Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 186
? 179 narrative is allegoric and we have no reason to treat it as factual. Our contention is that if all this is allegoric, novel theories cannot be deduced from allegories. In this case too the theory of redemption falls flat. For, when you are not making a factual statement but talking in allegory, there is no justification for you to deduce novel concepts from it and to invite people to believe in them. As, for instance, if we say in respect of somebody that he is a lion in the true sense of the word and when somebody wants us to point out his tail and his paws and we answer back that we were talking only allegorically and he was wrong in mistaking him for an actual lion, it will not be fair on our part to go on calling it a lion in the true sense of the word. If, therefore, this is an allegoric description, Christians must agree that the Messiah was described as the Son of God only allegorically, and if he was the Son of God allegorically, he could not bear the sins of mankind nor could he stay in hell for a day and a half. All these statements then become false and unreal. Whenever they decline, their hopes sustain them and create in them a new awakening and alertness and they know that they have little ground for despair and that there are in wait great opportunities for them to achieve higher levels. But once the hopes of a people are killed, it perishes for ever. The Promised Messiah (peace and salutations be on him) has thus to his credit two outstanding achievements. On the one hand, he put an