Remnant — A Parable
by Andy Hanson
Readers,
The extraordinary literary work that follows was sent to me by a good friend and physics professor. He has informed me that he has a large collection of “garish rubber swim caps.” I got the impression that he would be happy to distribute them on demand.
Andy
Remnant — A Parable
It was a small boat, as boats went. It was hardly more than a rowboat, really; but it was safe, dry, and watertight. Rather pretty too, James thought, as he and the other rowers took a short break. It was white, appropriately enough, with a neat line of oars down one side and sturdy wooden benches for the crew. Its name, which they were all so proud of, was stenciled in large red block letters on each side of the bow. Everyone could see that this was no ordinary rowboat: this was the Remnant.
It was a strange name for a boat, but that name filled the crew with hope. They had a mission: saving swimmers. They had a destination: port. They had promises, given to them by The Captain Himself. He had promised them that the Remnant would never sink. He had promised that all those on board would live. He had promised that they would reach port safely. And so, day after day, they rowed.
It seemed to James that surely they should have reached port by now. He knew they weren’t lost—they had a map, drawn by The Captain Himself. It was spread out on a small platform near the bow, next to the careful painting of a compass that showed them they were heading the right direction. Despite all that, though, they had not reached port. James still wondered occasionally if they should have oars on both sides of the boat; but when they had tried that they had run aground almost immediately. "We should return to the old ways," the leaders had told them in the aftermath of that disaster, "and row harder."
James tried to remember how long he’d been on the boat. It seemed like he’d been rowing all his life. Perhaps he’d been born on the boat! After all, his parents were on the boat too, just a few benches away. Come to think of it, so were his grandparents. Well, he grinned to himself as he began to row once more, The Captain hadn’t said how long the trip was—He’d just promised that they would get there safely.
Not everyone on the Remnant had been born there, of course. Next to James sat Steve, who’d been pulled from the surrounding water quite recently. Steve still dripped and smelled a little bit like chlorine, but James didn’t mind. It felt good to have been a part of saving a man’s life. He wished that he could do more for the rest of the swimmers surrounding the boat; but most showed no desire to come aboard. They seemed utterly unaware of their lost and drowning condition as they splashed happily about in their indecent outfits and garish rubber hats. Some swam back and forth endlessly, as if they could reach port on their own. Others clung to small inflatable toys, as if those could carry them safely through the great storms of the end. Most seemed to treat their condition as a game, unconcerned that they weren’t on the Remnant.
Sadder still to James were his memories of those who had once been on the Remnant but had left. His sister had rowed for a long time on the bench beside him, until one day she’d started talking excitedly about “looking farther” and “seeing the big picture”. They had all tried convincing her to calm down and keep rowing, but she wouldn’t. She and his best friend had jumped overboard, and were last seen wading hand in hand into the distance. Someday, he hoped, they would come back to the Remnant; but until they made that choice there was nothing he could do. He bent his back once again into his oar as the painted compass pointed them onwards.
Far above, on the bridge of the great ocean liner, REMNANT, the watch was changing.
"Morning, Gabe. Coffee?"
"Thanks, Michael." The glowing creature folded himself into a chair with a sigh and held the steaming mug under his nose.
"Ah, that hits the spot. Quiet watch?"
"I wish! More of the usual, I'm afraid, with emphasis on wars and rumors of wars. I'll be glad when this trip is over!"
"We're almost there now, I'm sure. Soon we'll all be home…" It was such an old joke that they snorted the punchline almost in unison: "…Even the Adventists."
The two archangels sat for another companionable moment before Gabriel broke the silence. "I know this is a strange question to ask after so many years, but I was working with the situation down on China deck in the mid-nineteenth century and missed all the fun. How'd they get that lifeboat to the pool deck in the first place?"
Brilliant, haunting, …sad…
"…He bent his back once again into his oar as the painted compass pointed them onwards."
"….she’d started talking excitedly about “looking farther” and “seeing the big picture”. … She and his best friend had jumped overboard, and were last seen wading hand in hand into the distance."
