BACK TINYBABY 3'?m1f Monologue: Why would God create people who sin? You know, it's getting so that I hate to pick up a newspaper or turn on the news. Corporate presidents defrauding their stock holders, government leaders killing their own citizens, serial killers, gang violence, mothers leaving newborn babies in dumpsters. I know I shouldn't blame God for any of this. After all, the people who do these horrible things are in direct violation of what God has commanded them to do. But still, when it all weighs so heavily upon me, I can't help but think, "Why would God create the universe when he knew in advance that the people he created are surely going to defy his instructions?" Recently, I got an answer to that question and it was from a rather unusual source: I had a baby. I created a life of my own. A few days after the birth of my baby, the newspaper headlines and the TV news flashes were particularly gruesome. And that question came to my mind again: "Why would God create the universe when he knew in advance that the people he created are surely going to defy his instructions?" And the answer was right there in my arms. (cradles arms as if holding a baby) This beautiful creature of my own creation was lying innocently in my arms, cooing and smiling at me, completely unaware of the death and destruction of the headlines. Before we decided to have a baby, I was well aware that there wasn't a single child ever to escape from childhood without varying levels of disobedience, defiance and deviance. Yet, I went ahead and had a baby anyway. But now I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I had just done what God decided to do before time began, to create human beings knowing full well that they would disappoint him. Now, I had to explain myself and my creator. Is there some kind of insanity that happens before the creative process? Do people suddenly develop selective amnesia? Do they forget the "down side" of their creation? But my answer for myself was an emphatic NO. I decided to make a baby IN SPITE of the down side. Why? The answer, again, was right here in my arms. Babies have this special SOMETHING that makes us who create them override our negative thoughts. We CHOOSE to ignore the certainty of their sins. But what is that special SOMETHING. And then it hit me. We are made in the image of God. My baby is made in the image of God. There is a huge capacity in my baby to love and be loved. That love comes from God. It causes me to look beyond the disobedience, the defiance, and the deviance to look at the goodness and love God has built into my baby. God is so good and so loving, how can I not create a baby with that love and goodness built in. I don't know how intelligent my baby will be, how outgoing, how creative, how clever. The only sure thing about my baby is the image of God: the love and good that cry out for more. I am convinced that God is so full of love that He was compelled to duplicate his love in creation. And I am just as compelled to duplicate that love in a baby. Yes, of course, I'll be disappointed, sometimes even enraged at her behavior. But the only sure thing about human life is the love we were created with. God looks beyond the misbehavior in order to spread His love. And so should I. ©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. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: [email protected] BACK |