Is it the field or the farmer that is responsible for removing thistles and rocks so the crops can grow?

As a child, I’d hear teachers talking about the parable of the sower. They’d get to the bit about the thorns and weeds choking the plants, and the rocky soil killing the plants. The implication always seemed to be, “try not to be a weed-covered stony field”. But is it the job of the field to remove these things or the farmer?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

God is not present and at work in churches with worship style, aesthetics, and production values you don’t like?

I mean, well, who wants to pay attention to Mark 3:20-29 where The Founder says that a house divided against itself shall not stand. And as for Romans 14:4, talking about not judging another man’s servant who wants to take notice of that stuff?

Different is bad. Right?

I am, apparently, a disgrace.

St. Paul wrote that long hair goes against nature, but, for some reason, no one seems to have a problem when I, with long hair, go to church.

Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.

1 Corinthians 11:14-15 (NIV)

Why is it not okay for me to have long hair? (Even though no one mentions it). Samson had long hair. So did St. Paul (for about a year).

Explain this like I’m 12.