R=Reporter
J=Jehovah
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R: Thank you for agreeing to this interview. How should I address you? What is proper? Yahweh? Jehovah? Lord?
J: Doesn't matter much. I know who means to contact me and why.
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R: You aren't offended if somebody calls you, um, Allah or Jehovah or Adonai or just god?
J: Oh please! The taking of offense rests in the bosom of the stupid ones.
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R: Very well, then. Lord . . . are we on our own or do you guide us in some way?
J: You have each other don't you?
R: We cooperate to a certain point. Mostly, we argue. We disagree. Things are a mess. We need help. We need YOUR help.
J: False premises lead to false conclusions. You are making an assumption and treating it as fact.
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R: But--we die! Every one of us. Our best science, medicine, and technology can only delay death for awhile.
J: Flowers die. Plant more flowers. People die, but you have no problem replacing them with others from what I observe.
R: Are you saying we're no more important than THAT?
J: Important? You live; you die. How does "important" figure into that?
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R: Well, for one thing, Lord--we're made in your image!
J: Can you see me?
R: Certainly not.
J: What could an "invisible" image really mean?
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R: We're special. We've been created to fulfill your purpose, and we got sidetracked by sin and Satan. It says so in your Word: the Bible.
J: That's news to me.
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R: (Dumbfounded) Oh my god! Sorry. I mean--are you saying . . . what ARE you saying?
J: When the snow melts--where does the "white" go? It is a meaningless question, is it not?
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R: But, why give us the Bible. Why send Jesus to die for us if everything is "meaningless" for us?
J: You are getting ahead of yourself. Slow down.
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R: First off . . . Did you give us the Bible?
J: Nope.
R: You didn't?
J: Nope. You gave yourselves the Bible. If you don't understand it--don't blame me!
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R: You mean--the Bible isn't the Word of, um . . . God?
J: I'm sure it is.
R: I'm confused.
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J: Yes, you are ALL confused. Figure out what you mean by "God" and part of your confusion will vanish.
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R: Are you implying there is more than one God?
J: God is whatever you put above your own understanding. If you need advice, wisdom, purpose or blame you find it. You put it where you can find it. Then, you wrestle with it. Argue over it. Kill for it. None of that is my doing.
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R: But, you are real. Aren't you?
J: Let me ask you: do you ever talk to yourself from time to time?
R: Sure.
J: Is this one of those times?
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R:Please, I'm trying to get answers to important questions here!
J: Ask the right ones, then.
R: You tell me, what questions should I ask?
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J: Now that is a fine example of what I am telling you! You want the answers to questions you don't even know how to ask. And you wonder why you are confused?
R:(Silent . . . thinking . . .) sighs . . . Is there Evil? Is there a Devil?
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J: How can you doubt evil?
R: I don't. But, is there a PERSON who is the cause of evil?
J: Lots of them. Your prisons and history books and governments and religions are filled with them.
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R: I mean just ONE named Satan?
J: Cancer. Do you know what it really is? Cells in your own body. They multiply and interfere with the other cells. Is CANCER a person? Would it mean anything if once, millions of years ago, there was person named CANCER?
R: I'm asking YOU!
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J: And I've already told you that asking the wrong questions doesn't get you anywhere. You are stuck in a quicksand of mythology. Meaningless lore.
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R: Do you--the Creator of everything--have a work for people to do here on Earth? Let's start with that.
J: This is your home: Earth. Is it perfect? Do you want to improve it or ruin it? Your home; your choice. You have Life. You own your life. What do YOU want to do with it? Do it. Or, don't. But, crying out to me for directions is abandoning your OWN purposes. Make choices, then own those choices.
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R: Some of us--many of us are born deformed, or sick. Some of us are murdered or molested . . . we don't get much of a chance to do anything before it is Game Over.
J: That deeply saddens me, I assure you.
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R: But--you don't--you don't DO anything about it--you don't step in and stop it from happening! Don't you care?
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J: Two different things. I care. Profoundly. But, you are correct, I don't step in and stop it.
R: Why why why? If you are a Good God, why wouldn't you want to stop the evil?
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J: The simple answer won't satisfy you. But, here it is. You can't have things absolutely PERFECT unless you are all by yourself. Been there; done that.
R: What are you saying?
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J: One mind can have one purpose and one outcome. Two minds . . . or more . . . that leads to conflict. I had a choice to be ALONE. I chose to not
remain alone. The result, like it or not, resulted in differences which led to conflicts. So, I take the good with the bad rather than be ALONE.
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R: Why not force conformity and destroy those causing conflict?
J: Like it or not. I gave humanity the gift of life. You work it out or you don't. I've stepped in and snuffed out men, women, children, babies in their mother's womb, plants and animals. It did about as much "good" as washing your hands does in spreading germs. It is a temporary solution to an ongoing problem. You have "good" people and you have "bad". Mostly, you have good people who sometimes do bad and bad people who sometimes do good.
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R:You aren't All-Powerful, then?
J: I can create. I can destroy. What more do you want? Constant remote control? What does that do for me? About as much as playing video games does for you. It might be interesting for awhile. But, I'm in the middle of Eternal Life. How far does that go with a Life Sentence such as that?
R: Wait--are you saying you are miserable! Being God is not a great thing?
J: I cannot die. You humans think you want that? You have NO IDEA what a curse that would be! I would be a monster if I gave you that!
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R: What about angels, demons and . . . what about your son, Jesus?
J: What about them?
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R: Aren't they eternal?
J: Listen, I Am independent. Every other living thing which exists is Dependent. Life itself is merely opportunity to DO. Endless opportunity to DO something is also endless opportunity to create problems for the others.
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R: But, I asked about Jesus?
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J: I was lonely. What do you want from me?
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R: The Trinity--are you part of a Trinity?
J: Oh please! Like you've understood anything I've said already?
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R: I'm standing here talking to the Supreme Being of all the Universe and I haven't learned a thing! How can this be happening?
J: Your fundamental human mistake is always the same one. Solve that problem and the rest goes away.
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R: Which is what? What is the "fundamental" human mistake we can't seem to solve?
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J: Time. How do you fill it with meaning without trying to escape the fact--for you and for every person--it ends?
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R: Pious people only want to do YOUR will. Are you saying we are wasting time trying to figure that out?
J: I told you. My will is that your life belongs to you. Eventually, when all is silent again I will be alone. It will be as it once was. I do not and can not change. You can! I have given to you what I don't have for myself. You have the magnificent opportunity to DO something knowing you will end.
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R: That scares us more than anything!
J: This makes you fools. You waste your life trying to escape death. LIFE is about DOING and then dying. Instead of DOING something you want rituals, prayers as though you deserve to GO ON LIVING! For what? Just to NOT die? That is the only hell there is: NOT DYING!!
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R: I don't know what to say...
J: You do. But, you won't.
R: I do....but, I won't? (thinking...) I DO...but, I WON'T?...oh..OH! I think I get it now!
J: (Smiling invisibly) That wasn't so difficult now, was it?
END of INTERVIEW