Yes, that’s the traditional metaphor for the story. It’s the stance taken in Sunday school and Gospel Doctrine and Primary and Relief Society. It’s ubiquitous around Christendom. As far as I know, there is no Christian sect that does NOT interpret it that way.

I’m looking outside that because to me, the metaphor is highly flawed and it’s always made me slightly twitchy.

Sharing? Almost a dirty word in my household, but given the context of surrounding altruism, that’s a valid question. Widow’s mite blah blah blah. Were they sinners because they didn’t share? I vote yes!

As for profit, well, the other five wanted to leave to go BUY some more, then come back, but weren’t even allowed to do that, so yeah, the “virtuous” five certainly could’ve profited.

I’ve also wondered what would’ve happened if the bridegroom had waited any longer, but by then it probably would’ve been daybreak.

I’m not sure how I got the reputation for being scary

It’s the noobs, you know, Over There At That Other Place We Hang Out. Terrifying, really.

I don’t want to keep him, just abuse him for a while and send him home.

That’s what Beltane is for. Do I have to cite your religion at you?

are we firmly entrenched in weird 1950s territory

I have a post coming up on that. The Good Wife, according to 195x Good Housekeeping or some shit. I’m having to haul out the Friedan and Paglia to cope, I was so scarred.

How many men came to this shindig without proper camping gear and did they also get sent home if they came without a spare bottle of propane?

Naturally, men were not mentioned as having erred, but you know, I blame the Council at Nicaea for about 15/16ths of the bullshit.

Not to worry. I don’t want to keep him, just abuse him for a while and send him home. I’ve already tried the keeping part and think I might be too old and set in my ways to bother with a guy full-time. If nothing else, I’ve already gotten used to having the queen-sized bed to myself and not having to worry about falling into the toilet bowl in the middle of the night because some lazy jerk fouled up my feng shui and left the seat up.

Of course, I know better than to say never.

This kind of thinking is a great example of why I found no use for religiosity from a very young age. Even before I grokked the concept of misogyny, I recognized it for what it was (my family is catholic, if that helps).

So what about the bad boys? Do they get off scot-free or are we firmly entrenched in weird 1950s territory? I have to say that I find the concepts of “good” and “bad” largely subjective and irrelevant, which prolly makes it hard to argue in a satisfying way.

So save me the chore of having to read this great fiction for myself. How many men came to this shindig without proper camping gear and did they also get sent home if they came without a spare bottle of propane?