As Jesus is the cornerstone upon which the Church is built, so are his teachings the unifying cornerstone of Christian doctrine.

Figures of Speech in the Sheep Pen

When Jesus spoke of us being sheep and his being the gate for the sheep he was not speaking literally but figuratively (John 10:6). It is like a mother who calls her infant the most beautiful child in the world. She is speaking in what we call hyperbolic language not literal. It is wrong to pride ourselves on taking the Bible literally, when an overly literal interpretation often misses what God intended. We can all be thieves and robbers entering a church to steal the peace, kill the joy and destroy the unity. Yet the more we listen to Jesus, the more we find spiritual pasture that feeds our souls, the more fulfilled our lives are now as we experience paradise on earth in a manner not available to those who never come to church, to the sheep fold.

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