“What?” Susan was startled, then shocked into silence, recognizing the words of Paul.
Titters and whispers filled the gallery. The prosecutor was nodding to himself, seemingly lost in thoughts.
“God decreed a witch must not be allowed to live,” he said. “I wish to commend you for killing countless witches in centuries past. You have done well by your god. You have also done well by Him as you burned at the stake apostates and heretics.”
His smile turned to a scowl.
“You have grown lax in recent centuries, and sin has overflowed the land. God commanded you to put to death the mediums, yet they practice their eldritch arts unhindered. God commanded you to put to death blasphemers, yet they abound in your cities.” He pursed his lips. “Can I at least assume you have been executing all adulterers as is commanded in the Good Book?” He shot her a sharp look.
Someone from the gallery yelled out, “Do God’s will!” Hoots and laughter greeted this statement.
Deadpan, the Examiner waited for the ruckus to subside. “No wonder you have an overpopulation problem on your hands,” he said sorrowfully. “There are so many sinners to kill with no one to do God’s work.” He sighed theatrically.
“Kill! kill! kill!” some started to chant, and others picked up on it and joined in. For the crowd, this session was nothing but theater. And the more outrageous the proclamations, the more entertained they were. The Examiner did not disappoint.
He raised his arms, asking for silence, his face solemn. “I am afraid,” he said. The chant petered to mutters and snickers. “I am afraid to find out how many people willfully ignore God’s holy commandment to put to death those offspring who treat their parents with contempt. Why are you questioning the God of Mercy?” he said in a pleading voice. “Why do you not have faith in the God of Love?”
The chant resumed. “Kill! kill! kill!”
“Jesus never commanded this!” cried out Susan.
“Much as I do now, God the Son rebuked the doubters: ‘Why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?’ Jesus said and then added, ‘Anyone who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.’ God the Son then cried out: ‘You hypocrites!’”
“Kill! kill! kill!” hundreds of people shouted gleefully and stamped their feet.
“It appears you accept God as your Lord,” Rafirre called out. “It is just some of His commandments you have a problem with.” He shook his head sadly.
“Those barbaric edicts were set by God for Iron Age people,” Susan screamed over the tide of sneers and yells. Wrenched from the heart, it came out of her mouth without thought. “We have matured and evolved since!”
The Examiner held out both hands until silence returned to the Grand Hall.
“Did it not occur to you that the fact the all-mighty, all-knowing Father did not alter in modern times the Holy Book is an indication He expects you to follow the Bible as it stands?”
He turned to the members of the commission. “I posit that the standards of what’s right and wrong are an articulation of God’s character. If His attributes do not change, then neither do His moral principles. What was wrong yesterday cannot become right today.” The Examiner turned his attention back to Susan. “The very fact Jesus had to die to satisfy cosmic justice means even God cannot bend the fundamental, immutable order of the universe and waive any of the resultant laws. Yet, you presume to do so.”
He walked over to the seated woman. “Did it not occur to you that if you were meant to ignore some divine edicts and modify others, God would have told you so—rather than state the code of law in a manner that is both absolute and articulated? Otherwise, what does it mean to regard the Bible as the final authority?”
“Jesus washed away our sins by his precious blood,” Susan was saying faintly, as if reciting a litany. “Therefore, we are absolved and forgiven. We are imperfect; we cannot adhere to divine law fully and at all times.”
Mutters and jeers rose from the assembled crowd. A few of the commissioners regarded the Earth woman with unmasked disgust and incredulity.
“God may forgive your failures,” responded Rafirre, “but He does not absolve you from the obligation to do your utmost to comply with every one of them—bride-price, clothes woven from a single type of fiber, prohibition of land sales, and the rest. For it is said, ‘Until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law.’ It is also said, ‘A person who keeps all the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.’” He crossed his arms. “And let’s be honest here,” he said in a reasonable tone of voice, “how hard is it to round up a few good people of faith and push homosexuals off rooftops?”
A thunderous applause and whistles greeted those words.
One of the commissioners leaned in. “So that’s Christianity? Those principles and statutes you discussed earlier?”
“No, Your Grace. These are but the things contained in their holy book. Some are adhered to, some downplayed, some ignored.”
“All right. Before you launch into the tenets of Christianity proper, I would like to learn how this religion first emerged.”
“A thick theological haze shrouds its origins,” replied the Examiner. “Your Grace, from what we can surmise, there was a Jewish wisdom teacher by the name of Yehoshua, who preached in Galilee toward the end of the Second Temple Period. Foremost, Yehoshua’s preaching centered on the imminent apocalypse, a common belief among Jews during that time.
“This fellow believed the world was on the cusp of a radical new world order. Heralded with the arrival of a national savior, God was to reassert control. Subsequently, those who had aligned themselves with the forces of evil would get their dues; those who were faithful would be allowed to participate in the new world and henceforth lead a joyful life.
“There were signs the present age was swiftly coming to an end: blind people started to see, dead people walked among the living.
