"Fool! This very night your life will be required of you!"

[Brigid]

Earlier today I saw the most amazing short animated film. It was aimed at kids, but DUers would definitely appreciate it. It was a brilliant blend of two Bible stories: the parable of the rich fool and the incident in which a young man asks Jesus to demand that his brother split the inheritance (a vineyard) with him.

It went like this: A man owned a vineyard. He had a reputation for growing and selling the finest grapes. After he died, his two sons were to run the vineyard together. Things soon went downhill: the younger brother discovered that his older brother was mixing in bad grapes with the good ones and jacking up prices (he later switched to selling the grapes at half price to undercut his competitors and then buying up their vineyards). Then he destroyed his workers' homes to make room to build bigger barns. When his overseer objected, pointing out that winter was coming, he said, "They'll have plenty of time to make new blankets." He spent his time indulging himself, until one night he died (this is where the "Fool! This very night your life will be required of you!" comes in).

I was just stunned. The unscrupulous, greedy older brother was the best portrait of a one-percenter I ever saw. And do his business practices sound familiar? I wonder if even the filmmakers realized what they had created.

[TeeYiYi]

1. This post is worthless without a link...

...

(oops, sorry..., this is where I should have offered to post your missing link...but I didn't...because, not a clue is because...)

TYY

[Brigid]

2. I couldn't find a link.

I wish I could.

[silverweb]

3. Luke 12:13–21

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Apparently, the producers of the children's version you just saw took some license to make a larger point, but here's the original:

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13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

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[pscot]

4. Sadly, there is no god

And no justice. Just us.

[silverweb]

6. And...

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]...evangelical atheists are just as intrusive and obnoxious as any other kind of zealot.

[pscot]

8. I wasn't proseletyzing

That was a lament; a cri de Coeur.

[silverweb]

10. Point taken.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Since this thread isn't about gods or no gods, but a presentation to children teaching a concept of fairness and social justice, I perhaps overreacted to a perceived hijacking. Thanks for the clarification.

[Brigid]

5. I knew the story.

I just couldn't find a link to the film. I think it was wonderfully done.

[silverweb]

7. It sounds very well done.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I'm all in favor of anything that promotes the concept of social justice, religious or not.

[PowerToThePeople]

9. Yes, though I go not have any organized religion

The teachings of Jesus in the new testament are what people should strive for in regards to social justice. That is why evangelical republicans deserve all the hatred that can be bestowed onto them. They claim the "Christian high-ground" but do not follow ANY of their "savior's" teachings when push comes to shove.