Yes, so my mother did not have the same rules as your mother, referring to the Butterfield cousins. My mother let me go on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland unlike the Butterfields. My mother let me watch all kinds of TV shows, including "Bewitched" in which the witch twinkles her nose. And did I not as a child wrinkle my nose to express disgust or bewilderment? And are not these signs of my impending adulthood of utter depravity and complete and utter immorality and unholy desecration, not to mention the unpardonable sin which I confess I have sometimes wondered whether was committed by me but then again maybe not because at least I still feel pangs of guilt and remorse, thus indicating the existence yet of a conscience, or at least the remnants thereof? So I find these subterfuges to be utterly rude, personally.
I am not necessarily excusing my mother's inconsistent parenting skills, mixed signals and the like, but do you imagine that you yourself also have not sinned, you holier-than-thou scourges, and done things that I never would have considered, such as blackmail and slander? And do you imagine that my life has borne no fruit even if not visible to your eyes so filled with your own self-importance and conceit? In some cases, we may not know until we get to heaven whether our efforts and plans and ideas have borne any fruit or not. It is conceited and futile to try to number these fruits before their time. What did Jesus get for all his trying? Nothing but a thorn of crowns and a cruel death on a cross. So obviously if Jesus suffered more than anyone can possibly imagine, how small a thing it is for me to suffer a little bit, perhaps to die a pitiless pauper. Perhaps that is the cross that I must bear. Yes, at a Bible study led by Tim Cederblom he asked everyone what it meant to take up your cross. One girl present thought that her cross was her nursing career. When I was asked, my opinion was that it was some kind of personal sacrifice. I did not say this at the time, but perhaps a decision not to drink wine, for example, could be regarded as a cross to bear. Jesus himself told his disciples at the Last Supper that he would not again taste of the vine until the Marriage Supper of the Lamb which does not occur until the end times, after the dead in Christ are raised from their graves and given new bodies. There are many Christians today who imagine that the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is already taking place, that their ghostly apparitions are already tasting the joys of heaven apparently, but I personally think they are wrong, or at least that is what my mother always taught me. Yes, there was a time when whiners like Cori had me all mixed up but then I quit. She asked me to move out but that was after I quit.
