Escape from Paradise: Interpreting the Allegory (chapters 5-6)

This is the discussion page for chapters 3-4 of the novel, Escape from Paradise.

1) The Wind

The wind represents the Holy Spirit. Both the Greek and Hebrew words for “spirit” are also the words for “wind” or “breath.”

Of the three persons in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the one who is described in terms of greatest nearness to us. We picture the Father as being in heaven, Jesus as the bridge between earth and heaven, and the Holy Spirit all around us, inside us as the personal delivery system of all the Father and Son give us.

The wind is invisible yet has awesome power. And through his unseen pressure, he guides us.

2) The Plants

When Adam attempts to go in the direction the wind is pressing him, he meets the resistance of the foliage. Those plants represent the world’s efforts to counteract the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit guides us one way, and the world pushes against that and makes it difficult.

EXCERPT:

Nothing he did mattered. He couldn’t imagine anything he could ever do would matter. His efforts to save the city from disintegration had been futile. He had no idea where he was from, and he had nowhere to go. It wasn’t only this world that was half-real—he had become part of this empty place and his very life lacked substance. … He might as well have lived no life at all. -p.59

QUESTION 1:

In what ways are unbelievers’ thinking and the way of life empty/futile? See 1 Peter 1:18; Romans 1:21; Ephesians 4:17—19.

QUESTION 2:

Why is it so important that we understand the worthlessness and emptiness of our former way of life? See Romans 6:21—22. Compare Exodus 3:7 with their later memory in Numbers 11:5.

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