The Encounter: Paradise Lost Page #4

Go with them, huh?

Make sure

she stays healed.

III:

You still smiling, huh?

Have a seat.

You know, under normal

circumstances,

any man who messes

with my wife's mind dies.

But since you managed

to calm her down,

I'm gonna give you

a pass this time.

Bruno, what do you think

just happened?

Was it just words?

Or did she really change?

You never experienced

firsthand

the destruction that

your product causes

until Mimi.

You are sorry, Bruno,

but sorry isn't enough.

What do you expect

me to do?

He's not gonna stop.

I am ready

to forgive you.

The price is true

repentance.

This is my last deal.

I'm getting out

of this.

That's good.

You should walk away.

But Bruno, is walking away

going to make you clean?

Did it work for you,

Chris?

You're comparing me

to him now?

I was a respectable

businessman.

He's a criminal.

Yet, you walked away

from your work.

Why?

Because I had enough.

I was sick of the greed

and materialism.

Whose Chris?

Society's or yours?

Does it matter?

I knew it was wrong

and I left.

Who told

you it was wrong?

No one, I just knew.

No, you didn't,

not until you walked in front

of the wrong mirror, Chris.

Timothy.

What are you

talking about?

You loved being the moral

compass of your company,

but then Timothy gave his life

to me and everything changed.

His faith was so alive,

so vibrant, so selfless

that you knew deep inside

you didn't really believe

what he believed-

that your God

wasn't God at all,

and that what you really

worshiped was success.

If I really worshiped

success,

why'd I throw it all away

and come here, huh?

It's the ultimate show

of success,

thumbing your nose at

cut-throat corporate greed

and coming here to sit

on a beach in paradise,

proving once and for all

your moral superiority.

Am I right?

I'm not answering

any more of your questions.

Neither can I answer

your question.

Which is?

"Why did my son die?"

How much longer?

I'm almost done.

Tell me something.

Are we in danger?

You and your husband

and Jesus are okay,

but I'm worried

about the policeman.

I have to trust

Jesus about him.

He's not really Jesus.

Yes, he is.

Look at me.

I'm healed!

He says you know him too

when you were 12.

When I was 12...

... everything seemed possible,

even a God who took an active

interest in everything you did.

You don't believe

that any more?

No, I don't.

And even if I did, what

difference does it make?

Where do you go when

the worst thing happens?

I lost a son.

I get it.

Do you want something?

Thank you.

Can I untie him so I can

give him something to eat?

What do you say, Jesus?

Can I trust him

to behave himself?

You know the

answer to that question.

You bet I do.

If he wants something,

give it to him there.

Is that what it's

gonna take to stop you?

Tell him, Jesus.

It was never my intention

to kill him.

I'd be more than happy

if you had just walked away.

Live and let live, Ric.

But you're going

to kill him now.

No!

Don't listen to him.

I'm gonna let Ricky boy sit

right there, tied to that chair

as we go on

our merry way.

Knowing full well

that Kamal will do it.

It's not my responsibility

what happens after we leave.

Yes, Bruno, it is.

What do you expect

me to do?

He's not gonna stop.

Give yourself up.

It's not fair.

Is it fair that I

had to leave heavenly glory

to bear the punishment

for your sins?

No, it wasn't fair.

But Bruno, sometimes

love trumps fairness.

Bruno, I've been waiting all

your life for the moment

when you would finally lay down

the burden of all the sins

that you've committed.

It weighs so heavy

on you, Bruno.

Give that burden to me.

I'll take it for you.

I can't.

I can't.

I don't know why you

went through all that trouble.

I could have told you

what he was gonna say.

Don't say it.

Say what?

That I should do it.

If I go with him,

I could end up injail.

Maybe you have to

go to jail to be free.

I love you.

Then do it for me,

please.

I told you he wasn't

gonna fall for your line.

It's very hard

to except the truth

when you've been living

a lie all your life.

Sometimes it's easier

just to die.

Isn't that rig ht,

Chris?

I never lived a lie.

But you

are ready to die.

One of the saddest

things that I see

is the way couples tear each

other apart in anger and guilt

instead of pulling together

when they lose a child.

I tried.

But he built this

little shrine to Tim,

and he didn't let anybody

else in, not even me.

Helen, your marriage wasn't

going to end in divorce.

If you don't like the way

we react to children's deaths,

stop killing them!

Are you going

to tell her, or am I?

III:

Chris was going to

take his life today.

He was going to wait

for the storm to hit

and then walk out

into the waves

and shoot himself.

Is that true?

You were gonna

do that to me?

I wasn't doing it

to you.

After everything that we've

been through with Tim,

you were gonna

do that to me?

I wasn't.

That's so selfish.

Just get off me!

No, come on, Helen!

Please!

I talk to her.

You want

me to stop her?

No.

I didn't want

to hurt her.

I know.

Why did Tim have to die?

He died for you.

Helen, are you okay?

No.

Everything I had

is gone.

But you have hope.

Your son was

a fine young man

and loved me

very much.

His goal was to share me

with the whole world.

Then why'd you

take him?

Chris, you keep

crediting me with his death,

but that's not the case.

I created

a perfect world,

paradise without death

or disease, any of those things.

Then I created man.

I gave him a wondrous

but very dangerous gift:

free will.

And soon paradise

was lost

and fell to murder,

war, greed,

pride, terrible things,

all of which sprung

from the heart of man.

I didn't create

one of them.

But you let em happen?

Yes.

But you're not responsible?

I gave you freewill.

What a cop-out!

If I sawa guy raping

a girl in an alley,

I could never live

with myself if I didn't

do something about it.

But you're just

fine with it?

No.

I cry a billion rears

across the world every day.

Then why don't you

do anything about it?

I did, 2,000 years ago

on a wooden cross,

and I continue today

crying out into the hearts

and the consciences of

every man and every woman,

the same way

I'm crying out to you.

Light has come

into the world,

but the oh-so-tragic

reality

is that men

love the darkness.

Ultimately, I take every bit

of it and I turn it around

for the benet of my

Father's kingdom.

How did my son's

death benet your kingdom?

By bringing you into it.

Chris, Timothy knew that

you didn't really believe in me.

He became very concerned

for your soul.

The tsunami.

When man fell in

the Garden of Eden,

the whole world

fell with him.

Disasters like the

tsunami are all echoes

of that initial cataclysm.

But remember,

I never let evil win.

And so I'm here,

answering the prayers

of a wonderful young son.

For his beloved father,

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