When extreme positions seem eminently sensible

I once witnessed a conversation that went like this :

A. There are so many true stories in the world we decided not to expose our children to anything fictional or made-up.

B. So do you think that Jesus knew the sower who went out to sow, and the name of the prodigal son?

Jesus made up stories. The Bible has lots of made-up stories. We can usually tell fact from fiction, though sometimes one does need to ask, "Is this a true story?"

I mention this in connection with two things :

Firstly, the whole discussion of Santa Claus, Narnia, trees, etc...

Secondly, to point out that nobody who belongs to a crazy extreme sect says to themselves "Here I am in this crazy extreme sect." From the inside the sect seems logical and the rest of the world seems crazy.

And here's the scary thing. There's a spectrum. Sometimes groups of people go nuts to a greater or lesser degree, but the people inside the group can't tell...

Comments

Martin said…
So there is nothing wrong i telling your children stories but to tell them Father Christmas is real, lives at the North Pole and brings presents at Christmas is quite a different matter.
Alan said…
I'm not sure I understand.

Is that a question or a statement?

And by "telling your children stories", do you mean reading them stories or telling them lies, and would you make any difference between these two things ?
Alan said…
This comment has been removed by the author.

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