BACK FUTURE 5'2m?f Salvation: eternity, past, present and future VAL -- (enters, speaks over shoulder, crosses to podium DC) Welcome to Omniscient laboratories. Well, what do you think? CAL -- (enters, follows Val) Wow! Look at all these computers! What do they all do? VAL -- They all drive these three screens. (points to audience) CAL -- The screens are marked PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE. (points to left, center and right in audience) VAL -- Yes, due to a remarkable breakthrough in computer information storage and retrieval technology, we are now able to retrieve all of human knowledge from the past and present by pressing a few keys. CAL -- Everything? VAL -- From the prehistory and ancient to the very latest publications. CAL -- So, the prehistoric and ancient stuff is displayed here on the screen marked PAST (points) and the very latest information about any topic in the world is displayed on the screen marked PRESENT? (points) VAL -- Precisely. CAL -- But, the future. There's now way that even all this computer equipment can know the future. VAL -- No, but thanks to a state-of-the-art turbomultiprocessor, we can take information from the past and predict what events would happen today if an event had changed in the past. CAL -- I don't understand. VAL -- (types briefly on podium as if it were a computer keyboard) Let me give you an example. (points) CAL -- Hey, that's my name. What are you... VAL -- Let's pick an investment of ourself... This Individual Retirement Account that you started in 1984. CAL -- I remember that one. VAL -- Suppose that instead of investing at that bank, you chose... (types briefly) this mutual fund. (points at the PAST screen, then at the PRESENT screen) According to the computer, if you had chosen this particular mutual fund instead of the bank account, you would now have... CAL -- ...$12765 more. Wow! What a great machine! Do it again. What if I hadn't taken that job with that pharmaceutical company back in 1978? Can the computer tell what my life would be like today? VAL -- Of course. (types briefly) 1978... employment... interviews... (points to PAST screen) CAL -- There it is: Smith, Cline and French. VAL -- Now, we make this change (types briefly) CAL -- (points at PRESENT screen) Hey, I'd be making $40,000 per year more than I'm making now! VAL -- Uh huh. And you'd still be married. (points to PRESENT screen) CAL -- Go ahead. Rub it in. VAL -- I didn't mean to... CAL -- That was a very stressful job. It cost me my health and my marriage. If I knew then what I know now, I would have done things a lot different. VAL -- Wouldn't we all? CAL -- Hey, you still haven't shown me anything on the FUTURE screen. (points) VAL -- Yeah, well, I don't know about th... CAL -- Show me what my life will be like in... 20 years. VAL -- I'm not sure you can handle it. CAL -- What do you mean? VAL -- There's a reason why God only gives you your future one day at a time. CAL -- Come on, just show me. (points) VAL -- Well, alright, but I won't take any responsibility for the consequences. (types briefly) CAL -- How bad could it be? VAL -- Well, there it is. (points to FUTURE screen) CAL -- There what is? All the fields are blank. VAL -- Well, let me show you the rest of the ourself. (tries to usher CAL to exit) CAL -- (resists) Wait a minute. What's it mean when all the fields are blank? It means I'm not going to be alive in twenty years, doesn't it? VAL -- Well, the computer is only 99 and a half percent accurate. It could be wrong. CAL -- Golly. What difference does it make what my Individual Retirement Account pays? I won't live long enough to retire. Bummer. VAL -- I told you that you might not be able to handle it. That's why the Lord only gives you one day at a time. CAL -- The Lord! Say, can this thing tell me if I'll go to heaven? VAL -- That's the eternity key (punches one key on keyboard, points) There. Oh, oh. CAL -- That's really depressing, especially since I did so much good stuff in my life. VAL -- I don't need a computer to tell you that it doesn't make a bit of difference how many good things you've done in your life. CAL -- That's depressing. VAL -- Well, it's not hopeless. CAL -- That's easy for you to say. VAL -- No, really. CAL -- Say, can you type in the right stuff on the keyboard, and change my future, just like when you changed my investment? VAL -- Well, it's not quite that simple. But, it could be that fast. CAL -- What do you mean? VAL -- I mean, the moment you receive Jesus as your savior, your eternity is absolutely secure. CAL -- I'll do it. VAL -- Hey, don't be so hasty. Receiving Jesus takes a big commitment. You have to give up your right to run your own life. CAL -- Well, I haven't done all that well on my own. Look how poorly I did on my investment and my career and my marriage. No, I want to give my life to the Lord. (to God) Did you here that, Lord? My life is all yours now. VAL -- (Types briefly) Look what happened to your future after you made that commitment to the Lord. (points to FUTURE) CAL -- (Smiles broadly) Wow!! Hey, the fields have names and numbers in them now. What's that mean? VAL -- Well, as soon as you became a Christian, your future changed. If you keep letting the Lord run your life, you'll start eating better, exercising more, and stop doing things that are bad for you, AND you'll add years to your life. CAL -- I like this. Show me more. VAL -- Well, the next thing I'd like to show you is right through that door. (points, ushers Cal to exit) CAL -- But, that's the exit. VAL -- Right. Now go start living life more abundantly. (both exit) ©2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. 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