Quick Summary:

Some parables are clear example stories, urging us "go and do likewise." Other parables don’t urge us to do anything but rather present us with a new image of God and depict the way God behaves. I think the parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector is one of those parables

Too often the Christian faith is presented to the world as if it was intended for the winners, for those who are a success at life and belief. But God isn’t interested in us presenting ourselves as who we should be, or who we could be if we got our act together. God is interested in who we are.

In their new book, America's Four Gods: What We Say about God and What That Says about Us, sociologists Paul Froese and Christopher Bader describe how the 95% of Americans who claim belief in God can be divided into four distinct groups:
• Those who believe in an Authoritative God (31%);
• those who believe in a Benevolent God (24%);
• those who believe in a Distant God (24%);
• and those who believe in a Critical God (16%).

Where does today's parable fit?