{"id":529,"date":"2016-01-01T19:57:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T01:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=529"},"modified":"2016-01-07T20:58:08","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T02:58:08","slug":"the-tell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=529","title":{"rendered":"The Tell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd the\u00a0Lord\u00a0sent\u00a0Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, \u201cThere were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.\u00a0\u00a0The rich man had very many flocks and herds,\u00a0\u00a0but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.\u00a0\u00a0Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan,\u00a0\u201cAs the\u00a0Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die,\u00a0and he shall restore the lamb\u00a0fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.\u201d Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” 2 Samuel 12:1-6<\/em><\/p>\n

In the enduring sci-fi, film noir classic, Blade Runner<\/em>, bounty hunter Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) uses an empathy test to identify Nexus-6 model replicants, who look and act like humans but are not. They are androids. The empathy test is known as the Voigt-Kampff<\/em> device in the movie and Philip K. Dick\u2019s 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep<\/em>, on which Blade Runner<\/em> is based. The device is a kind of lie detector that measures responses to questions that should provoke empathy. The replicants try to fake the right answers, but they always have a tell. Thus the bounty hunter identifies and \u201cretires\u201d them.<\/p>\n

I usually think of stories \u2013 fictions \u2013 as devices that reveal the truth, but it\u2019s probably much more accurate to say the truth is hidden in them. In fact, Matthew recorded an exchange between Jesus and the disciples on this very subject:<\/p>\n

Then the disciples came and said to him [Jesus], \u201cWhy do you speak to them in parables?\u201d\u00a0And he answered them,\u00a0\u201cTo you it has been given to know\u00a0the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.\u00a0For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not,\u00a0even what he has will be taken away.\u00a0This is why I speak to them in parables, because\u00a0seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear,\u00a0nor do they understand.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, in a 1960 Paris Review interview, novelist Aldous Huxley said,<\/p>\n

And I must say I think that probably\u00a0all\u00a0philosophy ought to be written in this form [fiction]; it would be much more profound and much more edifying. It\u2019s awfully easy to write abstractly, without attaching much meaning to the big words. But the moment you have to express ideas in the light of a particular context, in a particular set of circumstances, although it\u2019s a limitation in some ways, it\u2019s also an invitation to go much further and much deeper\u2026In fiction you have the reconciliation of the absolute and the relative, so to speak, the expression of the general in the particular. And this, it seems to me, is the exciting thing\u2014both in life and in art.<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever found a kindred spirit after seeing someone\u2019s response to a story you love? By seeing that person moved by a story that moves you? Do we not all find some commonality and community as Americans and as human beings in the tale of Scout, Jem, and Atticus Finch, and of their friends, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley? \u00a0I read that Oprah Winfrey had lunch at the Plaza Hotel once with Harper Lee, and during lunch she attempted to talk Ms. Lee into an interview. Oprah\u00a0reported the author told her that people thought she was Scout, but actually she was Boo. That was all it took. Oprah \u201cgot it\u201d and ceased any attempt to drag Ms. Lee with her shy ways into the limelight. It would have been a sin.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no accident the prophet Nathan approached King David with the story of a slaughtered lamb. David was a shepherd, a man who may have been more tender-hearted toward lambs than husbands. Thus Nathan made his point: The life of Uriah, Bathsheba\u2019s husband whom David had killed, was just as precious to the Lord as the life of a sweet, innocent lamb was to a poor man who loved her as a daughter. David \u201cgot it\u201d and was moved to remorse.<\/p>\n

A new year is upon us. It\u2019s a good time to go back and read those parables in the gospels, the ones Jesus told instead of saying the thousands of other things he might have said. The stories the Holy Spirit made sure were recorded and attested to as having come from the Savior himself. They tell us what the Kingdom of Heaven is really like. They resonate with us as they resonated with the common people who first heard them \u2013 people like us. Their meaning doesn\u2019t have to be explained to us. We \u201cget it\u201d right away. These stories bring us together in our shared understanding, and we become kindred spirits.<\/p>\n

That, my brothers and sisters, is a marvelous tell.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 M K Simonds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd the\u00a0Lord\u00a0sent\u00a0Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, \u201cThere were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.\u00a0\u00a0The rich man had very many flocks and herds,\u00a0\u00a0but the poor man had nothing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Mo02-8x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":383,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=383","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":0},"title":"Of Human Bondage","author":"lsimonds","date":"May 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe captive exile and he who is bent down by chains shall speedily be released; and he shall not die and go down to the pit of destruction, nor shall his food fail. For I am the Lord your God, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2014"","block_context":{"text":"2014","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":474,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=474","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":1},"title":"Taking on Debt","author":"lsimonds","date":"July 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, \u201cSacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, \u2018Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2015"","block_context":{"text":"2015","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":424,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=424","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":2},"title":"On Wisemen And Wiseguys","author":"lsimonds","date":"November 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThen he said to me, \u201cWrite: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!\u201d And he said to me, \u201cThese are the true sayings of God!\u201d And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, \u201cSee that you do not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2014"","block_context":{"text":"2014","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=247","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":3},"title":"Prime Directive","author":"lsimonds","date":"October 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cSo when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, \u2018Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?\u2019 He said to him, \u2018Yes Lord, You know that I love You.\u2019 He said to him, \u2018Feed my lambs.\u2019\u201d John 21:15 In the imagined universe of Star Trek,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2012"","block_context":{"text":"2012","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":305,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=305","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":4},"title":"Lateral Skills","author":"lsimonds","date":"August 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cReal love isn\u2019t our love for God, but His love for us. God sent His Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven.\u201d 1 John 4:10 Contemporary English Version Is it possible we use the word \u201clove\u201d more inclusively than the Lord intends? We love everything from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2013"","block_context":{"text":"2013","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":534,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=534","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":5},"title":"Some Devils Never Change","author":"lsimonds","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cHave I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, \u2018Go up against this land, and destroy it.\u2019\u201d Isaiah 36:10 Fans of the wildly popular (If Daryl Dies We Riot) television series, The Walking Dead, might be surprised to learn zombie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016"","block_context":{"text":"2016","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":531,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions\/531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}