An Analogy That Will Get Any Christian Thinking

One moonless night, unbeknown to the passengers of a plane, hijackers broke into the cockpit. They took over the controls, contacted the control tower, and demanded that the White House release a large number of political prisoners. When authorities refused to comply with the demands, the terrorists threatened to fire on the passengers and force them out of an open door at 20,000 feet. During negotiations, the captain was able to scribble a note on official paper warning of the hijackers’ threat and telling passengers to reach under their seats. There they would find a parachute, which they were instructed to put on immediately.

As the note was passed among the passengers, there were different reactions. Some saw the note as obviously authentic because it was written on official paper. Besides, they remembered the strange jolt when the hijackers violently took control of the plane. They immediately put the parachute on realizing that they had nothing to lose but their pride if the note was fraudulent, and everything to gain if it was true.

Some passengers refused to believe the note because they thought there was no way that there could be a parachute beneath the seat. They were so sure that they didn’t even check. A couple rejected the note because they noticed a passenger who had only pretended to put on the parachute. They could see that he hadn’t bothered to tighten the straps. Others laughed at the note as though it were some joke, while others didn’t bother reading it because they were watching an onboard movie. Some passengers even ignored the evidence of the official paper and the jolt of the plane and instead maintained that the plane didn’t even have a pilot and that there was no aircraft maker. As far as they were concerned it came together by accident, taking millions of years, and could fly itself.

Suddenly, the hijackers burst into the darkened cabin, thrust open the exit doors, and began firing automatic weapons over the terrified passengers’ heads, forcing them to jump 20,000 feet into the blackness. Most fell to their deaths. However, those who had had the good sense to believe and obey the captain were saved from such a horrible demise.

There is nothing wrong with sinners questioning the mystery of prayer, the authenticity of the Bible, the existence of God, and the fact of hypocrisy. However, it is wise for them to put on the “parachute” first. They could be made to jump through the door of death into a black and horrifying eternity at any moment. There is a merciless Law awaiting them —a Law far harsher than the law of gravity. They desperately need the Savior. Encourage them to do what the “Note” says—reach under their seat and “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). After they have secured their own eternal salvation, they can worry about the fate of the pretender. If they think it’s important, they can then try to figure out the age of the earth, etc.