I’m just dying to know: who is NOT a sheep? That’s the first thing I thought when I saw this graphic on an internet atheism community.
The graphic refers to a number of original source documents which describe followers of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is God’s Son) as sheep. Here’s an example:
I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. (The words of Jesus.)
This hardly paints “sheep” in a negative light. But let’s leave that point and examine the motivation behind the graphic.
Like it or not — and obviously, the creater of this graphic would NOT — every single one of us are sheep. We ALL follow after something or someone. And often times, we are happy to put on blinders to make sure nothing distracts us from being sheep.
There are endless examples. Here is but a taste:
Some of us blindly run after power (the shepherd) and we’re such sheep that we’ll do anything to keep it. Just look at all the people who’ve achieved great political power — former U.S. president Richard Nixon and former Italian prime minister Enrico Berlusconi are two recent examples — then crashed and burned as their power (shepherd) corrupted them.
Fame is another shepherd and its sheep pursue it with unbelievable passion. They’ll sacrifice years of their life to achieve fame, then watch helplessly as our microscopic attention spans aimlessly drift to someone else. In just a few years from now, will anyone remember reality TV stars Kim Kardashian or Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi? Their ‘shepherd’ has already thrown them under the bus.
Then there’s money, an infectious shepherd that bids even the most unsuspecting person to follow. Consider businessman Bernie Madoff, a sheep who followed his shepherd so religiously that he defrauded thousands of investors out of about $65 billion. Madoff spent his final 12 years in prison.
Perhaps the most tempting shepherd is sex. It whispers sweet nothings to pretty much everyone, turning all kinds of people into sheep who will do its bidding until it destroys them. Remember televangelist Jimmy Swaggart? He was twice caught having affairs with prostitutes. Where is his shepherd now?
So, can someone tell me why it’s so terrible to be a sheep to the shepherd of Jesus? When I follow Him passionately, He enters my soul and helps me become a wiser, more generous and thoughtful person.
And as a sheep to Jesus the shepherd, I come to understand that through His sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection, all the bad things I’ve done (and the good things I’ve failed to do) are wiped off the books. God sees me as He sees His son: perfect, without a blemish, and worthy of spending eternity in Heaven.
Does this make sense? If Jesus isn’t your shepherd, then who (or what) is? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Frank's Cottage 
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want . . . Beautiful post today, Frank!
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
We ALL are slaves to something or someone.
“As a sheep to Jesus the shepherd, I come to understand that through His sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection, all the bad things I’ve done (and the good things I’ve failed to do) are wiped off the books. God sees me as He sees His son: perfect, without a blemish, and worthy of spending eternity in Heaven.”
Why would your sins be wiped clean through a sacrifice made by someone else? It contradicts the Bible’s Old Testament, which makes it clear that everyone must suffer for their own sins. The only circumstance in which it is possible is if Jesus symbolises that part of you that suffers for your own sins. Foolishly, Christianity doesn’t interpret the Gospel this way. If it did, the Church couldn’t exploit Christians for power and profit.
For those who are wondering, it was Jesus Himself who made it clear why He came and why He had to suffer.
In addition, much of the Bible’s Old Testament is about an agreement (“covenant”) God made with the Jewish people to be their leader and they His followers. The New Testament is about a new agreement with the Jewish people – and then with everyone else. The new agreement supersedes the old, so whenever there’s a conflict between new and old, the new – Jesus of Nazareth – wins. Every time. 🙂
By the way, there are some churches who “exploit Christians for power and profit”. That’s to be expected when hugely imperfect people are involved. Thankfully, an overwhelming majority of churches do the exact opposite and bring many, many benefits to their communities.