"Where in the Bible is their agreement between science and creation?" Jobynski demanded.
"The Garden of Eden," God said. "In the beginning. Adam and Eve were one amongst the animals. I gave them one task only, to be caretakers of Eden."
"They failed! Jobynski said. "Why didn't you kill them?"
"It would have been the end of humanity."
"You allowed Cain to kill his brother Able?"
"Now you are speaking of allegory."
"You mean that part is poetry?" Jobynski asked.
"Yes. And what do you think is the lesson?"
"That we are our brother's keeper," Kathy said.
"Come now, Agent Jobynski," God said. "You're the Biblical scholar. Think as a theologian and correct her."
Jobynski's brow furrowed until he looked into those clear blue eyes and answered, "Death is not a punishment."
"Is that true?" Kathy asked.
"Jesus H Christ on a bicycle!" Jobynski exploded annoyed at himself for responding. "Why the hell are you asking him?"
Kathy looked away and Jobynski finished his Cel-Ray soda. Slammed the can down and demanded of God. "If death is so goddamned good why do people have to suffer?"
"To appreciate life."
"My wife is in a fetal position for two years. She can't appreciate anything! She doesn't know where she is. Death would be better for her."
"Is that is what you want?"
"I almost killed her myself.
"I know."
"Go ahead," Jobynski challenged. "You do it!"
"Are you certain?" God asked.
"What the hell," Jobynski said. "She won't know the difference.
Upset by Jobynski's outburst Kathy changed the subject, "Does Satan exist?" she asked.
"Not the way you mean, "God said,
"But Satan is mentioned in the Bible?
"There I am referring to man's ability to choose evil," God said. "Think about it. Without suffering and death all mankind would become Satan."
"What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?" Jobynski said. "Squeeze 15 billion years into seven days."
"Jobynski." Kathy shoved her finger under his nose, "don't interrupt me. You only have the privilege to question him if I say so."
Jobynski smiled, pushing her finger aside he asked, "Why didn't you call him God?"
The motor on the wheelchair whirred and stopped before Kathy. "Let me clarify this, "God said, “There is no Satan. Man is the only thing in the universe with freedom of choice. Everything else acts according to the laws of nature. I imposed these laws and they are irrefutable. I also gave man laws. But man is free to choose. Good and evil are open to him."
"How does man know which way to go?" Kathy asked.
"Follow my instructions. I have kept adding to them. Adam and Eve had only one rule."
"And they broke the shit out of it," Jobynski said. "They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
God nodded. "They needed more guidance."
"But if you didn't know what they were going to do then you're not omniscient." Jobynski said.
"But I am."
"Why didn't you stop them?" Kathy asked.
"They would not have had freedom of choice."
"Why give them freedom if you knew they were going to sin."
"Without the ability to choose man would be another animal. He'd be programmed to live, sleep, eat and procreate with out the ability to change."
"Are you saying man is descended from animals?" Kathy asked.
"I took man out of nature but nature is still part of man."
"Darwin's Origin of the species?" Kathy asked.
"We're descended from animals." Jobynski said. "Science proved it."
"And Genesis confirms it," God said. "I brought all the animals to Adam for him to find a mate. None were suitable."
"Explain it to me in a way I can tell the jurors," Kathy said.
"On the sixth day I created an abundance of fish and flying creatures, then cattle and other living creatures. Then I created man, male and female. I created them as one being.'
"In our image!" Jobynski said. "According to the Bible you said, In our image."
"Yes?"
"The word our, indicates other Gods besides you?" Jobynski challenged.
"There are other heavenly beings. I am an absolute singularity".
"Angels?" Jobynski asked.
"Like the one who pulled your foot off the trip wire leading to the fifty gallon drum of napalm strapped with TNT," God smiled.
Jobynski fell back in his chair. It was the mine field in Iraq. His foot hit a trip wire.
A hand behind him grasped his dungaree trouser and held his leg steady in the air until the rest of the squad was far enough away. Neither he nor the man behind him knew if the fire bomb would detonate when releasing the pressure on the trip wire or pulling it further.
Standing on one leg Jobynski began to shake with fear. The man behind him gently lifted his booted foot off and over the trip wire and they both ran. When he reached the safety of the bunker he turned to thank his savior. But he was gone. All the men in his squad were accounted for. Jobynski was supposed to be the last man in line. Kathy pushed a napkin toward Jobynski. He mopped the sweat from his face. She turned to the man in the wheel chair."
"Are there other Gods?" Kathy asked.
"The words "our image" have been misconstrued."
"Misinterpreted? Kathy asked.
"Misunderstood," God said. "When I say, "In our image…" I am speaking to Adam. I have no image that man can see and live. I am telling Adam that although man will resemble him there will be some aspects of Me in each human that makes the individual unique. No two people look, act or think alike."
"But we're looking at you!" Jobynski said. "Is this one aspect of God?"
"You're looking at the body of Paul Smith."
"Your selection of a body is piss-poor," Jobynski said.
"Even if you were really speaking with Adam," Kathy said. "The words "our image" includes both of you.”
"The Hebrew word "Tselem" means likeness." Jobynski interrupted. "What is the likeness between man and God?" He asked.
"Freedom of choice," God said. "Mankind's moral and spiritual character is created by Me but formed by the individual. I give man a soul with a clean slate. Each person must write upon it. So it was with Adam and Eve.
"Aren't there two accounts of the creation of man?" Kathy asked.
"Yes," God said. "In the first male and female were in one body. To this day males have female hormones and females, male hormones."
