He Was Out There Somewhere

His Arrival  

It was early on a Saturday morning in September when He made it clear that He was out there somewhere. 

It didn’t make any difference that so many people had thought so many things about whether he was or was not; once His message had arrived, no one on earth could doubt the truth any longer. Irrespective of what all creeds and belief systems said, He was there. 

For about an hour the streets were quiet. It was the culminating moment in the existence of humanity, and those who were alive needed time to process what was happening. Anyone who was out and about before simply dropped what they were doing and was sitting on the ground, the sidewalk, or the side of the street, thinking about what they had just bore witness to. 

Cries and shrieks could intermittently be heard amongst the backdrop of silence. Most people simply sat with their head in their hands and reflected on what they had just experienced. In any other circumstance it would be considered either a delusion or massive prank; this time, however, each person knew on the inside that it was real. 

When this first hour was over, panic began to strike. People everywhere began to rush to churches, temples, mosques, and every other conceivable place of worship. Perhaps, they thought, they would be able to reconcile with him and wash away their sins. The smartest ones, however, knew that it was too late for such action; the principle aspect of faith, trust without evidence, would never again be possible. If He valued faith, which the masses believed He did, He would not be impressed by the pleas and prayers of those who had waited until his presence was clear to begin their worship. Yet they continued to flock to the sanctuaries out of nothing more than desperation. 

Around the end of the second hour the situation began to turn violent. Crowds maddened by a mix of zeal and fear pushed their way through the doors that they believed would lead them to a place where they could be closer with Him, missing the irony as they beat others into the ground while attempting to do so. The pews overflowed with terrified souls who wondered about their future, in this life and forward into eternity. 

With all of this negative emotion pouring out of the populace, one could only wonder where the world was headed next. He was with them, but would He take action against those who had acted wrongfully? Was the next coming, as the Christians had preached for thousands of years, about to be upon the citizens of the world? Would the “chosen people” that every religion claimed to be finally be openly selected by Him? No one truly knew the answer, but everyone claimed that they did. Followers of Christ screamed the verses of Revelation on the streets, while followers of Mohammad came together to kneel and chant in unison towards the East. Others closed their eyes and prayed silently to He to whom they had been introduced so abruptly. 

Televisions upon which no eyes gazed (as they were looking either up in hope or down in fear) broadcasted stories of jihadi violence rampaging through the Middle East and religious riots coming down on the city of Jerusalem. On a day when peace and repentance would be expected more than on any other day, terror brought those of various faiths against each other in a final confrontation before what they believed would be the end. 

Many followers of God felt that it was their time to be brought before him, and rejoiced in song. No matter what religion they belonged to, their holy book said that they were his special followers and that they would join him in the end. Others, however, began to wonder if they had picked correctly in choosing what creed to follow; what would happen to them if they had inadvertently gone against him by worshipping in the wrong sanctuary?

Others were simply confused. As former atheists and lifelong believers alike rushed to the temples, those who followed the polytheistic religions sat and attempted to decipher the message. Surely there were multiple gods, so had this one simply been the first to reveal himself? Could they have been wrong the entire time? 

Thus was the situation of the Earth on the day that He made it clear that He was out there somewhere. 

The Man of God  

As he sat in silence in his own private quarters, Matthew could hear the roar of the people downstairs in the sanctuary. Without even looking at the crowd he could tell that the church had never been as packed as it was on this day.

Although he could have spent his time thinking about whether or not his view of the Lord was the right one, he knew that this would be a fruitless worry and that he did not need to concern himself with such things. As a man of the church who had loved and admired God his entire life and accordingly acted kindly, even if God did not look favorably upon people of his faith, he would be rewarded for being a good man. He had stayed away from sin, diligently thanked God for his life, and helped the community as much as anyone could be asked to, and no good God would punish a man for living the way that he did. 

Maybe he was wrong about all of this, and the God who had become evident was not a good one. He had no control over this, so he was calm. 

At the same time, emotions other than fear continued to move in and out of his mind. When the event of revelation had initially occurred, he had been overflowing with joy; the second coming was on its way, and the rapture would soon take him to reside in the realm of God.

After a few minutes of pure bliss, however, he became nervous as he started to question how this would truly affect the world around him. He could hear the cries and screams in the street, and knew in his heart that much violence would be the result of this declaration. Clearly an omniscient being would not take action that he believed would cause an overall negative effect…right? If Matthew himself could figure out that there would be killing following that unique moment, would God know this too? If so, why would he choose to openly declare his presence without simultaneously bringing about a rapture or another divine event? Was this his way of testing out who was truly good and who was truly bad? 

