Philemon, yeah,

Philemen, yeah.

Okay, yesterday we were playing the historical, biblical what-if game with the question of what if

Paul and Onesimus had not agreed to send Onesimus back to Philemon. Let's extrapolate that out

further. How would things work out for Philemon if it went as it did go, which is Paul sends

onesimus back to Philemon, or how might things have

gone if Paul didn't send Onesimus back to Philemon? Consider a work environment where you are

someone's boss and they come to you and say, I broke a rule here at work, what do we do now?

Think about how you feel when that has maybe

happened versus if you run through the security footage because you know something is missing

and you spend hours scrubbing through it and you catch them after they've already lied to you

about some stuff. Well, one engenders soft-heartedness and a desire to make it work.

You're like, well, all other things aside, I think we could figure it out together.

The other creates a feeling of bitterness in your heart.

The relationship is ruined.

How could I trust them again with these kinds of things?

How's it going to hit for Philemon if Onesimus comes back in chains, having been caught as a runaway slave with a bill attached to him for the return costs, versus if Onesimus walks right back up to Philemon with no fetters on his arms and hands him a letter that is not a bill,

but rather is a promissory note to pay whatever Philemon is owed from the Apostle Paul himself.

Well, I would argue that this is a significant fork in the road in terms of outcomes.

The one is going to cause embitteredness.

The other is going to cause a softening of the heart, most likely. In the same way that your kid comes in as like, I screwed up, help me, versus if you catch your kid doing something they shouldn't do. You're going to feel totally different about it one way or the other. And Philemon is a human, so he's going to feel completely different about it, depending on how it plays out. I would submit to you that if Paul

doesn't send Onesimus back voluntarily and Onesimus gets caught, the relationship between Onesimus and

...