Insightful Analogy

From a comment on Fr. Hunwicke's Liturgical Notes:

My neighbour's house is on fire. I stand in the street, calling to him,

"James, get out of there!"

He looks down from his bedroom window.

"One moment... I'm just getting my wife and children together."

A minute later he re-appears at the window, wife and children alongside him. I call again, this time more urgently,

"James! GET OUT OF THERE!"

He smiles, and shouts back,

"We think the fire might be staying on the ground floor. We're going to just wait a little, to see whether it doesn't go out before spreading upstairs."

It spreads upstairs. Thick black smoke starts to billow out of the bedroom window. James and his family are coughing and gasping for fresh air. I shout again,

"JAMES! IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF THERE NOW, YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE."

Fighting for sufficient oxygen, James shouts back,

"It's OK, it's OK... we've decided to build a loft extension. There'll be no fire in there."

They burn.