{"id":47594,"date":"2024-07-20T04:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=47594"},"modified":"2025-05-28T20:35:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T02:35:53","slug":"misappropriation-of-the-lost-sheep-parable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2024\/07\/misappropriation-of-the-lost-sheep-parable\/","title":{"rendered":"Misuse of the \u201cLost Sheep\u201d Parable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-47599 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-07-18-07.57.17-A-serene-landscape-with-rolling-green-hills-and-a-gentle-sunset-in-the-background.-In-the-foreground-Christ-depicted-in-flowing-robes-is-standing-w-800x800.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"331\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-07-18-07.57.17-A-serene-landscape-with-rolling-green-hills-and-a-gentle-sunset-in-the-background.-In-the-foreground-Christ-depicted-in-flowing-robes-is-standing-w-800x800.webp 800w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-07-18-07.57.17-A-serene-landscape-with-rolling-green-hills-and-a-gentle-sunset-in-the-background.-In-the-foreground-Christ-depicted-in-flowing-robes-is-standing-w-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-07-18-07.57.17-A-serene-landscape-with-rolling-green-hills-and-a-gentle-sunset-in-the-background.-In-the-foreground-Christ-depicted-in-flowing-robes-is-standing-w-360x360.webp 360w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-07-18-07.57.17-A-serene-landscape-with-rolling-green-hills-and-a-gentle-sunset-in-the-background.-In-the-foreground-Christ-depicted-in-flowing-robes-is-standing-w-260x260.webp 260w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-07-18-07.57.17-A-serene-landscape-with-rolling-green-hills-and-a-gentle-sunset-in-the-background.-In-the-foreground-Christ-depicted-in-flowing-robes-is-standing-w-160x160.webp 160w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-07-18-07.57.17-A-serene-landscape-with-rolling-green-hills-and-a-gentle-sunset-in-the-background.-In-the-foreground-Christ-depicted-in-flowing-robes-is-standing-w.webp 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People often misuse the Parable of the Lost Sheep, where the Lord leaves the 99 to go after the 1, and draw analogies and connections that don\u2019t make a lot of sense given the premises of the Parable, so I thought I\u2019d make a set of guidelines for logically using the Parable. Note: I have wanted to do this post for a while, and it is in no way a critique or analysis of the Church&#8217;s recent 99+1 initiative. The motivation for this came from non-Church sources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you self-identify as \u201cthe lost sheep\u201d the logical corollary is that you should return and join the 99 crowd instead of making the Shepherd come after you.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is also the \u201cwolf in sheep\u2019s clothing\u201d parable. Sometimes people have to be isolated for the good of the flock, <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.timesandseasons.org\/2023\/01\/gangrenous-limbs-and-the-body-of-christ-a-defense-of-excommunication\/index.html\">this is part of what Church discipline is for<\/a>. Jesus didn\u2019t leave the 99 to find the one wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On that note, the point of the parable isn\u2019t that the one lost sheep is in fact in the right and all of the others are in the wrong. The lost sheep is, in fact, lost, and the point is not that they are going to co-opt the role of the shepherd and lead them somewhere else.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesus doesn\u2019t leave the 99 to find the lost sheep to only find out that the lost sheep was where everybody should have been, essentially replacing the function of the shepherd. Now, maybe you&#8217;re right and everybody else is wrong. Fine, but it doesn&#8217;t make sense to use the &#8220;lost sheep&#8221; parable to make that point.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People often misuse the Parable of the Lost Sheep, where the Lord leaves the 99 to go after the 1, and draw analogies and connections that don\u2019t make a lot of sense given the premises of the Parable, so I thought I\u2019d make a set of guidelines for logically using the Parable. Note: I have wanted to do this post for a while, and it is in no way a critique or analysis of the Church&#8217;s recent 99+1 initiative. The motivation for this came from non-Church sources.\u00a0 If you self-identify as \u201cthe lost sheep\u201d the logical corollary is that you should return and join the 99 crowd instead of making the Shepherd come after you.\u00a0 &nbsp; There is also the \u201cwolf in sheep\u2019s clothing\u201d parable. Sometimes people have to be isolated for the good of the flock, this is part of what Church discipline is for. Jesus didn\u2019t leave the 99 to find the one wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing. &nbsp; On that note, the point of the parable isn\u2019t that the one lost sheep is in fact in the right and all of the others are in the wrong. The lost sheep is, in fact, lost, and the point is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10403,"featured_media":47599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2907],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-testament"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-07-18-07.57.17-A-serene-landscape-with-rolling-green-hills-and-a-gentle-sunset-in-the-background.-In-the-foreground-Christ-depicted-in-flowing-robes-is-standing-w.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47594"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50264,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47594\/revisions\/50264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}