Comments on: Leaving the Ninety and Nine for the One http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/ A Mormon Blog Fri, 01 Jun 2012 20:55:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Stephen McGhee http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25724 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:13:20 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25724 I think we are here to use our experiences (good or bad – whatever they may be) to go after the one. I think the Lord absolutely needs those who have had similar experiences so we can relate to the one in order to bring he/she back in the fold.

]]> By: Kevin Barney http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25723 Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:26:55 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25723 I just got back from visiting my young friend who is fresh off of his mission. He’s really a tremendous young man.

In the course of our conversation I asked him about the issue of girls hitting on him, and he showed me his “wedding ring.” He had gotten a wedding ring and wore it through much of his mission as a way of trying to ward off unwanted attention. Brilliant!

]]> By: Rand http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25722 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:23:46 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25722 #22 Dane, I agree with you, but his references to the various animal types has a consistency. It is also reflected in the way he interacted with various peoples. Also, the references to sheep, the flock, the way, the gate, etc, are all very consistent.
Thanks for your comment and thoughtfulness. I will keep digging on this.

]]> By: Dane http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25721 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:57:42 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25721 Rand (#21) – I don’t think we can combine the analogues of the various parables into a meaningful whole. I suppose that sometimes the pig, the sheep, the goat, the dog, and the wolf could all refer to the same person.

]]> By: Aileen http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25720 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:43:54 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25720 This was a beautiful post. Thanks for sharing it.

]]> By: Rand http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25719 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:02:52 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25719 I have had a long enduring question on this. Does anyone have thoughts?
Christ specifically addresses the need to gather sheep, even as in this example, which is wonderful, but he also speaks of goats, dogs, pigs and wolves, referring to other apparent classes of people. Who are they? Does anyone know of anything written on this?

How do we identify the sheep? How do we know who the dogs are? What makes a “dog”? etc.

]]> By: Homer http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25718 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:10:49 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25718 Good point queuno. Also, at what point do we stop behaving as sheep huddled together and take our own positions as shepherds in God’s Fold. If the priesthood is to mean anything it must help transform us into “Men of God”, not keep us as bleating “sheep of God”.

As we listen to the gospel it is apparent that passive takers of the Word, isn’t exactly God’s vision for us.

]]> By: queuno http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25717 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:55:40 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25717 My own vision of the ninety and nine is the sheep huddled together while the shepherd went off after the one. Maybe the Saints should be looking to each other for comfort instead of continually looking to their leaders, who might need to occasionally be in pursuit of those who are *REALLY* struggling…

]]> By: merrybits http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25716 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:41:31 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25716 One of the most beautiful poems I have ever read comes from Jeff Burton’s “For Those who Wonder”:

A Skeptic’s Prayer

“Is it true
Thou lovest best
Thy meek, unasking children?

Thou has made us
So diverse, so various,
Yet in the image of a Sire
Who filled the universe
With His creative fire.

What father has supposed
His child would grow to manhood
Only hearing and affirming?
What man could honor such a son?

How could a mind that,
Like a sponge,
Absorbs but never questions.
Doubts, or wonders why
Be offspring and apprentice
to a God?

It may be, Lord,
Thou canst never love me
With the calm relief
a father feels
For his obedient child -
The one who’s never any trouble.

But use me
As a bridge
To those more wayward still
Than I.

I cannot give them all the answers;
But they will not ask
The ones who think they can.

Let me speak
To Thy lost sheep
As one who
Understanding how they went astray,
Still loves the Shepherd.”

-Margaret Rampton Munk

Sorry that was so long, but I wanted to share because I think we are here to use our experiences (good or bad – whatever they may be) to go after the one. I remember accidentally overhearing a conversation between our ward clerk and a new convert who was still having issues trying to overcome his smoking addiction. The clerk tried to advise the best he could but he admitted to not ever having any addiction problems so the best he could offer was to go to the gym, etc. As good as the clerk’s intentions were, I believe they were ineffectual simply because he could not relate to the convert’s situation. I think the Lord absolutely needs those who have had similar experiences so we can relate to the one in order to bring he/she back in the fold.

]]> By: Kevin Barney http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/08/31/leaving-the-ninety-and-nine-for-the-one/#comment-25715 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:01:01 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/?p=4118#comment-25715 Black sister, that aspect was my own editorializing (my understanding was that this was happening in a poor area, not on Wall Street); consider it withdrawn.

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