Lord Jacob spoke, "The only one we have not heard from, is the one that I wanted hear from the most. Ally?" He was speaking to the blond surfer girl, Alyson Fraizer, who at this time was sitting at the far end of the couch on the left, deep in the valley of the 'V.'
"You are the only girl here who is initiating into our kingdom without ever going to our church. Surely you must have some questions that you wish to speak about? Why not tell us how you came here, and we'll see where it goes from there? All I know for sure is that your sister Susan entered our kingdom a few years ago, and is now vouching for your admission. You have proved your worth in two months at our 'boot camp,' but beyond that, I really don't know what motivates you to be here."
"Yes, Master Jacob. My sister is the reason I'm here, and looking back, it's a bit of surprise to me that either one of us are here.
"We were raised by very liberal, atheist parents. We were both raised in a loving and fun filled environment. I certainly didn't see anything to complain about. Then one day, about three years ago, my sister comes back from college, and states that she now goes to your church. My parents were shocked, but no more than I was. I thought I knew her well, and I never would have expected her to do something like this. I honestly thought she was too smart for that.
"I think that what bothered me most about what she was saying was my interpretation that I now lost my sister; that at anytime she could go off like a bomb, and start condemning us as heathens, but that never happened. It took over a year for me to see that she never did anything that made it seem that she wanted to distance herself from us. She also never once tried to convert me into a Christian, which I always thought was some moral imperative for them.
"The only thing that was different in her was how she would disagree with my parents' politics. She never did it in a disagreeable way. She would just state matter-of-factly that if her relationship with them was going to be a real relationship, then she needed to say what she believed, and how it differed from them.
"It was only recently that I realized that she had transformed herself from a girl who did not have a care in the world, to a woman who deeply cared about something. Exactly what I don't know, but it was something that I felt I needed to look into. Every time I tried to talk to Susan about this, all she would say is that it's something that I must experience, and can never be explained. So here I am.
"She promised me that I did not have to be a Christian to join this kingdom, and so far, that's been true."
"And it always will be true, Ally," Lord Jacob replied. "One thing we make very clear is that an important thing for us is our relationship with Christ. The funny thing is, there is no way for us to know what your relationship is, so how can we make a requirement of something we can't evaluate. Also, by saying there is no requirement, you will be more likely to speak freely of what you believe, so we'll have a better chance of getting you to enjoy the kind of relationship that we all cherish.
"The only thing that will be asked of you is that you show respect for our beliefs. The big thing this will entail is that on the Sabbath you do not eat meat or candy in front of us, drink alcohol in front of us, nor initiate an encounter that is intended to lead to sexual gratification. There are other things that we'll explain later, but those are the most important things.
"You could say that we have freedom of religion within our religion, yet don't construe 'freedom of religion' as atheist do. We do not see freedom of religion as freedom from religion, like many of them believe. That makes as much sense to us as freedom of speech is the same thing as freedom from speech. How can I be free to speak my mind, when you can claim to be free from what I say by silencing me? And silencing Christians is exactly what atheist want with their interpretation of freedom of religion.
"What this means to you is that we claim the right to try and convert you to Christianity. This is really no different than if you were hooked on drugs. We would not just sit back and watch you destroy your life with them. We would intervene in some manner to turn your life around. The same can be said of your religious beliefs. We really believe that your life will be better as a Christian, and we are not going to sit back and watch you live what we believe to be a lesser life."
"That's fine with me, Master Jacob," responded Alyson, "but I don't know what kind of success you will have. I have already tried very hard to be a Christian, but try as I might, I can never believe in something that I don't believe exists. It seems very oxymoronic to me, unless of course you have some better evidence than I have heard before on the existence of God."
"Oh no," replied Lord Jacob. "I'm not going down that path anymore. I used to get into debates with atheists about the existence of God, but they rarely went anywhere. To me, God is self-evident. I see him everywhere I look. Yet for every thing I would show an atheist as proof, he would counter with something else.
"Yet these debates were not completely pointless. I did learn one thing from them, and that is that God has given us every reason in the universe to believe in his existence, and correspondingly, he has given us every reason in the universe to deny him. So whether you do or don't believe in his existence is completely your choice.
"On the very day that I came to that understanding about choice, and how important it is to choose God, something rather remarkable happened that I couldn't write off as just coincidence. I was reading in a book that was arguing in favor of the existence of God. In it, the author quoted someone who said, 'If God were as obvious as the sun in the sky, would you really have a choice in worshipping him?'
"…Would you, Ally? Would you have a choice?"
Lord Jacob gave Alyson a few minutes to think about that, and then continued, "Rather than answering that question, I'd like to get you caught up with the other girls with what they know of our faith. They have been attending our church, and I need to get you caught up to them, because we're about to get into the things even they don't know about.
"I would like you to consider what you would think of someone who demanded that you worshipped him? Don't think of God. Just think of a man who walked up to you, and demanded you worshipped him. What kind of man would you think he is?"
Alyson considered this for a few minutes then responded, "Nothing very flattering, that's for sure, Master Jacob. I would think he has an over-enlarged ego, and has a lot to learn about human relationships."
"Not bad," replied Lord Jacob. "I would also add he has serious self-esteem issues, but the important thing is that anyone who demands that you worship him is hardly worthy of that worship. Yet we in this church believe that God requires of us that we worship him. Why do you suppose that is?"
"I don't know, Master Jacob. Why is that?"
"One of the many ways that we differ from most branches of Christianity, which is something that we are very open about in our church, is the concept that worshipping God is not about him, but about us. God does not command us to worship him because he needs his ego stroked. He does so because of the benefits it brings to us in our lives when we worship Him. Other churches will say similar things, but it is not the focus of those churches like ours is.
"When we worship Him, we are filled with His grace and glory; His love if you will. This enriches us, and recharges us. It fills us with the spirit to achieve and prosper. The notion that we 'have to' worship God then becomes quite silly. With all of the positive things that worshipping Him brings to our lives, the real question to ask is why on Earth would we not worship Him?
"The problem you probably have with worshipping God, Ally, is that you have humanized the act. You view worshipping God as you would view worshipping a man. A man would need external acts to know that he is being worshipped; yet anything that is external is ultimately meaningless, because anything external to us can also be faked. When it comes to worshipping God, the only things that matter are internal, things no man can ever perceive. In this way, worshipping God can only be real, or it's not there at all.
"This is a theme that you see a lot in our faith. What we believe God wants of us is what we should want for ourselves anyway. The same is true for our desire to see you become a Christian. It's not out of some selfish desire on our part. It's because we believe you will be a happier and healthier person because of it."
Alyson then responded, "What you say makes perfect sense, Master Jacob. I have no doubt that you only have my best interest at heart. I actually went to a couple of church sessions with my sister, and I would love to be able to experience what I witnessed, but I can't suppress the logical side of my brain that has all of these doubts. Can't you offer something to help me out?"
"Not really, Ally. As I have already stated, God has given you every reason you need to believe he exists, but you have chosen to focus on all of the reasons he has given you to deny his existence. The choice is literally for you to make."
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/2puuff/next_generation_christian_kingdom_ch03_marcia