Why can’t the monkey open its fist?

Question

Certain groups of Christians make me think of a film I saw once where a monkey reached into a jar for peanuts but couldn’t get his hand out. The monkey could have opened it’s hand and dumped out the peanuts but struggled for the duration of the film to get his fist out of the jar without dropping the peanuts.

The reason they make me think of this is that they try to save people as if their own salvation depends on it, so desperate that they become repulsive. No one would join such a group unless there were terrible misconceptions in their life to begin with. They are like the nerds of the Christian religion and they are to vocal and by manipulation have become tools of politicians that seek blind decisions.

Other Christians I have had the pleasure of meeting radiate the love of God in dignity and with grace. I want to be like these Christians.

I’ve seen those that feel as I do become hungry for God then change their mind as soon as they look for inspiration and watch like 5 minutes of Pat Robertson or some other mockery of Christ. There are to many Pharisees to list here.

Is it to much to ask that Christians try to be loving with a bit of respect and dignity?

(((((goodvoicewoman)))))
I am Sooo sorry if I offended you with my 700-club reference. All must follow their own path. Those can be very different. I'm only against agression.

Answer 1

Sometimes the monkey does open his hand, drop the nuts, pick up the jar and smash it open, getting all the nuts.

Only the stupider and greedier monkeys can be caught with this kind of trap.

The idea of saving others presupposses that the one who wants to do the saving, is himself already saved.
Interestingly, saved is only a word, and it doesn't mean very much.
Saved from what? Satan? Death? Evil? Stupidity?
Buddha said, "Save yourselves."

Answer 2

I heard it as a little kid stuck in a cookie jar, but the impact is the same. There was also a funny scene in a western movie one time where a guy turned his tin cup sideways and poked it between the bars of the jail, demanding water. The sheriff's deputy put water in the cup, then the prisoner realized that he would have to spill it out to get the cup back inside the bars. He ends up trying to slurp it out by sticking his face as far through the bars as it will go, looking like a total idiot.

Fact is, you gotta be thinking about what you're doing all the time. Mother Nature takes no excuses.

Answer 3

Excellent comparison!!! You are right... they are like the monkey that won't let go of the "treasure" for fear of losing themselves (as if the peanuts were the only food the monkey could get). It does seem that many act that way and with such aggression and hate towards the person they are trying to convert that in the end, they simply make the person they are trying to convert hate the religion in return, thinking they all act like monkeys.

Answer 4

The answer is because the monkey is not always a rational creature. Certainly, from the rational perspective, all the monkey would have to do is release the peanuts, remove his/her hand and then turn the jar over until the peanuts fell out.

Likewise, many religious people are not strictly rational creatures. Humans have the potential and capacity for reason, but its not necessarily always actualized in every sphere of their existence. They might be able to logically get peanuts out of a jar, but the logic governing existential matters is naturaly much more obscure.

I don't think the need to convert others into our own doctrine is equivalent to the monkey jar example. The monkey cannot possibly look at his situation logically, he/she simply doesn't have the adequate faculty. Meanwhile, we know that humans have the faculty for reason and logic, but choose not to use it when it comes to fundamental beliefs about their existence. So the more appopriate question is: "Why do believers refuse to be rational when it comes to their beliefs?"

The answer is simple enough: beliefs themselves are not rational. The "logic" behind getting the hand and peanuts out of the jar is not at all a matter of belief. Nevertheless, sometimes beliefs are necessary, even if they are misguided. My favorite example comes from a Buddhist text. A father came home one evening to find his house had just caught on fire with his children still playing inside, oblivious to the danger they were in. The father immediately called out: "Children, you are in great danger! Come out immediately!" But the children were too engrossed in their activities to pay their father any heed. So the man thought again and called out: "Children, I have brought you new toys to play with, come outside and see them!" And the children came out.

In this example, the Children were uninterested in the logical, rational reason for leaving the house. So the Father gave them a false belief "that there were toys outside" because he knew it was the only way to prevent them from coming to harm. Likewise, many people are like these children, and need dogmas to follow, even if they are false ones, otherwise they might be significantly harmed.

In closing, i'd like to point out that its not only theists who are irrational in their beliefs. Listen to all the materialistic atheists trying to convince everybody that their beliefs are more justifiable. Even though they claim to represent reason and logic, they are just as dogmatic and pre-rational as any dogmatic theist.

Answer 5

They take after some humans. You won't just find Christians doing this, but most others as well. More on the materialistic side though. Even to the detriment of their lives.

I don't find the 700 club as repulsive as you do, but then, we are all different. I think we are all trying to find answers, and some find it in one religion, and some find it more from a broader spectrum. I choose my own way, I don't like to have people tell my how to think, but I tolerate those that do like that.
If truth is the pure white light, religions are the rainbow glinting off the crystaline minds of man.

Answer 6

this reminds me of the story about the Sun and the north wind proving who is the strongest, a story I read when I went to School, A Man was walking down the street with a cloak on so the north wind huffed and puffed, the more he huffed and the more he puffed the tighter the Man held onto the cloak until the north wind gave up. so the Sun comes out and shines its warmth on the Man so kindly that he very soon takes off his cloak!!!!!!
we don't ever win anybody by force or by being pushy , but love is the strongest thing that ever was and ever will be!!!!!!

Answer 7

I think the monkey is unsure about his faith in those peanuts..what if they get away? what if they are not planted like beautiful seeds in the heart and could slip away? will I go to hell if i drop my peanuts?
My peanuts are safe and I will always have some when i get hungry..
You my dear always share your peanuts with an open and generous heart because you know that sharing your peanuts with love and grace will only multiply the number of peanuts that you have. The harder we try to hold on to our peanuts the harder they fight to get away! Peace

Answer 8

I like the analogy....but as for your last question, on if it's too much to ask for most Christians to be loving and respectful...look around you at your fellow Christians, see what they ,might say to do but in the very same breath to do the exact opposite, it IS too much for most Christians to do...sorry to break it to ya....but all-in-all, I WISH that Christians would be more like that...maybe then they'd have the little world domination thing that they seem to want down pat....

Answer 9

I think you may have pinned the proverbial tail on the "monkey-ry" of religion. LOL.

It has been said that the first problem of humankind is not to learn, but to unlearn.

Peace be with you.

Answer 10

On the Simpsons, Homer was stuck in a vending machine for hours, when they almost cut his arm off, he let go and everyone was laughing because all he had to do was let go of the candy.