Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 "Merle, do you remember when Paul was in jail?" Pearl asked her husband as they began unloading plastic tubes from the hamster-house boxes. "Jail?!" Michael said. "Why are you bringing up jail?" "Relax," Pearl said. "Nobody's going to jail over a broken elephant table." "I dunno." Merle looked at them through a plastic tube. "People have gone for less." "True," Pearl said. "The apostle Paul was sent to jail for preaching." "Why would someone go to jail just for preaching?" Michael asked. "The Romans thought the Good News that Paul was sharing stirred up too much trouble," Merle answered.

第七章“莫尔，你还记得保罗坐牢的时候吗？”当他们开始从仓鼠箱里卸下塑料管时，珀尔问丈夫。 “监狱吗? !”迈克尔说。“你为什么要提起监狱？”“放轻松，”珠儿说。 “没人会因为一张破大象桌而进监狱。” “我不知道”。莫尔透过一根塑料管看着它们。 “人们追求的更少了。” “没错，”珠儿说。“使徒保罗因传道被下监。” “为什么有人会因为布道而进监狱？”迈克尔问道。 梅尔回答说：“罗马人以为保罗所传的福音，惹了太多的麻烦。”

"Paul was sent to jail several times," Pearl continued. "He did a lot of writing there. In one letter, Paul wrote to a church he helped to start in Ephesus." "Paul told the Ephesians— that's what they call people from Ephesus— about a great 'mystery'— because of Jesus, they were all now part of one big family," Merle added. "And he told them how important it is for a family to tell the truth to one another. Paul said, 'Stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.'" "But I didn't lie," Michael insisted. "I just didn't tell Mom what happened." "That's the same thing as lying," Pearl said. "Telling the truth is about telling the whole story."

“保罗被送进监狱好几次，”珀尔接着说。 “他在那里写了很多东西。 在一封书信中，保罗写信给他在以弗所帮助建立的教会。 梅尔补充说：“保罗告诉以弗所人——这是他们对以弗所人的称呼——一个伟大的‘奥秘’——因为耶稣，他们现在都是一个大家庭的一部分。” 他告诉他们，对一个家庭来说，彼此说实话是多么重要。 保罗说：“别说谎了。 我们应当将真情告诉邻舍，因为我们都是一个身体的肢体。’”“可我没有撒谎，”迈克尔坚持说。 “我只是没有告诉妈妈发生了什么。” “这和说谎是一回事，”珀尔说。 “讲真话就是讲出整个故事。”

"Yep!" Merle nodded. "Not telling the whole story, exaggerating, cheating, not keeping your promises— all of that is being untruthful." Michael had never thought about lying that way. He'd always thought lying was just saying something that he knew wasn't true. It was news to him that you could also lie by not saying something. Pearl climbed up Michael's arm and sat on his shoulder. "When the people in God's family tell the truth to one another, it shows that we can count on one another, and it also shows people outside of our family the power of God's love in our lives!"

“是的!”默尔点了点头。“不说实话、夸大其词、欺骗、不遵守承诺——所有这些都是不诚实的。” 迈克尔从来没有想过要这样撒谎。 他一直认为说谎就是说一些他知道不是真的事情。 对他来说，你也可以通过不说话来撒谎，这是新闻。 珠儿爬上迈克尔的胳膊，坐在他的肩膀上。 “当神家里的人彼此说真话时，这表明我们可以彼此依靠，也向我们家以外的人展示了神的爱在我们生命中的大能！”