John chapter 1 is basically a crash course in theology. And there is a detail in John 2:16 that I hadn't noticed before: Jesus drove the sheep and the oxen out of the Temple, but not the doves.
The sheep and the oxen could be and no doubt were re-captured, but the doves could not have been, and they were still needed for sacrifices. Jesus told the owners of the doves to take them out themselves, and why.
Another thing I noticed is that Nathanael was perhaps an autist: truth-oriented; was sitting under the fig tree before--alone?; compared Philip's news about Jesus with his background knowledge; and very quickly made the leap to declaring that Jesus was the Son of God and the King of Israel.
This song is haunting, although not directly applicable to my personal experience.
There's an interesting semi-parallel in Revelation 7:17 and 8:1:
"...and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour."
Some years back there were some public comments from famous authors about the Susan in the Narnia books not being present for the Final Battle and what followed. It was framed as bigotry against women and people of average morals.
Neil Gaiman's came in the form of a short story, "The Problem of Susan," which from an excerpt I found is apparently quite vile.
Gaiman has fallen out of public favor as allegations against him have begun to surface.
Two other authors were J. K. Rowling, who ought to know better, and Phillip Pullman, who also writes vile stories, I've been told.
Pastor Douglas Wilson has a lucid, sensitive, and rather long rebuttal to the Problem of Susan; link below.
My own, lesser contribution here, is that C. S. Lewis was a fan of George MacDonald, and MacDonald wrote some vivid portrayals of spiritual devolution. In The Princess and Curdie, Curdie was given the ability to discern which beast a person's moral character was descending into by holding their hand. In ...
