanings and morals last longer then just saying "do it, or you'll be sorry".

Two, the parables also test those that listen. those that have the spirit can understand the meaning, those that don't think it has no meaning. I.E. the Pharisees, many times didn't understand what Christ was saying.

Answer 7

Yes but you must remember that folks like Daniel were captives in a land that they were writting about, and IF they or Jesus had used simple words the gospel would have never taken off or got to you and me, the symbolic symbles the prophecys the bible itself works this way, in Isaiah 28:13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
The Holy Bible explains itself, find out more free bible lessons www.amazingfacts.org talk to me also [e-mail] God bless

Answer 8

Not everyone is ready to hear and understand the full truth. This way, those who understood and were ready received it, while the others did not, so they could not be held against it. Also, in modern days, we enjoy it when a speaker throws in a story or two to clarify or simply to make it interesting. It is easier to understand this way.

Answer 9

It has been said that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The Lord Jesus frequently used parables as a means of illustrating profound, divine truths. Stories such as these are easily remembered, the characters bold, and the symbolism rich in meaning. Parables were a common form of teaching in Judaism. Before a certain point in His ministry, Jesus had employed many graphic analogies using common things that would be familiar to everyone (salt, bread, sheep, etc.) and their meaning was fairly clear in the context of His teaching. Parables required more explanation, and at one point in His ministry, Jesus began to teach using parables exclusively.

The question is why Jesus would let most people wonder about the meaning of His parables. The first instance of this is in His telling the parable of the seed and the soils. Before He interpreted this parable, He drew His disciples away from the crowd. They said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Matthew 13:10-17).

Here Matthew seems to suggest that their own unbelief is the cause of their spiritual blindness. The same event as told by Luke, however, emphasizes God’s initiative in obscuring the truth from these unbelievers (“to the rest it is given in parables, [so] that ‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand’” (Luke 8:10). Both things are true, of course. Yet we are not to think that God blinds them because He somehow delights in their destruction. This judicial blinding may be viewed as an act of mercy, lest their condemnation be increased. He employed parables to obscure the truth from unbelievers while making it clearer to His disciples. For the remainder of His Galilean ministry, He did not speak to the multitudes except in parables (v. 34). Jesus’ veiling the truth from unbelievers this way was both an act of judgment and an act of mercy. It was judgment because it kept them in the darkness that they loved (John 3:19), but it was mercy because they had already rejected the light, so any exposure to more truth would only increase their condemnation.

Our Lord Jesus understood that truth is not sweet music to all ears. Simply put, there are those who have neither interest nor regard in the deep things of God. So why, then, did He speak in parables? To those with a genuine hunger for God, the parable is both an effective and memorable vehicle for the conveyance of divine truths. Our Lord’s parables contain great volumes of truth in very few words—and His parables, rich in imagery, are not easily forgotten. So, then, the parable is a blessing to those with willing ears. But to those with dull hearts and ears that are slow to hear, the parable is also an instrument of both judgment and mercy.

Answer 10

God did speak to Moses "as one speaketh to a man" but they would not hear it--just read the Jewish history in the OT.

Jesus said if they would not believe in Moses and the prophets, they wouldn't believe in me. Let us allow Jesus to answer His disciples, they asked the same question:

"And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
"For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
"Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand" (Matthew 13:10-13).

And that is exactly why people on R&S can't understand the Bible--it is hidden from them.

Do you think God wants more hipocrites in church--ABSOLUTELY NOT.

And that is why he identified the messiah and antichrist in an encoded messge, "sealed until the end of the days."

If you have Spiritual discernment, and are one of the "wise", you will understand at www.revelado.org/revealed.htm
Blessings, OneWay