Sin's Cave

     While reading through the Republic, I've found that I'm still stuck in book 7.  I can't get over the cave allegory. Socrates' allegory here is the starting point of religion, I loved that Mashburn confirmed that earlier today.   Has anyone else had connections with Socrates' cave and Sin's Cave? That's just something that has been striking me.

     Let's travel down to the Cave of Sin.  Before one becomes a Christian they are bound by sin, in the carnal world. Knowing only shadows of things spiritual and eternal (maybe some of us have no knowledge of these things at all). Our 'knowledge' comes from instructors or puppet masters instructing us, in what reality really is.  The Holy Spirit is what loosens our shackles and compels us to stand up. We then begin to learn the truth, we see a light, we know there is something beyond the physical. There are things eternal, like our own souls, but fully discovering and following this light will take total dedication. We have to make a change, our whole being must turn from the darkness to the light.
     This  is were Christians become saved. From here we have to travel out of the cave towards the Light. This is painful and diffcult, just like following Christ here on Earth is. As young Christians we have to make the difficult transformation, giving up everything we have known and the carnal world. Once we make it out into the light, we don't fully understand everything. Our spiritual eyes have not yet adjusted. After time we learn who Christ really is, what salvation really is, what our purpose really is. We find the Ultimate Good, it is Jesus Christ.  Through Him we can see past tangible things to the things eternal.  We are then given a mission, to back down to the cave, to bring the message of Christ to the other prisoners.  However, going down there means, we may never come back up, we might just die.  Christians have been martyred and persecuted for thousand of years by prisoners and puppet masters. We then guide others to Christ, if anyone will listen.

   I think Socrates was right on the edge of being a Christian, and I can see how some theologians would argue that he was one.  However, I beg to differ because Socrates seemed to never have his answer. He couldn't recognize that the God of the Jews was this Ultimate Good, maybe he never knew. Also, Socrates argues that every man has an innate good within him. Truthfully though every man is evil Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".   We will never be fully able to see the eternal or learn to look with the eyes of spirit unless we use the Sonlight.

P.S. Commented on Skylar's post