Reading this makes me want to shout aloud how wonderful that "big picture" is. Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace…! No longer a prisoner of the mind, heaving on the oars, or staring at the painted compass! Give me all the caps you have got. There are millions who need them.
I read this wrenching news report today of a woman, held in prison 19 years because no one could pay her $92.00 bail. She had a baby in prison. He was fostered out at 5. Grew up and worked in a garment factory, and just last week payed his mother's bail. 19 years! What a tragic thing that a system could rob someone those years of life.
What is worse, well almost? Straining at the oars, imprisoned by a world view, unable and unwilling to be free…
I used to come here to bounce ideas, this story makes me feel we need folk coming here to be evangelists for the ocean liner of life…real life. Freedom. How long do we have to paddle around in the murk of our own making!
Look look, what is that beautiful tall ship out there, the one with the cross on the mast.? They say it's a hospital ship. Odd, in that everytime it appears it has a different name on it. What do you mean? Well, sometimes it says "GRACE", and other times it says "MERCY", and yet again "COMFORT", and the one i like best is "FREE PASSAGE", i heard someone say some rich Dude has paid the fare for every one. Wonder what the destination is? They say it is some heavenly paradise. Hmmmmmm.
Ouch! As soon as I saw them mention about oars down just one side I knew it was going to have a satirical point. A brutally accurate one at that.
A ship's compass is mounted in a multi-axis gimbal allowing it to remain in a steady attitude, sense the earth's magnetic field and give accurate directional readings in spite of the movement of the ship. But the compass on the good ship Remnant is painted and incapable of moving. Oh, that our church leaders and members could just open their eyes and see that the church isn't making the progress we keep thinking it is and that we need to chart a different course to get where we're supposed to be going.
Ahh, Brother William, why do you and I always see it so differently?
Is not the painted compass on the lifeboat, not the mother ship? Perhaps Andy can "guide" us, or should I say point us in the right direction, but is not the good ship Remnant illustrative of humanity collectively? Is not the key point that the little lifeboat, which does its pathetic little circles in the on board pool, is on exactly the same journey as the rest of humanity? The difference being, they are locked in to this tragic world view that has them seeing purpose, destination and meaning in that which is in fact none of these?
Chart a different course? What, and do zig zags, instead of circles?! I say, run the lifeboat aground! call fellow passengers our brothers and sisters, and bend our backs into making the ship/world a better place.
I think we're just highlighting different aspects of the same, very thought-provoking parable.
This is a good parable I agree. But why try to ruin it with a leaky boat? By putting down and misrepresenting the views of so many from the small boat, you continue to stereotype and misread the heart of many saying: "The difference being, they are locked in to this tragic world view that has them seeing purpose, destination and meaning in that which is in fact none of these?"
How arrogant! Please stop believing that others see life as you do and follow a misguided religiosity as you apparently did.
By not being trapped in the contemporary culture, I am quite free to see the big picture–it's bigger than any church or religion. But that doesn't mean I can't be free in any boat. Now I think you know this and probably didn't mean to be so exclusive in your statement.
Ella,
If you see the big picture and it is bigger than any religion – are you not on the Ship, and indeed see the lifeboat for what it is to many and perhaps once was for you or I?
I enjoy wearing one of those caps and it sounds like you do too:) I fear too many do not.
As for world views. I'm sorry Ella, but that is reality for too many. Let me ask you something to illustrate.
Consider how Amar Bharati, who has held his arm up for 38 years, sees the world. Consider an aged Priest, who has spent a life fighting the desire for love, relationship, children. What is his world view?
There are many examples of people who believe their lives have intense purpose, destination and meaning, when in fact you or I can look at them from a quite diffferent perspective and see how their meaning is so shrunken and imaginary compared to what is on offer. Too many cannot and will not see. Perhaps will never see.
