AM: I’m sending my blogs out every Sunday morning. I’m not letting people’s comments affect me negatively.

Betty: You have to learn to endure those people. I think what happens is that you get to them, and they’re not quite ready to face it. So, they get angry at the message. I think we can put ourselves in a place of contentment with something deep down that we know is not right. And then, if somebody sees it and points it out, if we’re not careful, we’ll just get mad at the messenger, because we don’t want to face it. In Matthew 8:18, when Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You’re blind. You have eyes, but do not see. You have ears, but cannot hear,” I think he was talking about that group of people. He’s trying to reach them with grace. But they don’t want to accept the grace. And then I noticed, he did what at first I thought was a strange thing. But I think he was trying to keep them from being responsible for more guilt. The disciples said to him, “Why do you speak to some in parables?” And he said, “Lest seeing they see, and hearing they hear.” I thought, “Oh, that’s strange.” But I’m now of the conclusion that in his divinity, he knew they were going to resist grace. So, actually, in compassion, he was trying to keep them from further guilt.. Because every time we resist truth from coming into us, we increase our guilt.