>>>It is in line with what Jesus says in Matthew, but your interpretation of the bride is "No" :-)
>>
>>That is strange, because I thought you also said the bride is the church, and this is
>>exactly what I said as well. I think you meant to say that you don't agree with my
>>interpretation of who the 10 virgins are, isn't that the case?
>
>
>Yes. You said that what has traditionally been taught as the bride isn't really the bride, but rather are bride's maids.

Well, thanks for bearing with me, I can imagine you would get a little bit tired of me.

Anyway, that is now more clear to me, I got a little bit confused about your previous comments. However I like to point out that it is not only what I say, but you can ask any Jewish New Testament scholar that in a jewish marriage the virgins that are invited to the marriage are bride's maids. It's not a matter of interpretation, it is a fact that the bridegroom does not marry any of the several virgins that would be appearing at the wedding and it is a historical fact.

The nature of a parable is in my view that all details of the parable are true in the context of the setting. It is used to explain a more complex truth using a simpler image to explain that truth in a language that the people would understand. If Jesus would have screwed up this picture and made the bridegroom marry the ten virgins (which in fact turned out to be only five), the disciples would have been utterly confused by the fact that this would be against the law and it is against the jewish tradition. In fact, the Mormon church uses this exact passage of scripture to proof that it is allowed to marry multiple wives. And if that is what Jesus said, they would be right! But I believe any kind of traditional teaching only hinders people to see the real truth of the Bible.

I sometimes ask a Christian what he says was the name of the woman in the garden of Eden. In almost all cases they give me the wrong answer, and that shows me that they really only follow tradition rather than the Bible.