The Perfect Stranger Page #3

...maybe God doesn't even exist.

Maybe this world really is all

there is. Have you considered that?

Then you're faced with

explaining the design thing.

What, that there's no way that

it could've happened by accident?

Do you know about

the black hole theory?

Pretty much.

Do you know the odds

calculated by the guy

who came up with that theory,

that a cosmic accident could

create such an orderly universe?

No.

Take a guess.

I don't know... one in a billion.

Try one in a hundred billion...

to the 123rd power.

And that's just

the universe itself...

he wasn't even taking into account

the design of biological life.

All right. So you've managed

to poke a couple of holes

in these other religions.

But, it seems to me that every

religion, Christianity included,

they are just different

roads to the same place.

I mean, everyone

is looking for God...

Really?

Are you?

As I was saying...

everyone is looking for

God in their own way.

That's what I liked about

my friends' church back home -

they embraced everybody's different beliefs

and tried to help them

on their path to God.

There's just one problem with that?

What?

There is no path to God.

Want some tortellini?

So what do you mean,

there's no path to God?

Every religion claims to

teach the way to God.

There's a way to God.

It's just isn't a path.

What I mean is this.

A path...

is something you travel by your

own effort to reach a destination.

But there's no way you

can work your way to God.

That path... just doesn't exist.

Wait a minute -

that's what religion is all

about - trying to get to God.

How can you possibly say otherwise?

Did you ever get into

trouble when you were a kid?

Are you changing the subject?

I'll get back to the other thing.

I don't think this place

stays open long enough

for me to tell you about all

the trouble I used to get into.

That bad, huh?

Give me a highlight.

Well... one time when

we were on vacation,

I dumped a milkshake on

my little sister's head.

What did your dad do?

Well, he... pulled over,

bent me over his knee

and gave me the worst

spanking I ever had.

So your dad always

handled the spankings.

Yeah, Mom just yelled at us.

But he didn't spank us very often.

Why not?

It just wasn't his way

of handling things, I guess.

He was bigger on making us understand

why what we had done was wrong

and apologizing to the other person

- especially if it was Mom.

So your dad had a lot

in common with God.

How so?

Well, they both focused

on restoring relationships.

Your dad made you admit you had

hurt someone and then apologize.

He wanted you to

restore that relationship.

I guess I never

thought of it that way.

That's exactly how it is with God.

He isn't interested in people

performing well enough for Him -

they can't possibly do that anyway.

God created people to have

a relationship with Him,

so they can enjoy His love.

So why don't they?

Because man has rejected God

and severed the relationship.

God's whole program,

if you wanna call it that,

is all that putting

it back together.

Tell me this.

When Sarah does something wrong,

how many dishes does she

have to wash before she can

get up on your lap

and get a hug again?

None.

Then how many A's will she

have to make in school?

That's silly.

Why?

Because she doesn't have to

do anything - she's my daughter.

Well, there you go.

So you are saying

that we can't do anything

to earn God's love?

A little more?

Sure.

Back to the Muslims who try

to earn their way into Paradise -

do you know how many daily prayers

they have to perform just

to be good enough?

No.

Neither do they.

They're never sure

if they've done enough

praying, or fasting, or making

pilgrimages, giving to the poor.

Just ask them, they'll

tell you the same thing...

Really?

And the Hindus never know

how many lifetimes it takes

to successfully

workout their karma.

But Christianity is no different.

I mean, no one can ever really know

if they've been good enough to

make it into heaven.

Oh, they you can know that for

certain. And the answer is no,

they can't.

No one is good enough to make into

heaven, no matter how hard they try.

So you're saying that

doing all the right things,

like keeping the Ten Commandments,

and not cheating on your taxes,

won't get you into heaven?

Sorry.

That's right.

Keeping the Ten Commandments

wont get you into heaven.

Then why do them?

There's great

profit in obeying God -

it just won't

get you into heaven.

Man's rebellion

against God is like a

huge rip in the moral

fabric of the universe -

- with God on one side and

everybody else on the other.

And there's no way you

can get to the other side.

Why not?

Because only God is

big enough to fix the tear.

Who would you say is

the best person in the world?

Excuse me?

Morally speaking, who's the

best person you can think of?

Living or dead?

Either one?

Somebody like

Mother Teresa, I guess.

All right,

we'll say this is Mother Teresa.

Now who's the worst?

Gosh - Osama bin Laden,

Jeffrey Dahmer, Hitler -

Pick one.

Okay... Hitler.

All right, that's Hitler.

Now where would you say that

you fall into place on this scale?

Well, if I say, 'With

Mother Teresa', I'll appear vain,

but if I put myself with Hitler

that's... well, forget it.

How about... here?

Sugar. Cute.

So what do I win?

Nothing.

But I am going to show you how

you measure up in the eyes of God.

Great.

Now, for this to be

totally accurate,

we'd have to place these

three objects on a road

that ran all the way from

New York to Los Angeles

with you, Mother Teresa,

and Hitler in New York,

and God's moral

standard all the way in L.A.

Are you saying that to God,

Mother Teresa and Hitler

are essentially the same?

No, Hitler was horribly evil. Mother

Teresa did many good things.

What I'm saying is, Mother Teresa,

for all her goodness,

was no closer to bridging the

gap to God than Hitler was.

Both of them, based

on their own merits,

were still a long way

from being with God.

So that's why you

said that keeping the

Ten Commandments

won't get us into heaven.

Right. Because no one could ever

keep them well enough.

Because God's

standard is perfection.

Boy that's reassuring.

And you wouldn't

want it any other way.

What's that supposed to mean?

Would you really want

the universe to be run by

someone who wasn't all about

a perfect system of justice...

...a perfect brand of holiness?

Why not? Perfect holiness is the

last thing I need to deal with.

So you would you want a universe

where crime goes unpunished?

Where someone who harms

Sarah gets off scot free?

Where somebody like bin Laden

isn't held accountable for 9/11?

Yeah, but not everyone

is as bad as bin Laden.

No, but everyone is a rebel

against God in their own way.

It just doesn't seem fair that God

sees everyone in the same way.

I mean, some people

are just worse than others.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes