Today I walked into a church and I saw an arm hanging from the ceiling. This arm, miracle has it, is the arm of a thief who tried to steal the jewels from the statue of the Virgin give or take 600 years ago. Apparently, the Virgin grabbed his wrist with such a strong grip that his arm had to be lopped off. The moment the amputation was complete the Virgin released her grasp on the limb and resumed her "usual saintly pose".Now, that arm hangs as a warning to would-be thieves - both literal and spiritual.
Several lessons to be learned here.
One, don't mess with the Virgin Mary. No poking, no grabbing, no hitting, and certainly no stealing. For if you do - do at your arm's peril.
Second and, maybe more to the point, if you harass the Virgin Mary and lose your arm, I think this is, in actuality, really more about losing your arm. You know? Poke about your faith looking to make a buck and you might lose a bit of your soul, er, arm.
Finally, sometimes it's a bit irksome to hear this and that about about Mormonism. To them I say, take a look at Catholics, Muslims, Quakers, Buddists ... faith is faith, miracles are miracles, and we all have an arm or two hanging in our church.
That's the point, I think.
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