Shincheonji lesson 16: figurative seed and field, part two

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson teaches the parable of the sower. The parable itself is a real and serious warning: hearing God’s word isn’t enough without understanding, endurance and fruit. That should be affirmed. But the lesson changes three things. It redefines the seed as “the explanation of heaven’s secrets,” delivered now in the class. It labels three of the four soils as leading to hell, with “25 percent” odds of being good soil. And its examples of the rocky ground are a friend asking where a teaching is in the Bible and a husband who wants more time with his wife. SCJ’s The Explanation of Parables (p. 136) adds that the devil works “through other people around them,” and that being broken by those troubles is “one’s own fault.” Jesus’ explanation and the rest of Scripture point the other way.

1. 1. The seed: The message of the kingdom is the gospel

   The lesson says the seed is “the message about the kingdom,” not “any word from God,” and that it comes now: “As we receive the explanation of heaven’s secrets.”

   • Jesus’ own message about the kingdom is stated in Mark: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!” (Mark 1:14-15).
   • Jesus calls it “this gospel of the kingdom,” to be preached “throughout the whole inhabited earth” (Matthew 24:14).
   • Luke gives the purpose of the seed in this very parable: the devil takes the word from the path “so that they may not believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12). The seed’s goal is faith and salvation.

   The seed is the gospel Jesus preached, not a modern explanation of the parables.

2. 2. SCJ’s claim: This prophecy comes into existence when it is fulfilled, and it is now

   The lesson says the four soils weren’t always relevant, and become relevant only now, as students receive the class’s explanation.

   • Jesus told the parable to the crowds in his day and explained it to his disciples right away (Matthew 13:18-23). It described how people responded to his preaching then.
   • It has applied to every person who has heard the gospel since. It isn’t a prophecy waiting for a modern fulfillment.

3. 3. “None of us fully understood the meaning of wheat and weeds before this lesson”

   • Jesus explained the wheat and weeds in plain terms (Matthew 13:36-43). Anyone who has read that passage has had his explanation.
   • What students hadn’t heard before was SCJ’s explanation, which contradicts his (the field is the world, not the church; the reapers are angels, not recruiters). See Lessons 1 and 15.

4. 4. Three of the four soils lead to hell?

   The notes label the path, rocky ground and thorns as leading to hell, and The Explanation of Parables (p. 13) prints “Path, Rock, Thorns → Hell.”

   • The parable is serious. The path describes people who never believe (Luke 8:12), and the others fall away or produce nothing.
   • But Jesus describes outcomes in terms of fruit: the rocky-ground hearers “believe for a while” and fall away (Luke 8:13), the seed among thorns “produces nothing” (Matthew 13:22) and the good soil bears fruit (13:23). Hell isn’t mentioned.
   • The parable is an invitation to receive the word well, not a chart for assigning people to hell. Adding hell as the outcome turns the parable into a fear tool, and the “25 percent” odds make it worse.

5. 5. The rocky ground: Persecution “because of the word,” not questions

   Jesus says the rocky ground falls away “when trouble or persecution comes because of the word” (Matthew 13:21).

   The lesson’s example of that trouble is a friend asking:

   “Why do you need to study the parables so much? Can you explain them to me? I’m not sure where it says that in the Bible.”

   • That’s not persecution. It is the Berean question, the same one the course itself has praised: the Bereans examined the scriptures “to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
   • Scripture tells believers what to do with that kind of question: “always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Yet do it with courtesy and respect” (1 Peter 3:15-16).
   • “Let your speech always be gracious … so that you may know how you should answer everyone” (Colossians 4:6).

   If a teaching can’t be shown in the Bible when a friend asks, the problem is with the teaching, not the friend.

6. 6. A husband who wants time with his wife is not persecution

   The lesson’s first-person example: “my husband often expresses his desire for us to spend more time together, feeling that my extensive studying limits our interactions.” It is listed under “How to overcome the rocky.”

   Scripture speaks directly to a spouse’s spiritual activities and marriage:

   • “Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then resume your relationship” (1 Corinthians 7:5). Paul says even devotion to prayer should be by mutual agreement and for a limited time.
   • Paul treats a married person’s concern to please their spouse as a normal part of marriage (1 Corinthians 7:33-34).
   • Peter tells believing wives that their husbands may be “won over without a word by the way you live” (1 Peter 3:1-2), and tells husbands to “treat your wives with consideration” (3:7).

   A husband who wants more time with his wife is asking for something Scripture says he should have. Framing it as a trial from Satan to be overcome sets the course against the marriage.

7. 7. “Persecution can signify that we are on the right path”

   • Peter separates suffering as a Christian from trouble of our own making: “let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or criminal or as a troublemaker. But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed” (1 Peter 4:15-16).
   • A family member’s concern about a course that takes up a great deal of time, and that a friend can’t find in the Bible, is not suffering “as a Christian.”
   • If opposition always proves you’re right, then no concern from anyone can ever count as a warning (see Lesson 6).

8. 8. “Attacks can even come from those close to us” and “one’s own fault”

   The lesson warns: “Attacks can even come from those close to us if Satan uses them.” The Explanation of Parables (p. 136) says the devil works “through other people around them,” and that being broken by those troubles “is one’s own fault.”

   • This teaches students to see the people closest to them, a husband or a best friend, as possible instruments of Satan.
   • Then, if the student is shaken, the book places the blame on the student.
   • Jesus treats struggling people very differently: “He will not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick” (Matthew 12:20). Our high priest sympathizes with our weaknesses, and we are invited to “find grace whenever we need help” (Hebrews 4:15-16).

9. 9. The good soil: Fruit, not just memorization

   The lesson says good soil must “memorize and apply” the word, take notes and not let anything interfere with study.

   • Luke says the good soil are those who, after hearing the word, “cling to it with an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance” (Luke 8:15). Memorizing Scripture is good, but the measure is fruit.
   • Paul names the Spirit’s fruit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
   • Good soil would show up as patience and kindness toward a husband and gentleness toward a questioning friend, not as treating them as attacks.

10. 10. The thorns and seeking the kingdom above all

    The lesson uses Matthew 6:33 to say nothing should interfere with study.

    • In context, Jesus is telling people not to worry about food and clothing, because “your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (6:25-32). To “above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness” (6:33) means trusting God, not putting a course above everything else.
    • Scripture also says caring for one’s family is a basic duty of faith (1 Timothy 5:8).

11. 11. Can one transition between fields at any moment?

    The lesson says “one can transition between these fields at any moment,” and puts the odds of being good soil at “25 percent.”

    • Jesus gives a different picture of his people: “My sheep listen to my voice … I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand” (John 10:27-29).
    • Paul is “sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
    • The parable is a call to receive the word well, not a statistic meant to keep students anxious about their standing.