FRESH FISH

A fisherman set up a stall to sell fresh fish to tourists visiting a fishing harbour. In front of his new stall, he placed a large board displaying the words, ‘FRESH FISH SOLD HERE’ to attract prospective buyers. Several customers came to buy fish from his stall.

One of his customers made a suggestion, “The board is large and readable. But it is too long. The word ‘HERE’ is unnecessary as the board is quite close to the stall. It may be deleted to make the board short and sweet.” The seller found that the suggestion was logical. So he erased the last word. Now the board read, ‘FRESH FISH SOLD’.

Later another customer gave a novel suggestion: “The word, ‘SOLD’ is not needed on the board as fishes are displayed here for sale and not for exhibition.” The seller agreed and deleted the word, ‘sold.’ Now the board read ‘FRESH FISH.’

Some time later, a new customer examined the board and gave his opinion, “The word ‘FRESH’ need not be displayed publicly as you sell only fresh fish and not rotten fish. It is an insult to other sellers in this area.” The seller readily agreed and modified the board. It now had only one word, ‘FISH.’

Another person visited the stall after sunset. He said, “The smell of your fish can be felt all around this stall. I had no difficulty to locate it though your board was not clearly visible in the dim light. It is not essential to place the board, ‘FISH’ here.” The seller accepted the suggestion and removed the last letter from the board.

The next day, his business was dull. New customers could not identify the stall easily as the board was blank. They went to other stalls in the area. The fisherman’s fate was the result of responding to every suggestion from others. People are lavish in showering advices and critical comments. We must apply our wisdom to identify the relevant, reasonable and acceptable advices.

The Holy Bible is the Word of God. We can learn it by prayerful reading and by regular and systematic study. Authoritative books and qualified persons may be consulted to clear our doubts and gain more insight. False interpreters of the Bible are very common. They may visit us and misdirect our faith by misinterpreting the Word of God. They act as the messengers of Satan. We must have correct concepts and convictions about our Faith. Then nobody can mislead us.

St. Paul cautions us against false prophets who misinterpret the Holy Scriptures and try to misdirect the faithful believers, “I say this because there are some people who are upsetting you and and trying to change the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell! We have said it before, and now I say it again: if anyone preaches to you a gospel that is different from the one you accepted, may he be condemned to hell!” {Galatians 1: 7-9}.

St. Paul advises us, “Put on all the armour that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks” {Ephesians 6: 11}.

St. Peter warns us, “Be alert, be on the watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him, because you know that your fellow- believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings” {1 Peter 5: 8, 9}.

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By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.

This is Story No. 153 in this site. Please click ‘Older Posts’ at the bottom of a page to read previous stories and click 'Newer Posts' at the bottom of a page to read newer stories in this site. Please click on a word in the 'Story Themes' to read stories on that theme.