VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Matt Westwood|DATE|1357216522|CONTENT|I always thought the father of the prodigal son was terminally soft. I mean, what father *does* that? A feckless, lazy wastrel of a son is not suddenly going to change his metaphorical spots just through having fallen flat on his face. As soon as he&#039;s stayed at home again for a few weeks he&#039;s going to be climbing the wall and is going to be begging the old man for another stipend for him to spray up the wall all over again.

My father (good xtian man who himself taught this stupid story in Sunday school) disowned me publicly some 30 years ago when I informed him that I was going to set up home with a person of the alternative gender to whom I was not wed, and told me I was never going to be socially welcome in his house ever again. A lot of proverbial water has gone under the bridge since, but the point still holds that, even when one&#039;s behaviour is firmly dictated by the best-known story in the entire xtian canon, *nobody ever puts it into practice*.|EMAIL|prime.mover@proofwiki.org|IP-ADDRESS|81.142.211.61|MODERATIONFLAG|