"If you're omniscient you should have known you would have to separate them." Jobynski said
"Adam had freedom of choice. I brought all the animals for him to find a mate. He didn't. I created Eve from Adam. And he wrote the first poem. "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
"Didn't you know they would eat of the fruit of the tree?" Kathy asked.
"That is why I forbade it."
"Why forbid that particular tree?" Kathy asked.
"The tree itself had no special significance," God said. "I wanted to establish in the mind of man My ownership of everything as the creator. Adam and Eve used their freedom of choice to challenge Me. That is why I banned them from Eden."
"Her question," Jobynski said, "was what they got by eating the fruit. According to the Bible you said, "Now they are like us.""
"Yes. By eating the fruit Adam and Eve exercised their imagination. Do you recall what happened immediately after they ate?"
"They saw their nakedness," Kathy said.
"But they had always been naked," God said "It was only when they could imagine the future did they cover themselves."
"What's wrong with a little imagination?" Jobynski asked.
"It's like being a little bit pregnant," God said. "Imagination is still mankind's most egregious problem. Man has not yet learned to control his imagination. The human perception of life is filtered through desire, conceit and delusions of divinity. As man once thought the universe revolved around the earth, today he thinks everything revolves around him."
"That will be prosecutor's accusation against you," Kathy said.
"I won't appear."
"You mean you won't appear as God?" Kathy asked.
"Correct.,"
"What's the purpose of this whole conversation?" Jobynski demanded.
The purpose of man is to serve Me," God said. "I brought both of you here to publicize the Eighth Day of Creation.
"If you won't appear in court as God," Kathy said. "I can't help Paul Smith. He will be found guilty."
"And so he should be," God said.
"Sir," Kathy said. "It's my professional and personal opinion that you're delusional. This will not prevent your conviction. The film of this interview will show that you understand right from wrong."
"There is no film," God said.
Kathy ignored the answer, saying, "You will be prosecuted on 610 counts of manslaughter and found guilty."
"It's time for both of you to understand who I really am," God said. "Go to the door and open it."
"Why? Kathy asked.
"You will see that time has stopped."
Kathy started to rise but Jobynski said, "Before this farce ends, I have a couple of questions for the record." He pointed at a camera then at God, "Answer Ms. Connors' original question. Fit 15 billion years into the seven twenty-four hour days of creation."
"Fine," God said.
"I understand the spaceship analogy," Kathy said. "But what does the flashlight hypothesis have to do with earth time and God's time?"
"What is the difference in time between here and Los Angeles?" God asked.
"Three hours," Kathy replied
"And seven hours for Jerusalem," God said. 'Sixteen hours for Perth, Australia. Time is local on earth. That makes it arbitrary in space. According to where you are on earth time is different. View earth from outer space, your perception of time will be contradictory."
"Where the hell could you possibly be," Asked Jobynski, "to make a fifteen billion year difference in time?"
"Everywhere," God said. "I encompass the universe. Man thinks of me in human terms."
Jobynski gave a dry chuckle, "How else can we conceive of you when you show up in the body of a murdering, lying bastard."
""How," Kathy asked, "can you possibly encompass the universe and be sitting in that chair?"
"Tzimtsum," God said.
"It's a Hebrew word," Jobynski said. "It means reduction in size so man can relate to God."
Kathy gave a frustrated sigh, "You haven't answered the question about man and time on earth," Kathy said.
"Yeah!" Jobynski chimed in, "The Old Testament says the world is 5771 years old and scientific data shows humans three-hundred thousand years ago.
"Those humanoids prior to 5771 years ago did not have a soul. I took one of these semi-humans and breathed a special soul into him. What does science says about the origin of man? Science dates earth from the first day of creation. That's 15 bullion years ago. Man was created on the sixth day. The world in Biblical years is counted only after man was given his soul at the end of the sixth day. From your point of view it took 15 billion years," God said, "From My point of view outside the universe, only six days."
"I might be able to confuse a jury," Kathy said. "But the Bible claims man was formed from the earth?"
"Science agrees," God said, "that man evolved from the earth and first lived in the sea. Agent Jobynski, what does Adam's name mean?"
"Earth or soil."
"But how was man called at first?
"Ha Adam," Jobynski mumbled and his brow wrinkled in thought. He looked up and asked, "Are you going to tell me that he was a humanoid before you gave him a soul?"
"Science is very correct," God said. "Man evolved from the animals. I selected one of the humanoid animals and infused him with a soul. Then I gave him a mate and told them to be fruitful and multiply."
While Jobynski thought, Kathy asked, "Are you saying that man as we know him is only about six thousand years old."
"The reason agent Jobynski is so deep in contemplation," God said, "is because he's correlating the scientific arguments with his religious training as a priest to form a challenging question. He is about to come to a stunning conclusion."
"You could be right?" Jobynski said. "If there is a God…?"
"I am," God said.
"Keep quiet," Jobynski ordered and waved Kathy to silence. "I need to think." He pulled out a small box of cheroots, absent mindedly put them on the table and said. "I would like to have my computer here to access my notes."
"God pointed at Jobynski's shirt pocket."
Jobynski withdrew the notepad and slapped it down besides the box of cheroots. "If God is so smart why couldn't he create a world without pain, sorrow and conflict?" Jobynski demanded slamming his fist on the note pad.
"You have all your complaints written down," God said pointing at the notebook. "Read them."
"Go to hell," Jobynski said and pointed to the door, "Ms Connors, end this farce and open the door."
Kathy shrugged, smiled and walked to the door. She opened it. Jobynski was admiring her well shaped ass when he saw her body stiffen. She took two steps backward turned, tried to walk, started trembling, went knock-kneed and melted to a sitting position on the floor with her legs tucked under her. Jobynski jumped up overturning his chair and rushed to her side.
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