Should we, as Christians, speak more in parables and analogies to non-Christians?

Question

-

Considering these two verses:
Matthew 7:6 - "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

Matthew 13:10-11 - Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given."

-
Is there any legitimate connection between these two verses?

Is there an implied mandate from Jesus Christ for Christians to be more subtle, abstract, and speak more in the form of parables, stories, and analogies to non-Christians?
…and only to explain them further to those who truly seem to be seeking truth?
-

Also, is preaching or proclaiming the Gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ EVER a “casting of pearls before swine” or “throwing your pearls before pigs”?

-

Answer 1

If you are not born of God, (your spirit) you will not understand the Words.

Do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your peals before swine, mean the same thing. That is if they will not hear the Words Jesus spoke, or make light of His words, you are not obligated to do for them the things he commanded you to do, such as give, let them borrow, feed them or give them drink, you can shake the dust from your feet and move on. but you must forgive them and pray for them.

If you can not get away from them you must let them use you, until such a time when you know in your heart that they will not hear the Words spoken by Jesus.

Jesus told us the parable of the talent, it is about spreading the Word of God, planting seeds and turning lost souls to God the Father, we are to endure until the end, that is never give up, this is why I come to this web site, they want to learn of God, to prove to them that God exist, but if they are not of God they will not believe anyway, but those who are of God may believe, and when your name comes up in the book of life it may say 30, 60 or even 100 plus souls you saved because of your labor.

Answer 2

I think you're on to something here. Cast pearls before swine and they may even eat them but the pearls will just pass right out of their body and do nothing for them.

The second verse does seem to suggest that there is a difference between those that chose to follow Jesus and those that did not. Perhaps it is saying that a person must make the choice first before they will be able to hear the message. Jesus certainly didn't limit the message to only his followers, but when speaking to people that hadn't made the decision yet, he seemed to be encouraging them to seek more by disguising the true message in a story or analogy. Those that were willling to ask for more received it...the rest walked away confused.

Jesus did say that want God wanted from us was that we love him with all our heart, mind, soul and body...this sounds like something that requires effort. It also requires effort to discover the meaning in a parable or analogy whereas direct statements can be easily accepted at face value.

Interesting...thanks for giving me something new to ponder. Is preaching the gospel of grace ever "casting pearls before swine"...perhaps it depends on the way you preach it. I don't think it is ever wrong to let your life be a witness...but perhaps it can cause more harm than good to reveal the mystery to people that aren't interested in knowing it.

Answer 3

Very good questions here. The heart of a sinner must be convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin before the gospel makes any sense. So an incomplete gospel would be sort of like casting of a pearl. Unless a sinner is presented with his condition before a Holy God he will not fully appreciate the sacrifice Jesus made by offering himself as the full payment for his sins. Parables would be wise, but using the law to show that we are transgressors of the law and in need of a savior is the best method to assure that a person does not become a false convert. If a person's life is good they will not appreciate grace because they will wonder how it will make their life better. But when they are shown that they are spiritualy dead without Christ, they will question what the purpose of their life is.

Answer 4

I think we Christians should be more subtle in our approach to proclaiming the Gospel. The best Bible a person can read is the good life we live.

That aside, there is a fundamental mystery to what Jesus has to say here. God gives his gifts to all, but everyone receives something different. Some can handle the direct revelation of God, while others cannot. Those who cannot receive it in parables or other signs. Are they inferior to those who receive directly? No. Just different.

I think Jesus is saying that you have to take people where they are at. You can't shove a Bible down the throat of someone who does not accept the existence of God, and there is no need to go through the proofs for God's existence to someone who already accepts it. We have to know our audience and craft the message accordingly. That doesn't mean we water it down; it means we are pedagogically sound. We don't teach calculus to third graders any more than we teach long division to doctoral math students. In the same way, we find where people are at spiritually and help them where they are at.

Answer 5

The relationship is that not every person has the capacity to understand the knowledge of information as much as they try. When you speak in parables those who understand will reach their goals. You might think that but at the same time he says "but to them it hasn't been given" Could it be that he expects you to through the pearls to pigs and dogs" i believe that by speaking in parables only the elite would understand making god a sectarian, which I don't think was the idea

Answer 6

For me the true meaning of the verse matthew 13:10-11. Jesus used a parables because he knows that the believers or his follower unsderstand the parables. Because if the person with fillled of holy spirit can understand the word of God. Even you are the genius on this world but if the holy spirit not living with you cannot enterpret the true meaning of the bible. That's why jesus said matthew 7-6 " do not give dogs what is holy " because even you share the word of God to some people they cannot accept it because the spirit living with them is the evil spirit that's the reason jesus said maybe they turn to attack you because they hurt when they heard the true word of God.

Answer 7

This is a very good question, and I don't know if it deals with preaching or not and I certainly am no Bible expert, but I did heard one preacher say don't waste your words on people who don't want to listen to you (something to the akin of saying, "I don't suffer fools." Some people are not worth the effort in trying to tell them something because they just don't want to hear anything you say for whatever reason.

I think the best way to win people over to Christ is to live the Golden Rule, be kind and generous, helpful, hopeful, patient, honest, minding the Ten Commandments--trying real hard to do all those things that we learned through the parables when we were in Sunday School

Answer 8

Some people dont understand God's word and breaking it down into parables can be helpful but ....casting pearls before swine means that if you tell someone about Jesus and thye keep on mocking then yes it time to shake the dust off of your feet because you have done all you can.

Answer 9

Gods Word is understood by those he gives the understanding to. so yes there is a connection in the two verse'
when a true Christian speaks, the loveless/faithless do not understand as they did not understand Jesus, it is the Unknown Tongue.
I was once lost in the confusion that we are to preach Christ to all, but then I had to face the Truth,"not everyone is going to accept the Truth". To continue to give the Truth that lives in me to those who will deny it, will kill the
Truth that lives in me and I will become as them, without the Truth.
to continue, to give the Truth to those looking to destroy it, is not what God intends us to do"seek ye first the kingdom of heaven"
if we are speaking the Truth to a man and he says, he does not want our God, turn from thence and go thy way.for he loves the lie and will not leave his love.

Answer 10

We are told to be bearers of Good News in spreading the word of the Gospels. We should speak to people in a way they can understand us. Christianity isn't a religion - it's a relationship. Relationships can't be forced upon people but they must slowly form and grow until those involved grow inseparable. Sometimes just inviting someone to church is enough, and from there they can find their way without us needing to speak in parables to them.

Hope this helps! ;-)