Invasion of the Chosen

“You know that you cannot be released until you change your thinking.  Hundreds of your brothers are already out there, spreading the Good Word.  Join them.”

“What happens to me is for the Lord to decide.”

“Passive resistance?  I thought that Catholics took up arms.  Could it be that you are finally realising that your God will not rescue you?”

“Could it be that I am an old man who can barely hold high his own arms, let alone those of war?”

“Facile evasion.  Even you do not believe what you say.  If you did not believe, in your heart of hearts, that the newcomers bring word of the True God, you would have called on your flock to fight.  Your refusal to do so is proof of your doubt in the old order.”

“If that is what you are telling people, they will know your words are false.  The Church does not want a holy war.  God does not order his children to kill.”

“Tell it to the Saracens.  Your God isn’t in his Heaven, anyway; he never was.  The newcomers have proven it.”

“In your opinion!  I’ve yet to see anything that looks like proof.  They preach their sermons, spreading the word of how great their god is, but they offer nothing other than words.  They claim to have evidence, but where is it?

“Where are the miracles?  Where are the visitations?  The hand of God has been seen everywhere, countless times throughout history; and Jesus has visited himself on millions, to bring them to his flock.  What do your alien visitors have, other than statements that they have proof of their god?”

“They have evidence!  They have seen their God – the one, true God – and each believer, when he reaches a high enough level, can see God for himself!”

“What does that mean: ‘high enough level’?  That only the few are granted access?  That their god is so petty, in all his greatness, that he refuses to be seen by the rank and file?”

“Of course not!  But your God is never seen, either; it’s always the human Jesus that people see, and that’s only a figment of their imagination!”

“Jesus is our lord, come to us in human form.  He comes to us thus because his true nature is too much for our mortal minds to countenance.”

“Right, so God shows up as a white guy born of Arabic parents!  Ha!  And you’ve been getting away with that for centuries – it’s all been a big con, and the newcomers have debunked it.”

“You will not get me to rise to such bait; nor will the faithful give up their love of God, simply because your alien friends have different beliefs.”

“Do you know how many churches have already been built for the newcomers’ True God?  Millions upon millions are seeing the light, and accepting the truth that has been brought to us.  Your bunco game of fitting angels on pinheads has been rumbled.  We have the true religion, now, so we no longer need your fairy tales.”

“Fairy tales!  Was Mother Theresa a fairy tale?  God’s love worked through her to bring succour to thousands.  Was Barnardo a fairy tale?  God’s hand guided him from miracle to miracle, that His will be done.  You cannot deny the presence of God in the hearts and minds of such people.”

“But they were just people!  Just because someone does good doesn’t mean that your God exists!  Or do you refuse to accept that people can care about others without being guided by your so-called divine being?”

“You refuse to accept the Heaven-sent miracles that allow such people to carry on their good work when faced by impossible circumstances!”

“What miracles?  Coincidence and being in the right place at the right time, that’s all it is.”

“Being at Jesus’ side, indeed.”

“Oh, very smooth.  You’ve had this argument before.”

“Indeed I have, and I know what the outcome will be: You will refuse to believe in God, and I’ll feel sad that you cannot accept God into your heart.”

“I have accepted God!  The True God!  The Proven God!  Why can’t you accept that the newcomers are so much more advanced than us, and that they have had time to look deeper into the existence of a supreme being?

“They have been out there!  They have seen the face of God, and it is not your God!  There are no armies of angels, legions of Saints; there is no Hell, and no purgatory.  There is only God, whose will it is that we follow his commandments – not the silly stone tablet commandments that Moses was supposedly given by God after spending a month on a mountain with his hammer and chisel, but the real commandments, given by the real God to those who have actually seen him!”

“So the entire human race has to obey the instructions of these aliens, just because they say that their words come directly from God.  Who is to say that they didn’t take their own hammer and chisel up the mountain – or, rather, their own printing press, given the sheer number of commandments they expect us to obey?”

“But they have seen God!”

“So did Moses.”

“The true God gave the Word on how we should live!”

“So did Jesus.”

“…Only to be misinterpreted six ways to Sunday, if he ever really existed at all.”

“Jesus spoke to all mankind.  All see what they need to see.”

“As I can see that this discussion will have no happy ending.” The inquisitor pressed a button on his intercom.  “Please take the bishop back to his room.”

“Cell, you mean,” the bishop commented.

“This is not a prison; it is a place of education.  You are free to leave at any time.”

“If I renounce my beliefs.”

“No decent civilisation can allow heretics to roam free, fomenting strife.  Be grateful that you are comfortable.”

The bishop said nothing, but prayed silently as he was wheeled back and locked in his ‘room’.