Being referred to as a sheep.

[flobadob]

If someone was to call you a sheep, you would most likely take offence as they are inferring that you are a mindless idiot with no will of your own.

Why is it though that people are happy to use this analogy when talking about religion and are happy to be told by Jesus that we are sheep?

[mike11111]

The analogy is not that people are like sheep in that sense but that Jesus cares for his people as a shepherd cares for his flock.

[craft1948]

They must have a mind of their own hence the parable of The Lost Sheep.

[andy-hughes]

Absolutely.

The analogy was used frequently by Jesus, always in terms of caring for his flock as any good shepherd would.

In his time, many people depended on shep flocks for food and wool, so this analogy would resonate with them.

[d9f1c7]

Religious people are by definition "sheep" so I guess it's a case of empathy.

[FredPuli43]

Jesus is a shepherd and the followers are sheep? Then what is the lamb of god they keep talking about?

[flobadob]

And lo he did say, I am the general and you are my drones.

[atalanta]

Strange, isn't it, that there are so many references in the Bible to sheep as sacrificial animals.

[naomi24]

^^ It's appropriate.

[wildwood]

They had lamb chops at the last supper.

[moonraker558]

I will have you know that I do have a will of my own.....

I just can't remember where it is.

[nescio]

moonraker,
get in touch with your solicitor. He/she will have it, but will probably charge you for informing you of the fact...

[mike11111]

"...without some kind of external stimulus"

Exactly. Who's to say that external stimulus isn't God? Not you obviously, but you don't have a monopoly on wisdom or rational thought.

[flobadob]

Dynamo walked on water to.

[flobadob]

o.

[David H]

Non-religious human sheep are defined (by me) as those who accept whatever they read or here without checking. If corralled and interviewed they parrot whatever they have picked up and treat it with the same status as anything they'd studied for an exam, although it turns out they only have a general set of cliches available and little or no data to support it. That attitude is a pre-academic one, and although academics are not immune to it occasionally it seems the default among people who have not been trained to check their information before treating it as accurate and passing it on to fellow sheep.

As unfortunately they clearly make up the majority of the population the goats (the leaders in the know) exploit this attribute and can easily make things up to persuade people to buy their products, hate their enemies and the like when in fact people taking 125% mortgages, adding to their credit limit and buying structured financial instruments are all things the bankers themselves would rarely if ever do but the sheep do en masse. Most bankers would not touch a credit card with a barge pole. That demonstrates the perfect example, those who are in charge do not do what they persuade others to as they know it is wrong. And credit cards are just the best of pages of similar examples, I'm sure we can all think of many more.