If God Exists Everything is Permitted

I recently wrote this script, which I'm pretty sure will be my next animation (my previous ideas aren't as well rendered). I enjoy the absurdity of it throughout, but as usual, I'm questioning how to end it. I'm not sure if I'm entirely satisfied with the ending this version has. Opinions?

I come to the opposite conclusion as Dostoevsky. People use God to justify all kinds of atrocity, and they mitigate guilt not necessarily though making amends with their victims, but through what is ultimately a selfish exercise of forgiving oneself by using the concept of God as a proxy, and asking God’s forgiveness (who conveniently always gives forgiveness). For killing adults, there are some standard excuses, but in the bible there are several instances when “God” demanded the mass killing of children and babies (and a few instances when He did it Himself), for instance: Genesis 6, Exodus 11, Numbers 31:15-18, Deuteronomy 20:16-18, Joshua 6:21, Joshua 10:36-37, 1 Samuel 15:3, 2 Kings 15:16, Hosea 9:11-16, Hosea 13:16.  The following is based on actual apologetics...

*scene - courtroom*

Prosecution - Your Honor, this man murdered thousands of people.

Defense - Evil people. After all, they did have different religions than my client.

Prosecution - Evil? Many of them were children, sir, some of them babies!

Defense - Normally that would be a concern, but in this case God told him to do it, so we know it was okay.

Prosecution - Wait a minute. First of all, anybody could say that God told them to do it. Are we just supposed to believe them? How do we know God told him to do it?!

*the accused writes something on a piece of paper*

Defense - The accused wrote a prophecy that came true.

*hands piece of paper to the judge*

Judge - It says here that 9/11 will happen. Absolutely remarkable!

Prosecution - But, Your Honor, he just now wrote that. 9/11 happened almost 20 years ago.

Judge - It says WILL happen, son. WILL. If he just now wrote it, it would obviously say that it HAS happened, past tense. This man predicted 9/11 and nobody listened to him. Tragic!

Prosecution -  But all he did was write about a past event in future tense.

Judge - Enough! Please label this evidence as irrefutable prophecy.

Prosecution - *sigh* Okay, but why would God want him to kill those people?

Defense - They would’ve led him astray, away from God.

Prosecution - Why would God tell him to kill their babies rather than just allow them to be raised under the right religion?

Defense - Well if they were allowed to grow up, they would’ve sought vengeance for killing their families. Killing them was the only option. My client was standing his ground when he killed those babies.

Prosecution - Then why would God create them in the first place? Wouldn’t it be easier for them to never have been born?

Defense - Never have been born? You one of those disgusting pro-choice people?

Prosecution - But you’re the one trying to justify killing babies!

Defense - Just because I think it’s okay to kill some babies, that doesn’t make me not pro-life.

Prosecution - Yes...yes it does!

Defense - My client did those babies a huge favor, sending them straight to heaven before they could sin or rebel against God.

Prosecution - But that’s also a justification to kill ALL babies!

Defense - Your Honor, let the record show that the prosecution thinks it’s okay to kill all babies.

Judge - Despicable! *gavel slam* Another outburst like that, prosecutor, and I’ll hold you in contempt of court!

Prosecution - It’s not okay to kill babies. He’s the one defending all the baby killing.

Defense - God knows all outcomes. Maybe if God demands the death of a baby, it’s because that baby would grow up to be like Hitler.

Prosecution - Then why didn’t he kill the actual baby Hitler, or better yet just never let him be born?

Defense - Okay here we go with the abortion again.

Judge - *gavel slam* I strongly suggest you wrap this up, you filthy pro-choice degenerate.

Prosecution - *eyes closed, deep breath* Okay...um...Why would God create a baby only to immediately demand it suffer the pain of death, to be sent to heaven, when He could’ve just created them in heaven to begin with?

Judge - *slams gavel* I’m about to end this here charade right now. You do not question God’s plan here in my courtroom. Do you understand me? If God wanted a baby’s only experience in life to be a horrific death, then I’m sure He had to have a perfectly good reason, by definition, because He’s God, and God is good.

*Prosecution calmly walks over to the accused and stabs him in the eye with a pen*

Judge - Bailiffs!

Prosecution - He deserved it!

Defense -  Quiet, you fool! It’s not a good idea to represent yourself, but I’d be more than happy to take your case. Now wait just a minute, Your Honor! Everyone calm down.

Judge - Counselor, this man just murdered your client!

Defense - Allegedly, murdered my client.

Judge - I just now saw him do it!

Defense - Your Honor, everything that happens is in accordance with God’s plan, as you just now alluded.

Judge - True, but…

Defense - And since God is ultimately good, as you have said, it necessarily follows that His plan is good.

Judge - Of course.

Defense - Since everything that occurs is inherently a part of God’s plan, then stabbing my client in the eye must have been justified. We just can’t know, from our limited human perspective, what greater good stabbing my client in the eye will serve, but rest assured that God has his reasons, or else it couldn’t have possibly happened.

Judge - But didn’t God say that murder is wrong?

Defense - Yet God has told people to kill other people. Was that murder?

Judge - I suppose not.

*Defense looks at Prosecution*

Defense - Did God tell you to kill my client?

Prosecution - Uh huh.

Defense - Well there you have it, Your Honor. Not only was it God’s plan, but it wasn’t even murder. You’re not going to question God are you, Judge? I mean, who are you to judge, Judge?

Judge - But how do we know God told him to do it?

*Defense looks at Prosecution*

Prosecution - Um...there’s going to be wars in the future...and...um...earthquakes.

Judge - *stands up* My God!

Prosecution - Looks like an open and shut case to me, Your Honor.

Judge - But...now hear me out...if everything that happens is in accordance with God’s plan, which is ultimately good, then isn’t that a way to justify literally everything that happens?

*long pause*

Defense - Well...yeah.

*Judge snorts coke from a huge pile, like Tony Montana*

*Prosecution stabs Defense in the eye*

Prosecution - Hey I won my first case.

Judge - *stops snorting and thinks for a moment* Wait a minute. What if we’re wrong and none of this is justified?

Prosecution - Simple. Just ask God for forgiveness.

Judge - *resumes snorting cocaine, then stops and thinks again* But what if there is no God to forgive us?

*serious music swells*

Prosecution - Well, in a world without God we must then justify ourselves to the people we affect, our fellow human beings, and if we can’t, then it is up to them to forgive us, rehabilitate us, make us pay restitution, and/or punish us. We’d be at the mercy of very real, tangible consequences that don’t rely upon the easily manipulated claims about what an unseen deity says or thinks, nor can we rely on the existence of an afterlife to provide us with justice, so we must therefore strive to create a just world in the here and now. Since that is what we try to do, maybe deep down we don’t really believe. Maybe that’s why we don’t just abandon justice to God in an afterlife, but desperately try to seek justice in this life, before death. Maybe that’s why we painfully grieve, rather than rejoice, when a loved one supposedly goes to heaven. Maybe that’s why we think more about things like traffic and sports than the bible, why we know more about our favorite show than what the literal creator of the universe supposedly wants us to know. Maybe that’s why we don’t really fear God enough to stop us from doing bad things. Maybe our actions speak louder than our words, and we behave like God doesn’t exist, because deep down, we don’t really believe He does.

*long pause*

*everyone bursts into laughter*

*scene cuts out as Judge is in mid coke snort*