Think of the waco's; even the so called SDA, whatever they were, that got in hot water over their church name and sign. Perhaps it is arrogant of me, but I see it all as a continuum of the lifeboat mentality. I do have some right to speak. I was on the lifeboat for decades. My back still aches.
Are "We" so ashamed of our peculiaralities and practices as a church – that we refer to them as 19th Century traditions? Then you compose a 'parable' which badly misses the mark. – You would have people think they should madly race to keep up with the "Jones's" by becoming 'Of-the-world' instead of being that Particuliar people that we KNOW we'll be looked upon as being… All in the guise of racing to the Blessed Shore.
When 'you' – Andy as a writer of works that go out to SDA's and others alike seem so quickly to want to abandon standards – You – Sir are a stumbling block for others, which then causes them to question the standards that "were" once held high. I won't apologize for my criticism, as it is evidenced that an ever increasing amount of our church leaders/"Very Elect" are willing to compromise principles and standards. We all have been warned this type of action would be seen as this world's history draws to a close. Sorry, I wouldn't want to be your foxhole buddy. Oh and yes I did pay the price for freedom of speach and it is not limited to just the secular world.
Maybe I am misunderstanding, but you seem to be saying that others don't have standards–ethical or otherwise. Surprise! the Holy Spirit works among other humans as well. No group has monopoly on goodness. Perhaps you need to become friends with people outside your group and broaden your horizons. You may find more in common than not, especially with other Christians.
Once you've swallowed the kool aid, hook ,line, & sinker, & believe concepts of perfection,of thought, word & deed, your eyes need to survey the world and think, are SDA'S to be the only the 144K?
Couldn't this parable describe any and every world view held by every human beings across time and history?
Stephen,
I reckon you are correct.
Would it also be true to say that every person across time has had opporunity to have at least the edges of their world view challenged. Granted, in the deep past, it may have been no more than a clash with a neighboring tribe, or a passing nomad (swimmer), but how that has changed!
The deck pool is crowded, swimmers are abundant, nobody has an excuse to stare at their painted compass with their back bent at the oars, and ears closed to the voices of reason calling across the ship.
A world view today should be exactly that: A WORLD view. We all owe it to ourselves to put down our paddles, pull in to shore, and take a stroll among fellow travellers. A "lifeboat sized" world view that does this with humility will not remain the same.
The problem I have with this parable story is its message that Adventism is not God-lead, but rather was a human-lead 'stolen lifeboat' of a movement that occured when some of the angels weren't looking. That is a far meaner message than saying Adventism could be less exclusive.
I agree with how I believe Dwight Nelson described it. At Pentecost, the disciples were certainly 'the elect.' However, their purpose wasn't to stay in the closed upper room, and the Christian movement didn't end there. Rather, the Lord led them to then take the message to the whole of Jerusalem, and as many as 500 were add to their number that day.
I do believe Adventism is a God-led movement. To me, there is no coincidence that it arose in the 19th Century, at the dawn of world-wide industrialization. There is no coincidence that the early Adventists found the light of the Sabbath, something sorely lacking in our modern rat-race world. There is no coincidence that we established views of medicine and healthy living that makes us amongst the longest living in the industrial world. There is no coincidence that many of our beliefs and practices, which broadly fit within the idea of 'Wholism', seem uniquely suited to the industrial and post-industrial world.
And when I look back at history, I note Judaism seemed uniquely suites to the post-Neolitic world. There is a great BBC documentary on IQ by an Eithiopian Muslim fellow, and the punchline is that Jews perform so well on them not because they are actually smarter as a 'race' but because their culture is uniquely suites to the sort of abtract thinking that makes someone a good teacher, doctor or lawyer – but perhaps not a good mechanic or hunter-gatherer.
The point being, I believe God leads human beings through history. And I do believe Adventism is a God-lead movement of the industrial and post-industrial age.
