Scene: Two campers, John and Marisa return to their camp after scavenging for berries to find everyone dead and half eaten by wolves. As they stand aghast the wolves return. John and Marisa run, hoping to make it back to their camper. The wolves are fast and the two humans must fight every step of the way. John is a master at fighting with two knives while Marisa has a black belt in several martial arts. They make it back to the camper bloodied and exhausts.
Marisa: thanks John. You saved my life. I would not have made it without you.
John: Don’t thank me. Thank god. Neither of us would have made it without his saving grace. So he gets all the glory.
Marisa: How can I thank God for saving us without blaming him for not saving the others?
John: Now now, Mare. We don’t know why god saved us and not the others. Perhaps he has some purpose for us. Let’s just be grateful.
Marisa: But that’s arrogant to think he has a purpose for our lives and not for theirs.
John: We should just be grateful we’re still alive and not concern ourselves with what God chooses to do in other people’s lives. That’s God’s business. We should just stay out of it.
Marisa: This is strange, John. On one hand, God wants us to love one another. On the other hand he wants us to not be concerned about one another.
John: Exactly.
Marisa: I can’t do that. God can’t have it both ways. Either we love people or we don’t.
John: well of course you love them. As long as you don’t hate them you can leave them in the hands of God.
Marisa: the opposite of love is not hatred. The opposite of love is indifference.
John: Now you’re trying to act like you’re more righteous than God. If God chose to let those people die, who are you to question him?
Marisa: who am I/I’m a thinking, feeling human being. Unlike cows and rats, I can’t just run over a fallen fellow creature without a backwards glance. If that’s what god requires of me then why do I have empathy? If God created me the way I am, why does he require me to be something else?
John: god works in mysterious ways. We don’t always know why he does things. But we know he is the one in control. And we just have to accept that.
Marisa: no, I don’t accept it. If it was God who saved us then he could have saved the others. The fact that he didn’t means either it wasn’t him who saved us or he is a blood-thirsty, callous psychopath who delights in suffering that he could have prevented.
John: Those aren’t the only parameters.
Marisa: What others are there?
John: Faith. We just have to have faith that god knows what he’s doing. If we just do that he will answer all our questions by and by.
Marisa: Faith?
John: Yes.
Marisa: It all comes down to faith. Not reason. Not justice, not compassion, not logic. Not respect for life. Just faith.
John: Well yeah. If you have faith you’ll have all those other things to in the end. Think of Job. He lost everything. But he had faith so in the end he got it all back.
Marisa: no, he didn’t get it all back. He didn’t get his sons back. They stayed dead. The sons he got back weren’t the same as the ones he lost.
John: But with faith he will see the ones who died one day too. Jesus said, “They who believe in me shall not die. And though they die yet shall they live.”
Marisa. He just made a statement and contradicted his own statement in the next.
John: You have to interpret it the way he meant it.
Marisa: I have no use for a book that never means what it says or says what it means but has to be interpreted to say what any denomination wants it to say.
John: No, we have to interpret it to say what God meant for it to say.
Marisa: And how do we know what god meant?
John: The Bible tells us What God meant. If we just read the Bible, the Holy Spirit will guide us into the right interpretation.
Marisa: So we should just depend on the Holy Spirit.
John: Exactly.
Marisa: Which is why there are so many denominations. I guess the HAROLD: S. doesn’t tell everybody the same thing.
John: Of course he does. There’s one spirit. One gospel. He gives everyone the same message. , but everybody doesn’t get the same interpretation because everybody doesn’t listen to the Holy spirit’s guidance.
Marisa: I’ve never been to a Church that didn’t think it was being guided by the HAROLD: S.
John: Satan deceives the unwary.
Marisa: Satan. Where would Christianity be without Stan? Guess god would have to own up to his own fecklessness and folly. So how do people who think they are being guided by the Holy Spirit supposed to know that they’re really being deceived by Satan?
John: they have to be sincere.
Marisa: I’ve never been to a Church where the people didn’t say they were sincere.
John: They may have said that, but were they?
Marisa: How do I know? There are millions of otherwise intelligent people out there who believe they will find divine favor by believing things they know are not true. Could they all be sincere? Could they all be hypocrites?
John: I don’t know, but I know what the Bible says and I believe what it says.
Marisa: You believe what you want it to say.
John: I believe what it says.
Marisa: (smiling) Really?
John: Of course.
Marisa: So what does the Bible say about Judas, the guy who betrayed Jesus? How did he die?
John: I learned that in Sunday school. The Bible says he fell head long in the potters filed and burst asunder.
Marisa: are you sure that what it says?
John: sure I’m sure.
Marisa: show me. Chapter and verse.
John pulls out his pocket Bible and shows her in the first chapter of Acts.
John: See right here, it says he bought the potter’s field and, I guess he jumped off somewhere and fell.
Marisa takes the Bible and turns pages.
Marisa: But see here in Matthew chapter 27 it tells us Judas theough the 30 pieces of silver down in the temple and went out and hung himself and it was the priest who bought the potter’s field. So which was it? Which do you believe? Did he fall or did he hang?
John: He could have done both. He could have hung himself and when the rope broke he fell.
Marisa: he’d have to have hung himself byy his feet to fall headlong as the Bible tells us. So who bought the potter’s field Judas or the priest.
John: I know there’s an answer. You may think you’ve found a contradiction but I have faith there’s an answer. The priest weren’t allowed to spend blood money so they must have…
Marisa: “They must have?” You can’t make sense of anything in this book without adding something that’s not there. You have faith and all faith is believing things you know are not trued.
