Luke 15:11-32
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
The atheist Richard Dawkins writes, “The fact that it has nothing else to contribute to human wisdom is no reason to hand religion a free licence to tell us what to do...Which religion, anyway?...The one in which we happen to have been brought up?...To which chapter, then, of which book of the Bible should we turn—for they are far from unanimous and some of them are odious by any reasonable standards...How many literalists have read enough of the Bible to know that the death penalty is prescribed for adultery, for gathering sticks on the sabbath and for cheeking your parents?...If we reject Deuteronomy and Leviticus (as all enlightened moderns do), by what criteria do we then decide which of religion's moral values to accept?...Or should we pick and choose among all the world's religions until we find one whose moral teaching suits us?...If so, again we must ask, by what criterion do we choose?...And if we have independent criteria for choosing among religious moralities, why not cut out the middle man and go straight for the moral choice without the religion?”...
As I read these questions by the atheist Richard Dawkins, I think of the Greatest Forgiveness Parable of all, the Parable of the Prodigal Son and I also think of God's gift of grace...I, also, think of Jesus...This Parable is about Love, Grace, and Forgiveness...
I was not brought up in a religious family...The religion I choose is Christianity...I personally choose the New Testament to read first, but I have read the entire Bible...I choose the New Testament and the gospels, because I believe that Jesus is the Bible and is one the Old Testament is about...I believe Jesus is Scripture...I do not reject Deuteronomy or do I reject Leviticus, but I see them as God's rules and I see Jesus as fulfilling the Laws of God and the Mosaic Law and these rules...I choose to follow the moral Laws of God and the Ten Commandments...So I choose Jesus and Christianity, and I see these two things as the Truth...The criterion I go by is that Jesus is in God and God is in Jesus...Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one gets to God, except through Him...I do not believe we can cut out the Middle Man or His Son, because they are Teachers of the Natural Moral Laws of man...They are our Creators...
If I were asked to give a quick response to the atheist's comments, I would say the God is LOVE, He is Completely Forgiving, and Full of Grace...His mercy and grace are completely out of His LOVE...