“Therefore, when Yehoshua urged people to sell their belongings and offer no resistance to the brutal Roman regime they were under, it was not meant as any sort of maxims for society to live by. Rather, it was said in a context of a world order coming to an end. The preacher encouraged all who would listen to get their spiritual affairs in order, leave their worldly possessions and families, repent their sins, and embrace the gist of the Jewish law. As the clock was ticking down to zero, he urged people to intensify the Jewish moral code. Adultery was regarded as a sin, but lust, claimed Yehoshua, is already adultery. Those who heeded his preaching and embrace more stringent practices would be the first in the new social order.”
“Was the message directed at humanity at large?”
“Unlikely, Madam Commissioner. A non-Jewish woman pled with him to help her daughter, who suffered terribly under the possession of a demon. Yehoshua was eventually swayed by her pleas. Yet, he had first pointedly ignored her, then informed the woman he was sent ‘only to the lost sheep of Israel’ and rudely told her off: ‘It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.’
“We can but speculate what events took place in the annual Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem that brought his life to a tragic end. At some point, the holiday crowds must have taken up his message that the Kingdom of God is near. Perhaps a rumor spread that it would happen on that very holiday week. More importantly, the throngs likely have proclaimed Yehoshua as the savior. The mood turned incendiary.
“In collaboration with the leading Jewish priests (who may have had to pay dearly for any riot by their people), the Romans decided to act. They did what they always did in those cases: discredit the message and de-escalate the situation by killing the figurehead in a very public way. Yehoshua was not the first or last apocalyptic prophet to be crucified in those years. By crucifying him, things got once again under control—until the next messianic stirring a fe
w years later, that is. It is anyone’s guess what the hapless chap thought at the end, crying out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
“Yehoshua of Natzrat was executed. And then something unprecedented happened—at least according to later claims. Some of his followers had an ecstatic vision, witnessing their prophet in a resurrected, immortal body. He spent a short time with them and subsequently ascended to be with God in Heaven.”
“He died again?”
“No, Madam Commissioner. He went up to Heaven alive and well with the expectations he would come back within their lifetime and usher in the new era.
“In the subsequent years, the sect members visited Jewish meeting houses around the Mediterranean, carrying with them the good news that the end of the age was coming soon, in their own lifetime.”
“What happened next?”
The Examiner spread his hands. “Years and decades went by. Neither has God’s adopted son re-appeared, nor God has re-asserted its benign control of Earth. And just as disheartening, fellow Jews were downright hostile to the Christian sect. The disciples reinterpreted events once again.”
“Let’s get on with it. When did he at last make his second appearance?”
“His followers are still waiting, Your Grace.”
“What do you mean ‘still waiting’? How much time has passed?”
“Give or take about two thousand years.”
The commissioner shook his head in disbelief, and howls of laughter erupted throughout.
“Well, maybe he changed his mind and is not coming back,” drawled the presiding chair.
More laughter and hooting.
One of the commissioners motioned the Examiner to continue.
Rafirre cleared his throat. “I will put forward what could be regarded as a conservative evangelical view of Christianity. Each tenet I present has variants in the numerous denominations that abound.
“I have mentioned earlier that Christianity has three Gods operating as one. Well, this trio will bring the existing epoch to an end and institute a radically different one. This is where it all leads up to, so let me start off with this.
“The beginning of the end will be heralded with wars, famine, and scarcity that will kill over one billion people. And then things will get really bad.
“The sun will become blackened as sackcloth. Earthquakes will cause islands to submerge and mountains to crumble. Boulder-sized hail will rain down. Every man-made thing will collapse, and a third of all trees and grasses will burn up. Freshwater will transform into blood. Demonic locust-like creatures will come pouring out from deep within the bowels of the earth. They will attack the survivors for months on end, their sting as painful as that of scorpions. People will be afflicted with malignant sores, and the black sun will scorch their tormented bodies. Yet no one will be capable of committing suicide.
“With the world in ruins and people in searing agony with no reprieve, all will be prostrated before God the Son as He at long last makes His grand entry, accompanied by believers who will have risen from the dead in glorious, immortal bodies. God the Son will assume the role of a world despot. He will reign in perfect righteousness and usher peace and prosperity throughout. During this time, the demons will be cast into a bottomless pit and will have no influence on Earth.”
“Demons?” inquired one of the commissioners.
“Yes,” said Rafirre. “It is as good a time as any to mention that the world has angels: immortal spiritual beings with sentience. Their role is to praise and worship the three gods. In addition, they watch over rulers and nations, seeking to exert influence. The world also has demons, in effect fallen angels. Organized in principalities, they continuously work evil and try to exploit human weaknesses and gain a foothold into one’s psyche.
“At the end of one thousand years of benevolent rule, the demons will resurface and join forces with many unbelievers who have submitted but outwardly to the Son’s reign. A great battle will ensue. In its aftermath, the demons will be banished into a lake of fire never to re-emerge.”
The audience sat mesmerized by the ghastly details.