John: I know the Bible is true.
Marisa: You don’t know shit.
Marisa: thanks John. You saved my life. I would not have made it without you.
John: Don’t thank me. Thank god. Neither of us would have made it without his saving grace. So he gets all the glory.
Marisa: How can I thank God for saving us without blaming him for not saving the others?
John: Now now, Mare. We don’t know why god saved us and not the others. Perhaps he has some purpose for us. Let’s just be grateful.
Marisa: But that’s arrogant to think he has a purpose for our lives and not for theirs.
John: We should just be grateful we’re still alive and not concern ourselves with what God chooses to do in other people’s lives. That’s God’s business. We should just stay out of it.
Marisa: This is strange, John. On one hand, God wants us to love one another. On the other hand he wants us to not be concerned about one another.
John: Exactly.
Marisa: I can’t do that. God can’t have it both ways. Either we love people or we don’t.
John: well of course you love them. As long as you don’t hate them you can leave them in the hands of God.
Marisa: the opposite of love is not hatred. The opposite of love is indifference.
John: Now you’re trying to act like you’re more righteous than God. If God chose to let those people die, who are you to question him?
Marisa: who am I/I’m a thinking, feeling human being. Unlike cows and rats, I can’t just run over a fallen fellow creature without a backwards glance. If that’s what god requires of me then why do I have empathy? If God created me the way I am, why does he require me to be something else?
John: god works in mysterious ways. We don’t always know why he does things. But we know he is the one in control. And we just have to accept that.
Marisa: no, I don’t accept it. If it was God who saved us then he could have saved the others. The fact that he didn’t means either it wasn’t him who saved us or he is a blood-thirsty, callous psychopath who delights in suffering that he could have prevented.
John: Those aren’t the only parameters.
Marisa: What others are there?
John: Faith. We just have to have faith that god knows what he’s doing. If we just do that he will answer all our questions by and by.
Marisa: Faith?
John: Yes.
Marisa: It all comes down to faith. Not reason. Not justice, not compassion, not logic. Not respect for life. Just faith.
John: Well yeah. If you have faith you’ll have all those other things to in the end. Think of Job. He lost everything. But he had faith so in the end he got it all back.
Marisa: no, he didn’t get it all back. He didn’t get his sons back. They stayed dead. The sons he got back weren’t the same as the ones he lost.
John: But with faith he will see the ones who died one day too. Jesus said, “They who believe in me shall not die. And though they die yet shall they live.”
Marisa. He just made a statement and contradicted his own statement in the next.
John: You have to interpret it the way he meant it.
Marisa: I have no use for a book that never means what it says or says what it means but has to be interpreted to say what any denomination wants it to say.
John: No, we have to interpret it to say what God meant for it to say.
Marisa: And how do we know what god meant?
John: The Bible tells us What God meant. If we just read the Bible, the Holy Spirit will guide us into the right interpretation.
Marisa: So we should just depend on the Holy Spirit.
John: Exactly.
Marisa: Which is why there are so many denominations. I guess the HAROLD: S. doesn’t tell everybody the same thing.
John: Of course he does. There’s one spirit. One gospel. He gives everyone the same message. , but everybody doesn’t get the same interpretation because everybody doesn’t listen to the Holy spirit’s guidance.
Marisa: I’ve never been to a Church that didn’t think it was being guided by the HAROLD: S.
John: Satan deceives the unwary.
Marisa: Satan. Where would Christianity be without Stan? Guess god would have to own up to his own fecklessness and folly. So how do people who think they are being guided by the Holy Spirit supposed to know that they’re really being deceived by Satan?
John: they have to be sincere.
Marisa: I’ve never been to a Church where the people didn’t say they were sincere.
John: They may have said that, but were they?
Marisa: How do I know? There are millions of otherwise intelligent people out there who believe they will find divine favor by believing things they know are not true. Could they all be sincere? Could they all be hypocrites?
John: I don’t know, but I know what the Bible says and I believe what it says.
Marisa: You believe what you want it to say.
John: I believe what it says.
Marisa: (smiling) Really?
John: Of course.
Marisa: So what does the Bible say about Judas, the guy who betrayed Jesus? How did he die?
John: I learned that in Sunday school. The Bible says he fell head long in the potters filed and burst asunder.
Marisa: are you sure that what it says?
John: sure I’m sure.
Marisa: show me. Chapter and verse.
John pulls out his pocket Bible and shows her in the first chapter of Acts.
John: See right here, it says he bought the potter’s field and, I guess he jumped off somewhere and fell.
Marisa takes the Bible and turns pages.
Marisa: But see here in Matthew chapter 27 it tells us Judas theough the 30 pieces of silver down in the temple and went out and hung himself and it was the priest who bought the potter’s field. So which was it? Which do you believe? Did he fall or did he hang?
John: He could have done both. He could have hung himself and when the rope broke he fell.
Marisa: he’d have to have hung himself byy his feet to fall headlong as the Bible tells us. So who bought the potter’s field Judas or the priest.
John: I know there’s an answer. You may think you’ve found a contradiction but I have faith there’s an answer. The priest weren’t allowed to spend blood money so they must have…
Marisa: “They must have?” You can’t make sense of anything in this book without adding something that’s not there. You have faith and all faith is believing things you know are not trued.
John: I know the Bible is true.
Marisa: You don’t know shit.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.
I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire
Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire
Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
