Dear John,

Thanks for your comments. I think you did not get my point. I am of
the opinion that what we are seeing today as Orthodox, Catholics,
Anglicans, Protestants are not the real Churches. These are all
different forms of worship.
The real Church which is the body of Christ is the church of all
those who believe in Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter which way they
worship. It doesn't matter which way they pray. It doesn't matter
which way they baptize.
I do not want to believe that only Orthodox people are going to
enter the chamber with the groom. That itself is a selfish thought or
a limiting belief which undermines God's plan to save his creation.

Most of the times we interpret the parables wrongly to suit our view
points or to justify our belief. Right below the virgins parable
there is the parable of talents in the Gospel according to Matthew.
What is the traditional and apostolic churches doing with the
talents and the lamps given to them by the Lord. Are we lighting our
lamps among the gentiles to prepare them for welcoming the groom. Are
we using our talents to save more souls for his kingdom. Instead we
bury our talents in huge hierarchy created to manage the huge church
organization. We hide our lamps in decorated and glittering velvette
clothes.
This must change if we wanted to see progress in traditional
churches.

Well, I will end this with a story of the mouse :

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and
his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?"
He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There
is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr.
Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no
consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in
the house." The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr.
Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured
you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow. She said "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for
you, but it's no skin off my nose." So, the mouse returned to the
house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the
sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she
did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.
The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the
hospital, and she returned home with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the
farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main
ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and
neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not
get well; she died.
So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow
slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
So, the next time you hear someone doesn't have oil in his/her lamp
and think it doesn't concern you, -- remember -- when one of us is
threatened, we are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye
out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one
another.
Each Of Us Is A Vital Thread In Another Person's Tapestry;Our Lives
Are Woven Together For A Reason.

rgds
ronnie