It's historically instructive that the original Adventist "lifeboat" existed only for those had believed in the Second Coming prior to and including 1843/1844. The lifeboat's gangplank, like the closed door of Noah's Ark, originally accepted no post-1844 stragglers. Even after new light was seen (and it took some years) to the effect that the Adventist lifeboat was to seek and save flounderers in the waters of perdition, the lifeboat has remained all too frequently a craft better facilitated to saving the boarded faithful from contamination, than from bringing aboard the seaweed encased and stinkingly waterlogged who might spread disease and ruin among the saved. By and large the Advent lifeboat has been far too separatist and has operated at times far from the trade winds where need is most critical. But this same lifeboat has had its moments of great salvific glory, so we must be fair and not force the parable to become an absolutist expression of all-time reality. Like all parables, even the best, it is not illustrative of each and every condition in a complex organization like ours. Suffice that it causes us to think….
Unfortunately, for the Captain of the ship, it has run aground on the shoals of dogmatism. Does he have the humility to back off the sandbar, to save the ship, or does he shout "FULL SPEED AHEAD BOYS".
Ella
Yes Ella again you are misunderstanding,, As always you manage to twist comments to fit your perspective. For your benefit I'll clarify; Our church over time has and continues to water down standards so that those beliefs etc are no longer the solid truths we once had. SDA's will not be the only Christians (my opinion) that will see heaven, I can only ask for God's mercy and grace to cover me, as I am a sinner – thus fallen short in God's eyes. I won't compromise or water down the standards in hopes of "increasing the headcount in our church" As for widening my "friends with people outside of my group and broadening my horizons" – I spent a career in the U.S. Army Special Forces (Airborne) and have been to and experienced more diversity in peoples and countries than you'll ever have a grasp of.
Is that why we have 28 FB's. And a promotion by the leader to start separating the wheat from the tares?
Simple Believer-
While this is a cute little parable, it distorts the truth about God, His kingdom, and His last church- the Laodician- on earth. As I understand God's Word, Christ died for the whole world. So there will be many in the kingdom who have never heard the words " SDA or even "Christ". So Christ's boat is in many ways a very big boat, and maybe it is us who make it little by our own choices. God has always had a remnant- from the days of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Elijah and on and on, even down to the small group after 1844 who continued to study and seek God's plan and will. Has this church been stuborn and done just like Israel and gone back into the wilderness? Unfortunately Yes. But in spite of that God has not left His people, and some still pray for repentance as did Daniel for His people, and seek for the HOLY SPIRIT. And in spite of all the problems of the last church on earth ( there is not an 8th), the bride eventually will be ready for the bridgroom and there will be guests who go into the marriage. I pray and look foreward to such a day.
Hello Crew,
This is the original author. No, it's not Andy hiding behind a claim that "someone else wrote this"; indeed, any of you who know him well could not imagine him making such a claim. I wrote "Remnant" about 10-15 years ago. At the time I was still in the lifeboat in the pool, although I was looking around bemusedly at the much larger ocean liner and occasionally trying to point out that Adventism was, at best, one small and strangely self-absorbed part of a much larger movement.
Your comments are interesting. Thank you to those who got it; every writer loves to have his work appreciated. Thank you also to those of you who didn't get it; you reaffirm my decision to move on. I don't read this forum, so if anyone (from either camp) wants to continue the discussion with me personally, you are welcome to contact me by email. People I love still depend on being Adventist for their continued emotional and/or financial well-being so I'd prefer to remain relatively anonymous; but there's enough information here to find me if you really want to do so.
Keep rowing, or swimming laps, or sunning yourselves on the pool deck… Whatever floats your boat!
This parable obsiously hits home with a lot of Adventist and recovering Adventists. Going around and around in our inward looking theology in our little boat usually ignoring the larger Christian intellectual and theological worlld out there is a priceless metaphor as is the painted-on compass. The only thing missing are the set of charts bound in red (get it? Red books?) which the passengers of the little boat periodically bring out to figure out where they are going, then they row harder on one side of the boat, and its goes faster and faster in circles. The author is to be commended.
