DP #14: The Gospel Parables

The Gospel Parables by Armstrong addresses The Places at the Table in relation to "Humility and Courtesy" by discussing first the ancient feast etiquette of Jesus' time and relating it to what Jesus said in the parable. Armstrong communicates to his reader that the parable dictates humility by choosing a lower seat at the table and waiting to be moved up and courtesy by inviting not the high end of society but the people who need blessing, the outcasts: this is Jesus' message. The author also says that the parable is telling us that humility is essentially the soul of courtesy and politeness, the core of a true human being. There are many ways for the parable to be interpreted and The Gospel Parables addresses that which is most common of the interpretations and explains it with more examples within the Bible and the history of Jesus' time to help the reader better understand how important humility and courtesy were (and, as Jesus communicates, still are) in a righteous lifestyle.

DP #13: Perception in Truth

I would love to say that it is possible I would spare my only loaf of fresh bread to an expecting neighbor or even that I would get up in the middle of the night to welcome, by dutiful obligation, my visitor and that I see my same behavior reflected in the beautiful essence of the 21st Century, but I would be lying a great deal. We are told now that it is wrong, even dangerous, to put ourselves before others and that practicing dominating egalitarianism can prove detrimental to our family's well-being; this is true, yet what we don't see or allow ourselves to see is that it lacks to present 'the whole picture.' Capitalism strikes, as it has quite successfully in this time and place, and down goes the selfless cycle, down goes any possible communalism or hospitality, down goes any chance of an existing population on smiles and what seems right (but it's wrong). It is a hopeless outlook on this world, seeing nothing but a collection of money-orientated beings tracing a maze of personal success, yet it is a truly unrealistic existence to trek the earth with hope that more than one amazing neighbor might spare some bread and thus turn the world around; hopeful honesty in one's perception of what is before them seems to be the message of the parable and respectively the most healthy eyes through which to see the world.

DP #12: I almost forgot... I was watching HELP!

Systems are set up to fail those on the bottom of the pyramid since all systems are driven by power, which lay in the hands of those in considerably handsome financial states. The King in the parable decided to proclaim his power by calling attention to his economics thus driving those below him into the ground because his power (and money) came first. FEMA, in response to Katrina, first saved those with money because they reflect directly the power of the nation (consider taxes) and the economy of the city (consider the alternate damsel). Since power is directly connected to money, it is utterly conceivable that all systems are indirectly designed to work from the top-down.