A Modern Day Parable (3)

While listening to baseball today, as usual half of my mind was on the games, while the other half of my mind was thinking about the terrible situation that people are in regarding love of God, healthy living, and ultimately, their salvation. This example of the frustration I feel came to mind.

Imagine one of those classic old movies where the white guy "bwana" is being the big explorer in the dangerous jungle. He gets into trouble, being wounded by a terrible beast, for example, and staggers through the jungle alone, looking for help, bleeding from his wounds and barely holding on.

He comes into a clearing where a clean white tent is set up, with a Red Cross, showing that the doctor is in. It is gauzy and full of mosquito netting, a very simple place, but staffed by a very knowledgeable doctor who is "on call" all the time, who is God.

The man staggers inside the tent and says, "Help, help!" God the doctor steps forward and starts to ask him the standard "intake" questions, like "What has happened? What attacked you?" But then the man snarls, "I don't want to answer any of your questions! Just help me without talking."

God the doctor would find it easier to help if they talked, but agrees to the man's wishes. God the doctor reached toward the man to tend silently to his wounds. But then the man pulls back and snarls again, saying, "I don't want you to touch me! Just help me without touching."

This is what it is like for so many people today, both those of "faith" and those who do not consider themselves believers. But it is the believers who act this way that worries me the most. And there are a lot of them out there.