punished

In this age, lies were the universal lubricant of the culture. A love of Truth and commitment to it were seldom rewarded and were often punished.

A child learns to be guilty when he is punished and scolded for damaging material objects

Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.

We are punished by our sins, not for them.

Luke said that he was surprised when I showed up at his room. That he hadn__ meant to give me the wrong idea. That he would never have taken it beyond just kissing. And he looked so genuine. So trustworthy. So sorry about what had happened. He almost convinced me that I__ misread his signals._ Hallelujah pauses. __he whole time, I kept my mouth shut. I wish I hadn__. But I was still so humiliated. And I felt guilty. I made out with him. I liked it. And no one made me go to his room.__er voice breaks. She has to swallow past a lump in her throat.__ know Luke__ not a good guy. I know what he did isn__ my fault. It__ his. But still, none of it would__e happened if I hadn__ gone to his room.__he__ almost there. Almost done. Almost heard. Something deep inside her hurts like it hasn__ hurt in a long time. But she knows that this gash had to reopen in order to heal. That__ how wounds work. They need air.__ knew I__ get punished, and I did. My parents grounded me. I was put on youth group probation. But I honestly thought Luke__ lies would just fade away if I kept a low profile. There__ always gossip about someone. This time it was me._...__uke is still telling people about what supposedly happened that night,_ Hallelujah says. __nd he makes fun of me. All the time. What I look like, what I say, my name. And he does this thing at church: whenever we sing a hymn with my name in it, he sings it like he__ hooking up with me. He sings the word __allelujah_ at me. He moans it. And I hate it._ That__ one of the reasons she stopped singing: his voice, his fake grunts of satisfaction, ruining the music she loved so much.__ou said,_ she says to Jonah, __e wanted to keep me upset. To keep me from telling anyone what really happened. Well, it worked._ She pauses. __ntil now.___ntil now,_ Rachel repeats. Then she curses. __ can__ believe him. I can__ believe he got away with it.___ let him get away with it,_ Hallelujah says softly.__o. He__ the one who crossed the line. And okay, maybe you could__e spoken up sooner. But if no one pushed you for your side of the story, that__ on them._ Rachel yawns and stretches. __nd when we get home, we__e going to set the record straight.