The Examiner continued, “At that point, everyone will be hauled up and brought forth to stand for a final judgment, both those who will be alive during that epoch to come and those who have died in ages past. Those deemed sinners will be cast into the fires of Hell to suffer for all eternity. Those considered among the righteous will enter the full enjoyment of life in the presence of God.
“While all sinners will experience an everlasting torment, there are to be varying degrees of suffering and agony. In determining the extent of horror to be meted out, every sin will be accounted for and tallied. Same for the righteous; they also will be meted varying degrees of reward, as they are to take their place in the new Earth.”
“A new Earth, you say?”
“Indeed,” responded the Examiner, “there will be a total reset on creation. The new Earth will be a place of great beauty, abundance, and joy—with no death, pain, or sorrow.”
The commissioner barked a laugh. “Is this their idea of a paradise?” she grumbled. “How can you be truly alive if you do not comprehend your mortality? How can you be in ecstasy if you have no space for agony? How can you be really human if you cannot really choose?” She regarded the seated Terraneans. “If life can be viewed as a web of interactions—such as these with the world at large, or with a spouse, or with a task, or with one’s self—then paradise can be viewed as a place where interactions are meaningful. A paradise is a place that empowers its inhabitants to brave interactions that engage them—interactions that are charged or fiery versus casual or prosaic. A paradise is a place where people feel inclined to lay themselves open to interactions that draw them out—interactions that bring out in them the worthy or heartfelt. What you portray as their loftiest vision is but a waiting room. A graveyard.”
“Yes, Madam Commissioner.”
“I take it to gain admittance to their notion of paradise, one has to live in accord to the divine dicta,” the presiding chair said.
“Your Graces, Christianity hinges on the idea this is not truly possible, which brings us to the crux of this religion. Let me lay it out bare for you to see.
“God the Father begot the cosmos and every element in it—notably, life on the planet Earth. Hence, He created the first female and male humans, from whom all have later descended. Formed in his image, they were to be the crown achievement.” He sniffed with disdain. “Their purpose for being was to glorify God.”
There were titters in the gallery.
“However, things went terribly awry,” the Examiner went on. “The first two humans, contrary to God’s edict, ate a special fruit that gave them the ability to discern good and evil. In other words, it gave them a capacity to develop a code of morality. Humanity could stand on its own two moral feet.
“The divine trio regarded this as a fundamental sin, an abomination that set a massive gulf between them and the humans.
“This sin, this malignancy was passed on down, from one generation to the next. Every newborn is marked by a conscience coupled with a reasoning faculty, that is, with a fundamentally sinful nature. This makes humans incapable of conforming to the cosmic code of morality, in both act and attitude. This corruption permeates humans’ intellect, emotions, desires, goals, and motives.”
There was a long moment of stunned silence in the Great Hall. “In my long years of service in this office,” proclaimed the presiding chair, “this is surely the most abhorrent and depraved doctrine I have ever heard.” He leaned forward and put both of his arms on the bench. “The foundation of this doctrine is taking all that is evil and distilling it to its essence.” He was glaring down at the small gathering of Earth people on the hexagonal stage area. “If to use your cultural references, this is no religion of no god; this is a satanic religion authored by th
e devil himself.” He bellowed that last sentence.
Deathly silence descended on the Grand Hall. Susan turned white. Konsta was whispering furiously to Wang Lei. Others sunk down in their seat or vacantly stared at the walls. At that moment, the Terraneans wished to be anywhere but in that packed hall. The Examiner seemed as disconcerted as everyone else by this unprecedented outburst.
The presiding chair went on in a hushed tone, “Reasoning, conscience, and personal choice—these are the very things that define us as humans and make everything worthy possible. By definition, the capacity to choose right from wrong is the bedrock of morality. What perversion of mind could generate such an immoral creed is beyond my abilities to fathom. Its malevolent premise is so great that I can barely give credit to human authors.” For a long moment, his heavy gaze rested on the Earth people.
“Continue if you would,” he said eventually.
Rafirre bowed.
“By definition, every person is destined to be tortured and burned in the afterlife for eternity. That is the punishment human nature exacts. This is but a part of the immutable system of justice governing the cosmos.”
“But there is a way out of eternal damnation,” suggested one commissioner, contempt thick in her voice.
The Examiner nodded. “There is a way out. Your Graces, at its core, Christianity is an afterlife salvation scheme. I will explain how it works.
“Out of sheer love, God the Son manifested himself as a human, obeyed the divine law during his entire earthly existence so that the merits of his perfect obedience would be counted for humans—all humans—on the cosmic scale of justice. In addition, he also took on himself the sufferings necessary to pay the penalty for their sins. And in the end, he sacrificed himself and died in their place. (At least for a weekend, until he returned from the dead.) God the Son was acting as a relative who redeems his kin and pays off their debt. Thus, the collective guilt was expunged, making people righteous and holy. From that point on, when the believers sin, they confess to God and then move on, rejoicing in the fact the payment has already been made.”
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