Originally posted by debbiejo
I guess my question is more like this:
It could be either, what would god think or do if you decided to not give him/her/It worship? Would there be some penalty or not. Would god suddenly disown you. Would god turn his/her/its back on you? What would ultimately become of you.
Parable of the prodigal son.
He'd let you do your thing and be happy if you came back...
He loses his portion of the inheritance though, so whatever blessings he would have had are now gone.
In my religion typically this inheritance is referred to as spiritual and priesthood blessings. I have also heard people refer to it as the talents as described in the parable of the talents, where one of them buries it, and so is not given more to invest. We typically believe that the talents parable was referring to talents we have (i.e. singing, various musical, a talent for discernment, understanding, patience, etc. basically anything that could be lumped in there.)
I would assume that the son is able to make gains, and could eventually be rather well off again. But it would probably be more difficult to do without the inheritance capital to work with.
I think it is interesting that the "good" son gets upset when the prodigal returns. What is his lot if he continued that resentment? Would he come to be in a worse position, even though he was always the "good" son?
Another look at this parable is that the prodigal son is Israel as it shunned Christ, the good son is the Gentiles that accept Christ's message. Will those "Christians" be upset if Christ comes back, and the Jews accept him and he welcomes them back without any reservation?
Or were the Gentiles initially the prodigal son, and Israel was the "good" son? When Christ accepted the Gentiles, was that the prodigal son's return? Did the Jews respond similar to the parable?
Now, how did I fit into the Chtistian-Agnostic-Athiest-Shakya debate? Am I considered Christian in this group, or was I just not in the debate?
