Sydney Smith 
Denysha Taylor In Plato’s Allegory, the slaves live in a cave their entire life and that reality is all they know. They are unable to recognize the images around them are actually distortions. It is not until someone is taken out of the cave that they can see the real world and fully experience life. As soon as the slave is freed, the first thing he wants to do is return back to the cave to tell his friends of the new world he has discovered. But sadly they are unable to comprehend what their friend so desperately wants them to experience.
I believe this can be compared to the redemption section of the theological timeline. As we live in a fallen world, we are also living in a cave. Before we know the love of Christ and the freedom that a life committed to Him has to offer, we are first slaves to sin. Our life in sin is the only reality we know, completely unaware of the amazing life we can experience once we are free from the chains sin puts us in. During our time in the cave, we are unaware that our life is not the full capacity we could experience; just as the slaves are unaware their world is made of distortions. Hearing the good news is like stepping out of the cave. From that point on, we are now free to live a life in Christ. In both instances, once the slave is freed and their life is changed forever. Just as the slave goes back to the cave to tell his friends of his new life, we also tell our friends of Christ’s redemption because it is something everyone should experience. Often times as we share Christ’s love and sacrifice to those we care about, they cannot understand the extent of it until they have experienced it personally. This once again is parallel to the allegory of the cave because the slaves that are still in captivity are also unable to understand the full extent of freedom.
Meredith Thornton
1:48 pm, 09.07.13
I really love this view point Angela. Especially with the video from class in my mind I can visualize trying to tell a friend lost in sin about Christ and his unconditional love and being completely misunderstood because the world of the cave distorts everything. Thinking of the allegory in this way seriously makes my heart happy! I just love the imagery of an unknowing slave to sin and then the new world of freedom in Christ.
Levi Ritchie
3:31 pm, 09.08.13
I always felt a connection between Plato’s allegory and getting out of “the cave” in heaven/at the resurrection. This perspective makes a lot of sense, too, though, that we’re free not just by dying, but by being born again on earth. Still, I can’t help but wonder how close to literal the allegory of the cave might be one day, when we can really see everything.
Laura Kate Music
6:19 pm, 09.08.13
This is a great perspective of redemption. I like the literal translation of breaking from the chains, and seeing the reality of Christ’s love. I think that the tie between the allegory and redemption goes great together.
Mengyuan Tang
6:24 pm, 09.09.13
I like your thoughts about comparing Plato’s Allegory to the Redemption. I have the same feeling that we are all like the prisoners in the cave. People do not believe in God are the chained prisoners, they believe in the creations rather than the true Creator. Christians are the freed prisoners, they are out of the cave and free to live a life in Christ. Christians try to help free others in the cave from the chain of ignorance and sin, but it is not an easy thing.
Zach Stromberg
8:00 pm, 09.09.13
Great thoughts comparing redemption to the Allegory of the Cave. It’s interesting that although it wasn’t Plato’s intent, there is a very prominent comparison. It’s very true that once we are set free and redeemed by Christ we react like the slave did that was released from the cave. Along with that you make a good point that no matter how excited we get or the experiences that change our lives, people can get excited with us and influenced by us, but need God to meet them at their place, intimately, in their heart to experience the true freedom in him.
Haley Conaway
8:04 pm, 09.09.13
I like that! I think there are many similarities between Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the Redemption that God offers us. Jesus said, “Woe to those who have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear.” In many ways, before God rescues us and we are caught in and led by His gaze (Psalm 32:8- I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you) we are unseeing and though we have eyes, we do not see fully what is truly happening around us. There is a greater reality that we are unaware of.
Nicole Flores
2:41 am, 09.10.13
Angela! I love how you compared God’s redemption for us to Plato’s Allegory of the cave. I was able to really picture the cave and what it represented. I think that it is very true that we are so stuck in our sin that we do not see another way outside of it. Once we come to know God it is like the light has appeared in the darkness and you can finally be able to enjoy all what is around you. I know that when I am not right with God I can’t fully enjoy all the blessing around me, I only focus on the negative. Great job!