Stories told, questions asked in Sunday school

Figurative language confounds children. The first time I heard “Put some elbow grease into it,” I imagined it came in a can, like 3-In-One oil. I checked the cupboard. We were out.

In the playground of metaphor, few pieces of work are as bewildering as a religious work, and the religious work I’m most familiar with is the Bible, due to a lifetime of Sunday school at Presbyterian churches in Spokane.

Here are some biblical stories, some questions and some apparently valuable lessons not learned:

The story of Lot’s wife: Before God leveled Sodom and Gomorrah, angels warned Lot and his family to...