Monday, August 27, 2012

Jesus Gives Congregation a Lesson in Percentages, Ratios, and Fractions

Jesus and his disciples were on a town square preaching and had drawn quite a large crowd---many who had left gold and silver coins and rubies at their feet.

At one point a beggar woman walks up slowly and lays a small coin at their feet, then walks away.
A number in the crowd start deriding her for "making such a small contribution" after having contributed so much themselves

...upon which Jesus stops his sermon mid-sentence and points out that, in fact, this woman has been far more "blessed" than any of the others in the crowd, for being someone who possesses next-to-nothing that "one shilling" she donated represents almost everything she has on earth---whereas all the gold and silver nuggets the others donated represent only a fraction of what-all worldly goods they have.
In short, these wealthier STILL had plenty left over of their own even after their donations, whereas the "beggar lady" gave away just about everything she had.

It makes sense:
80% of $10 is $8...80% of $1000 is $800
...while $800 is a greater amount than $8 in the more practical sense, proportionately the balance is still equal when in relation to what it is one is starting out with.

4/5=8/10...2/10=6/30....2=20%...2/10=20/100

Remember that?
Back in the 1960s they often referred to it as "6th-grade-level arithmetic".

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