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THOMAS2  6'1m0f Monologue: doubting Thomas and the trinity

(enters wearing tunic and sandals, notices audience, examines a
few faces)

Go ahead, smirk and snicker. Yeah, have a good laugh on me. I
know what they're saying about me. They're calling me DOUBTING
THOMAS now. I suppose I deserve it. But you would have doubts
too, if you had seen what I saw.

First of all, Jesus wasn't the messiah that we Jews were
expecting. We expected MESSIAH THE KING to ride into Jerusalem
and conquer the Romans!

But look who showed up: a guy. An ordinary guy. Jesus wasn't
even a king. He wasn't even from the city of King David. He was
from Nazareth! Wouldn't YOU have a few doubts if the king you
were expecting turned out to be a carpenter?

In fact, we were not only expecting our messiah to be a king.
The prophet Isaiah, told us that apart from God there is no 
savior. He said the messiah was going to be the King of Kings. 
We expected the messiah to be God himself. So, tell me, wouldn't 
you be just a little skeptical if you were expecting God to show 
up and here comes a guy with callouses on his hands?

Moses told us in the great SHEEMAH, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD
our God, the LORD is one." We had always seen God as one person.
Yet Jesus started talking about himself as the son of another
God in Heaven. Isn't that TWO gods?!

I know, I know what you're thinking. Jesus clarified that. He
said that He and the Father in Heaven are one God. But how can
one God be two persons?

Oh, and that's not the worst of it. Jesus told us later that the
Holy Spirit who Moses said helped to build the tabernacle is yet
another person and he's God too. But they're all one God! Come
on. Admit it. If you were me, you'd be a little doubtful too,
wouldn't you?

Listen, I'm not a bad person. I'll admit that I was doubtful,
especially about this business with three persons and one God.
So, I studied the scriptures. It turns out that the Hebrew word
for God is a Plural noun and it's always used with a singular
verb. It turns out that God has always referred to himself as
more than one person. We Jews just thought he was using bad
grammar.

Actually, having one God with three persons solves a lot of
problems for us Jews. The scriptures tell us that if a person
looks directly at God, he will die. Until I found out about
the three persons of God I could never figure out how Moses
could meet face-to-face with God and live. Turns out, Jesus was
the person he met with.

And, if God was just one person and came to earth as the
messiah, the people he came to save would all die as soon as
they looked at him. With three persons, the lethal person can
stay in Heaven and the non-lethal person can come to earth
without killing everybody who sees him. Things were starting to
make sense.

So when Jesus called himself the great "I AM" of the burning
bush and the Pharisees almost stoned him to death for blasphemy,
I believed Jesus. After all, if one of the persons of God can 
take on the form of a man, he can take on the form of a burning 
bush, can't he?.

And, when Jesus claimed to be able to forgive peoples sins, the
Pharisees got all bent out of shape because only God could
forgive sins. But Jesus, if he's one of the persons of God, he
can forgive sins. No problem for me.

Alright, I'll admit I still had my doubts. We Jews have been 
deceived before. Jesus wasn't the first person coming along who 
claimed to be our Messiah. A few years ago, a false messiah led 
hundreds of his disciples out into the desert where they all 
died. It's one thing to be loyal, it's another thing to be 
gullible. So, I was a little cautious.

It turns out, my worst fears were confirmed, when Jesus went and 
got himself killed. So, I decided that the 
three-persons-in-one-God story may be true, but Jesus could not 
possibly be one of those persons. God would not allow himself to 
be killed, because... because he's GOD.

A few days after he died people started claiming that they'd
seen Jesus alive. Yeah, right. They said he looked different,
but they knew it was him. Yeah, right. I told them, I said,
"Listen, guys, if he tells you to follow him out to the desert,
I'm heading for the hills!"

But the others insisted that Jesus rose from the dead. They even
quoted some scriptures that predicted that the messiah was
supposed to suffer and die for the sins of Israel. Yeah, right.
I told them I'd believe it if I actually saw Jesus myself. 

No. Wait. If Jesus is walking around only three days after being
killed, his wounds wouldn't have a chance to heal up yet. "I
tell you what, guys, I'll believe he raised from the dead if I
could poke my finger into the nail holes in his hands and put my
hand into the spear wound in his ribs."

Well, that very night, we were eating dinner in a locked room
and this guy appeared out of nowhere. Of course, we were all
petrified. How did this guy get in here if all the doors and
windows are locked? Some of them whispered that the guy was
Jesus. Yeah, right. This whole thing is nothing but smoke and
mirrors.

Then, the guy came over to me and showed me his hands. They had
holes in them! He said. "Put your finger here; see my hands.
Reach out your hand and put it into my side." (reaches, gasps,
withdraws) This wasn't smoke and mirrors! This was flesh and
blood!

"Stop doubting and believe." He said.

(kneels) My Lord, and my God!

Then he said,"Because you have seen me, you have believed;
blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

And then he vanished! (stands, feels the air) He... just...
disappeared!

Listen, people. (exiting) You can call be doubting Thomas if you
want to. But I don't doubt anymore. I have seen the son of God.
He's alive!
�2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
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