The satire aptly shows (and exposes) the conceited haughtiness of those who perceive themselves bigger and better than the church. To insinuate that those whom Adventism is trying to save don’t need to be saved is not only inaccurate but borders on ignorance regarding the many souls that have been saved from sinful living and who now walk in newness of life. In the story we find those leaving the boat 'wading' away happily. Yet in reality it is a lie. The wages of sin is death. This is serious business. Making our work of saving souls seem like a futile, trifle, unnecessary exercise, shows a malicious intent to mock at Adventism and insult the many who have made much sacrifice in service to God. Taking swipes at our Pioneers and ridiculing the tremendous progress our church has made over the years with all the odds stacked against it only reeks of an intentional attempt to belittle and misrepresent Adventism. The author shows a seething bitterness towards our church which I find distasteful and hardly shows any real substance except for those of course who are seated on the decks, who like blisters, show up after the work is done, to criticize and cheerfully boast their haughty intellectual arrogance whilst looking down on Adventism with their cultural cool aid in hand. To also mock Christ, (His church), and the precious gift of Salvation in this manner is sacrilegious to say the least and the fact that the majority on this board have come out in support of this insulting satire, which is ultimately directed at God in this sneaky form, is evidence of what progressive Adventism (or Christianity) stands for and where it is headed. I'm glad I'm not on the Babylon party boat which has 'no oars' and drifts where the current trends take them as they meander down Perdition River with Captain Sat an' his crew at the helm singin’ their favourite song: “the church has no foundation.”
One thing I appreciate about good satire is how many people can see different aspects in it because of their various points of view. As one creative writing lecturer I heard phrased it, the measure of satire is in how many people feel they've been needled or skewered by it. Thanks for adding your own spice. "The church has no foundation…" Gotta love it!
To quote ineptness of sinful man & organizations in no way reflects upon the Master. CHRIST requires no apologists. Keep rowing.
Brother Earl,
Keep rowing? I reckon it is a choice between rowing or growing. I'm going for growing!!
The wonderful thing about this illustration – it's not really a parable – is that it gives Adventist haters the freedom to proudly and smugly say, "I thank thee, Lord (or whomever floats your boat), that I am not like them."
Personally, I don't believe in Adventist Remnancy theology. I think it badly misinterprets scripture, and in my opinion, it has done far more harm than good. So I don't have a dog in this fight. But the transparent hostility of this piece, wrapped in sardonic humor, put it more appropriately in the genre of parody than parable.
Good parables set the stage with plausible pictures and images that draw in all readers and listeners to better see and understand a moral or spiritual truth. This parody has instant appeal to an adolescent mindset that will snicker at the introduction of a feckless rowboat named Remnant, equipped to only move in circles, a task that its intrepid crew fatuously pursues. Parables are written or told to reveal deep truths. A parody relies on often crude caricatures. It is usually written or told in an insider manner that encourages "knowing," listeners or readers to salivate in anticipation of the denouement that will leave them chuckling at the stupidity/naivete of its hapless victims (cf. Saturday Night Live).
Yes Andy, I know you have spent your career as a professor of English literature. So you are entitled to some leeway in judgment. But I still don't think that is an adequate excuse for trying to pass this off as some kind of Parnassian parable or "an extraordinary literary work." This is the kind of parody I would expect of an academy student lampooning administrators in the school paper about dress or behavior code enforcement. It's great, harmless fun for the attackers. And of course other adolescents will chuckle. I'd definitely give a high schooler an "A" in the genre of parody. But "extraordinary," "brilliant," "haunting?" Please!!!
i dare say there is an object lesson here. Michael, row the boat ashore; and as Chris says get "growing".
Happy Sabbath all!!
Well, Nathan just did his bit to stop the Remnant from rowing…he half emptied the pool pouring cold water on the parable!
Nathan, you may want to pour some on the "parable" of The Rich man and Lazarus, which also fits your parody framework. Itself a brilliant, haunting piece of work, whether parable or parody!