Every church goer has probably heard more lessons about the wise and foolish virgins than they can count. Why do Latter-day Saints love to talk about this parable so much? And why do we seem to be so attached to one interpretation of it? In Episode 140, Susan and Cynthia try to shake up the same old conversation about this story—and the women in it—by asking a few new questions, and imagining new answers.

Notes & Quotes:
Listening to Snakes and Bridesmaids: A Sermon on How Self-Reliance is Overrated, by Nadia Bolz-Weber, The Corners, 2/26/2023
Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again: One Woman’s Journey Back to Loving the Bible, by Rachel Held Evans
Converted Unto the Lord, by David A. Bednar, October 2012
Robert Capon — Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids, by Charles Jordan, Ancient Anglican

“…the black writing on the page is what’s written, and the white space around it is where we dance with what’s written.” — Rob Bell

[Midrash is] “A Jewish mode of interpretation that not only engages the words of the text, behind the text, and beyond the text, but also focuses on each letter, and the words left unsaid by each line.”
— Vanessa Lovelace

“Midrash, which initially struck me as something of a cross between biblical commentary and fan fiction, introduced me to a whole new posture toward Scripture, a sort of delighted reverence for the text unencumbered by the expectation that it must behave itself to be true…….Midrash also gives me permission to play a little with the stories. It also gives me permission to indulge my questions and confront my doubts…..While Christians tend to turn to Scripture to end a conversation, Jews turn to Scripture to start a conversation.” — Rachel Held Evans, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again (pp. 23,24)

“As the wise virgins emphasized properly, each of us must ‘buy for ourselves.’ These inspired women were not describing a business transaction; rather, they were emphasizing our individual responsibility to keep our lamp of testimony burning and to obtain an ample supply of the oil of conversion. This precious oil is acquired one drop at a time—‘line upon line [and] precept upon precept.’” — Elder David A. Bednar

 “This was not selfishness or unkindness. The kind of oil that is needed to illuminate the way and light up the darkness is not shareable. How can one share obedience to the principle of tithing; a mind at peace from righteous living; an accumulation of knowledge? How can one share faith or testimony? How can one share attitudes or chastity… Each must obtain that kind of oil for himself.” — Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, 1972

“The oil in the parable represents our faith and testimony, our purity and dedication, our good works, and our keeping of covenants—all of the ways in which we have ‘taken the Holy Spirit for [our] guide.’
The wise virgins could not share their oil with the foolish virgins because ‘the oil of spiritual preparedness cannot be shared.'” — Marvin J. Ashton, A Time of Urgency, Ensign, May 1974

“Marolis seemed fearful of there being more than one way to understand the Torah. Was he afraid he would lose control over our thinking? Why did he need to control the way we thought? Did he believe that God wrote stories with only one kind of meaning? It seemed to me that a story that had only one kind of meaning was not very interesting or worth remembering for too long.” — Chaim Potok, Davita’s Harp, p. 332

“The foolish bridesmaids weren’t foolish because they didn’t bring back-up oil, they were foolish because instead of trusting that the light of Christ was enough to shine the way, they wasted all that time and energy and money trying to get their own because someone shamed them into thinking they could never approach the Lord with their lack.  Rather than just trusting that the light of those around them and the light of the groom was enough they assumed they had to provide their own– and then they were so consumed by the shame of not being enough, they busied themselves trying to fix it – so much so that they missed the wedding banquet.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber

“They, perhaps not unlike us, mistakenly assumed that all God is interested in is our strength, our preparedness, and goodness. (the standard LDS interpretation) When what God really asks of us is to know our need for him.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber

“NOTHING is like God’s favorite raw material to work with.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber

“Could God say to someone truly humbled, broken, and desperate for reconciliation, “Sorry, too late”? Many have refused to accept the scenario in which somebody is pounding on the door, apologizing, repenting, and asking God to be let in, only to hear God say through the keyhole: ‘Door’s locked. Sorry. If you had been here earlier, I could have done something. But now, it’s too late.’” — Rob Bell, Love Wins

“So, my friends, some texts we must wrestle with. They will not hand over the goods so easily. And sometimes, the way to find the good news in a text is to use the rest of scripture as like, a secret decoder ring.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber

“Or maybe, the condemnation of the bridesmaids is not because they ran out of oil, but that they ran out on the bridegroom in search of oil. Could their condemnation be simply their lack of faith in the grace of the bridegroom himself who would have let them in without any oil?” — Charles Jordan

“Of course the bridegroom said “I don’t know you” because they hadn’t come to him in their need and lack and want.  But Jesus knows us not by our independence from him, Jesus knows us by our need of him, for which we should never be ashamed.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber

“They were foolish because they listened when voices other than God’s tried to tell them who they were. They listened to those whispering voices telling them that they can only approach the groom if they have already met all their own needs first. And here’s what really got to me ….. it was reading this verse from Revelation 22 In the city of God, they will not need the light of a lamp, for the Lord God will give them light…..
Think about it. If at midnight the guy who was on watch said hey, wake up, the groom is coming! The groom must have had a lamp or torch of some kind, right?  How else could the groom have been seen from that far away at midnight? The foolish bridesmaids weren’t foolish because they didn’t bring back-up oil, they were foolish because instead of trusting that the light of Christ was enough to shine the way, they wasted all that time and energy and money trying to get their own because someone shamed them into thinking they could never approach the Lord with their lack.  Rather than just trusting that the light of those around them and the light of the groom was enough they assumed they had to provide their own– and then they were so consumed by the shame of not being enough, they busied themselves trying to fix it – so much so that they missed the wedding banquet.” — Nadia Bolz-Weber