2. Scripture Teaches in Parables

World Scripture

We have put forth for men in this Qur’an every kind of parable, in order that they may receive admonition.
Qur’an 39.27

Knowing that all the living have many and various desires deep-rooted in their minds, I have, according to their capacity, expounded the various laws by which these [desires] could be overcome with various reasonings, parabolic expressions, and expedients.
Lotus Sutra 2 (Buddhism)

And when Jesus was alone, those who were about him with the Twelve asked concerning the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.”
Mark 4.10-12

He who does not know that indestructible Being of the Rig Veda, that highest ether-like Self wherein all the gods reside, of what use is the Rig Veda to him? Those only who know It rest contented.
Svetasvatara Upanishad 4.8 (Hinduism)

The biblical tales are only the Torah’s outer garments, and woe to him who regards these as being the Torah itself!
Zohar, Numbers 152a (Judaism)

It is He who sent down upon you the Book, wherein are verses clear that are the Essence of the Book, and others ambiguous. As for those in whose hearts is swerving, they follow the ambiguous part, desiring dissension and desiring its interpretation; and none knows its interpretation, save only God.¹¹ And those firmly rooted in knowledge say, “We believe in it; all is from our Lord”; yet none remembers, but men possessed of minds.
Qur’an 3.7

First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
2 Peter 1.20-21

Were you to cleanse the mirror of your heart from the dust of malice, you would apprehend the meaning of the symbolic terms revealed by the all-embracing Word of God made manifest in every dispensation, and would discover the mysteries of divine knowledge.
Book of Certitude 68-69 (Baha’i Faith)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

God reveals well in advance all the essential matters of His Will in parables and symbols, in order that people living in any age can understand the demands of the providence for their time and for the future according to the level of their intellect and spirituality.

The fact that God used parables and symbols in the Bible has inevitably resulted in many divergent interpretations. This is a major reason why the churches have become divided. In interpreting the Bible, therefore, the most important matter is to find the right perspective.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Second Advent 2.1)

The Bible is like a love-letter written by a bridegroom searching for his bride and containing many secret codes. Why does God write in code? It is because God is a God of heart. Not everyone is meant to decipher the Bible; only the bride and bridegroom should be able to decipher it. In other words, only those who have prepared themselves to attend the Lord with a heart akin to God’s heart can decipher the Bible; to anyone else it is an impenetrable mystery.
The Bible has a code. It is like a key that opens the gate to allow the bridegroom to enter. What is that key? It is heart. The heart of a parent does not change, whether the child is feeding on its mother’s breast or has grown old and gray. There is no difference in that heart.
So we need to search for the original source of all the hearts hidden in the Bible. Finding it does not require a Ph.D. Theologians have been analyzing the Bible for centuries, but their theories just come and go. Heart cannot be controlled by logic. It cannot be experienced through theories. No systematic analysis can comprehend it. Why? Because heart flows with the heavenly law and with nature.
It does not matter how well you know theology. You cannot understand the Bible unless you interpret it by the flow and feeling of heart. The current theological trend will pass away, but the world of heart remains forever. It is the alpha and omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
(8:305-06, February 14, 1960)

Some prayerful people consider nature to be the number one Bible. It does not take second place. The Bible that describes the history of Israel does not always give a clear message. Do you know how much I shook my head as I read it? It can be very ambiguous; people understand what they want from it, as if it were a fortune-teller telling their fortune. For some it is a way to escape from reality. So the natural world created by God is better than the Bible at carrying out the hard task of judging the facts and clarifying everything from beginning to end.
(20:270, July 7, 1968)

Why does the Bible sometimes seem to be leading us toward the Kingdom of Heaven and sometimes not? The present world is not the Kingdom of Heaven. It is encircled by the satanic world… God’s champions today, like the prophets and sages of Israel and the saints of the early Christian church whom we know from the Bible, are like God’s secret agents sent on missions in the satanic world.
When the CIA and the KGB send their agents into enemy territory, they take pains not to reveal their plans to the enemy. The CIA bureau chief notifies his agents about their missions using a secret code that he alone knows. Likewise, the Bible contains God’s most important directives to His operatives, but as coded messages that God alone understands. For example, in describing the Last Days Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Matt. 24.36) Hence it stands to reason that when the Last Days arrive, God will send another prophet to decipher the code, as it is written in Amos 3.7, “Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.”
To have that secret revealed to you, you must directly connect with God. That is why it is said that you should go into your secret chamber, anoint your head with oil, and have a show-down prayer with God. Now that we know the Bible contains coded messages, it is evident that we will be judged if we interpret its symbols and parables carelessly.
(73:207-08, September 18, 1974)