Bible : The Goats And The Sheep

[agchristie]

I've just read a debut novel by Joanna Cannon which makes frequent reference to the above parable. (Good book by the way!)

Would we have more goats than sheep in todays world do you think?

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25:31-46

[naomi24]

No. The sheep far outnumber the goats - and not just religiously speaking.

[DaisyNonna]

Never understood this
Who are the baddies?

[Jackdaw33]

You'll have to ask a Welshman, Daisy.

[Canary42]

There seem to be lots of goats on Ab, considering the relentless attack on poor refugees.

Of course the example is set by George "all in it together" Osborne, with his cuts to the disabled, the sick, the poor, the unemployed etc. But in the eyes of God perhaps he redeems himself with his tax cuts for the rich, inflation-busting salary rises for MPs, and tax avoidance concessions for the likes of Amazon, Yahoo, Apple, Starbucks, et al .

[DaisyNonna]

My Welsh ancestors seem to be dead

[Hypognosis]

Sounds like a paradise for the con artists of the world. Free food, drink, shelter, clothing and help when they are in jail.

Christianity just reads like "let people take advantage of you", to me. Turn away one needy person and you fry forever. (???)

[DaisyNonna]

No answer to my question

[Hypognosis]

@Daisynonna

I don't think any of us believed you were incapable of knowing who the baddies are, because it says, in the linked article. Thought you were joshing. :D

[agchristie]

So, all this goat business is more kidology? ;)

[DaisyNonna]

Unfair nomenclature

[Hypognosis]

@DaisyNonna

What's unfair about it? The parable was clearly written to appeal to the sensibilities of 1st century sheep and goat herders. The allusion to the supposed difficulty in segregating a mixed flock into the right types is tricky to understand as I have not experienced the flock-entanglement scenario first hand. We know what it's like to meet an oncoming car in a narrow lane, perhaps encounters between sheep farmers and goat farmers were on a whole higher level of inconvenience?

Anyway, my money is on the author being a sheep herder with some inexplicable grudge against goat herders.

[Old_Geezer]

Since the story is clearly fantasy the question is surely invalid. If there is a diety then they are responsible for how their creations behaved so if anyone should be punished by being sent to hell it is the diety. In reality, of course, the story is just there to try to create a caring tribe/society but clearly exagerates/goes too far.

In any case there is no sensible guide on where to draw a line in order to separate a spectrum into just two groups. What happens to those who fed and clothed 50% only ?

[Hypognosis]

@O_G

Good point. I initially thought it was pretty clear cut: any who had turned away a single case of a person in need would be sent down.

Anyone would think Iesu was just some street beggar, gifted with charisma and the mental powers of Mesmer, recasting God's final plan as a way to trick people and thus secure himself free board and lodging and a get out of jail free service for the rest of his natural. Complete sponger.

[agchristie]

^ very good Hypo!

[Hypognosis]

@agchristie

Thanks. I shall return the trowel to the shed. ;-)

[sandyRoe]

It was shepherds who were privileged to be close at hand during the Nativity. There wasn't a mention of goat herders.
There must be significance in that.

[Hypognosis]

I can't help but associate sheep with verdant, green pasture but, thanks to media coverage, I associate the middle east with arid terrain and goats, the latter coming across as hardier (I may be mistaken).

Before falling into the trap of thinking it was a tribal thing, I just wanted to ask how the wooly jumpers cope, in the Levant terrain and climate?

[sandyRoe]

THE MOUNTAIN sheep are sweeter,
But the valley sheep are fatter;
You'd need a warm jumper to help endure a cold night on a bald mountain.

[Hypognosis]

Dan dan daaan!



(~12mins, with an animation I don't recognise. Will watch, in full, later).