America 1982-Chapter 457 - 78: In the Name of God_2

"This story tells us that not listening to God will lead to punishment. God is like a teacher, he clarifies all the truths of the world for us. Adam and Eve’s act of taking the apple that didn’t belong to them was clearly very very wrong. God punished Adam and Eve by casting them out of the Garden of Eden. As a result, they forever lost the chance to live in that beautiful home. So, children, we must not be like them, taking what belongs to others for ourselves. We need to be good kids and only do the right thing," Jeff finished telling the story of the Garden of Eden and shared his interpretation with the children.

Tommy stood in the corner, listening quietly as Jeff finished the entire story of Eden, and then slowly exhaled.

Jeff’s oratory was somewhat poor, just reading from the book dryly, without any liveliness. But that last sentence reminded Tommy of his childhood when his mama would tell him and Tony a story every night before bed, often Bible stories, because she was a devout Catholic. And every story, just like Jeff did, ended with telling him and Tony to do the right thing.

"Jeff ruined that phrase. He’s not cut out to be a woman," Tommy finally concluded in his mind.

A white boy looking to be about seven or eight years old swallowed the food in his mouth and then asked Jeff with a puzzled tone, "Why does God only drive Adam and Eve out of their home but doesn’t dare to teach a lesson to the real bad guy, the mean snake that tricked Adam and Eve into eating the apple? It’s the real baddie, isn’t it?"

Seeing Jeff’s face turn to astonishment, Tommy realized his mind was now in complete disarray, a bad sign. Because if the children saw his reaction, they would ask even more questions to get answers, or rather, not just children, it’s an innate aggressiveness in people.

"The book says God created all things, but the bad snake, just like Adam and Eve, is also God’s creation. So why did God create a bad snake?"

"Why did God create so many pythons in Florida? My dad says there are almost more pythons than people in the big swamp. He even saw a python crawl into the neighbor’s house and eat their dog."

"Adam and Eve realized they were naked after eating the apple. Why did God let Adam and Eve live naked in his Eden Garden for so long? Does he invite friends over to deceive them into taking off their clothes?"

"I know, he’s a pervert, just like in the cartoon ’Sheriff Bluestar’ where one episode talks about a bad guy who likes to deceive kids to come to his house. Is God like that bad guy who likes to fool children? Who’s worse, God or the bad snake?"

"The snake’s not the baddie! The snake said that after Adam and Eve ate the apple, they would gain wisdom and the ability to distinguish good from evil. It’s God who’s bad; he wants Adam and Eve to always be dummies who don’t even know how to dress!"

"Uncle Jeff is the dummy; he can only read stories and do experiments with solid wood balls and boards! He never gives an answer when asked!"

Sure enough, after the first child’s question, more kids joined the fray, hurling all sorts of strange questions that challenged the behavior of God, their eyes sparkling as they looked at the overwhelmed Jeff.

Jeff probably hadn’t expected that just telling a common story of the lost paradise would cause such a stir. The children’s questions were like a flood about to drown him. What’s worse, these kids were almost starting to see God as a nefarious deceiver!

It was his own fault. As a believer, he was supposed to help these little ones resolve their doubts on behalf of God. But he didn’t know what to say to these kids with a thirst for knowledge and could only look to his fellow custodian friends handing out candy for help.

The two custodians gave Jeff a helpless look. After all, Jeff was the smartest of the three of them.

Jeff opened his mouth, flipped through the children’s Bible, but it had no answers to these little devils’ questions.

"Because God wanted them to use their eyes to distinguish between good and evil, to understand through their own bodies the cold and learn to clothe themselves to keep warm, rather than through someone else’s mouth. God can give life, but wisdom has to be earned by oneself through learning," Tommy smiled as he approached the children, drawing their attention to himself as he walked and interjected to help Jeff out of his predicament. He touched the head of one of the questioning boys and crouched down in front of him:

"Just like now, if I tell you that the waters at Miami Treasure Beach are bottomless and that a sea monster, the Kraken from the North Sea, comes out every day to drag yachts down with its tentacles and swallow them whole, would you believe it?"

Tommy made a clawing gesture with his hands, which made the children laugh, and a little girl said, "No way, there’s no Kraken at Treasure Beach, and the water there is very shallow."

The group of children also nodded in agreement.

"Why do you think there’s no Kraken, why do you think the water is shallow?" Tommy encouraged, looking at the little girl with an encouraging gaze.