As he continued to think through the situation, his feelings became even more negative. Regardless of whether or not he should fear God, he knew that his thoughts needed to remain on the people of the Earth. God would do what he would do regardless of Matthew’s own actions at this point. Rather, he started to question the goodness of humanity instead of the omnipotent creator (whom he had believed was perfect since the day he begun attending church but now scared him in a way that he could not entirely express). Even over his own 25 years in the clergy, he had seen the pews become more and more vacant and the line for communion become sparse. The people had been losing their faith in God, and had been focusing more on material gain and short-term satisfaction. He had done his best to keep the youth interested in the teachings of the Church, but it was impossible to hold their attention for long while they looked down at their phones twenty four hours a day. So he had continued to do what he believed was right in recruiting everyone he could to listen to the gospel, but had he felt his own heart emptying as the sanctuary did the same. 

But all of the sudden everyone was back in a flash. As soon as they had empirical proof that He existed, they wanted to prove to Him that their faith had been there the entire time. Did they not understand that he already knew of their forsaking? Matthew did not believe that a person was destined to go to Hell just because they did not accept Christ (a good person was a good person), but this omniscient being, good or bad, could not be tricked into thinking that a person had held Jesus in their heart during a period of absence from the church. He saw all things and, regardless of what he thought of them, would not be outsmarted by the very finite power of a mortal person. 

The worst part of it all, however, was the fact that they did not understand the value of faith in the first place. Even if their motive truly had been to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Lord because they understood that he knew of their skipping out on services, their faith had been gone, never to return. The concept of “faith” could not exist on earth anymore; now that there was proof of the existence of God, believing in him without proof would be impossible. Therefore, as the people attempted to reconcile their mistake of losing faith, they failed to realize that their prayers would fall flat on a creator whose only true desire, besides goodness, for humanity, was true faith. He was sad for these people, knowing that he could not stop them from crying out to deaf ears in apology and desperation. 

After this storm of sadness for himself and humanity raged through his brain, Matthew’s thoughts drifted to the idea of God’s infinite power; what would truly become of this small planet  earth? Was he truly ready to leave it behind, irrespective of what would happen to him? The thing that troubled him the most was the fact that this God had not followed what were supposedly his own declarations in the Biblical book of Revelations; perhaps his hope and calamity regarding the future was ignorant above all else. For all he knew, life would now return to “normal” and this God would never make himself known again. Wars would indubitably rage on as a result, and this creator would quite literally sit back and watch the world burn. Matthew was afraid that He had only taken this action to create chaos and not for some greater cosmic purpose; if this was true, the hint of fear that he had previously felt regarding an evil God would evidently become grounded in reality. In this case, he was not sure that he could continue walking the earth. He would not be able to bear the idea of a fundamentally evil universe. 

Alternatively, a time could be approaching when a good God who holds Christians closest to himself lifts them into the heavens through rapture. Surely this would mean an eternity of peace and happiness for Matthew, which would, needless to say, be good. However, in an odd way, this outcome troubled him as well. He had come to love the residents of the town in which he had lived his entire life, many of whom were not devout Christians like he. What would happen if the rapture occurred and these people were left on the abandoned earth to witness the horrible end of the world? If Matthew was in heaven with the Lord he would surely be unconcerned with these things. For the time being, however, he was on earth. While here, he would continue thinking about the people who had not earned a spot in paradise but did not deserve damnation either. What would truly come of them? 

Then, of course, there was the possibility that had been growing in his mind since the beginning. The possibility that he was headed down instead of up. He would not allow his mind to truly wander there, however. The possibilities were too dire. 

Once again, his thoughts were with the people. What would happen to the billions of individuals on earth, even disregarding those who he personally knew, who were not so calm as he? What would become of the sinners who had been cast out by society and also by God? 

Such were the the thoughts of a man of God on the day that He made it clear that He was out there somewhere. 

The Sinner

As he had been for so long, Thomas was alone. The thick walls of his cell had kept him in and everyone else out for years. Within the confines of this concrete chamber, it had been only him for ages. 

Or so he had thought. 

It was said that He was everywhere, so perhaps the loneliness that had been eating away at Thomas’s mind since the day he arrived was not real. Ever since he had been told by the guards what had happened, he had suddenly felt as if there were eyes watching him from all angles: eyes that could not be seen, but saw Thomas’s every move. 

What did it really even change in his life anyway? He was still alone in the cell. He was still doomed to die, even if not by execution anymore. He would still never see his loved ones again. 

Well, for one, he now had more to worry about than simply the end of his time on earth. If a supreme being existed he had to reside somewhere beyond this realm, and Thomas was afraid that this divine kingdom would not be where he was headed. 

So, as had always been the case, he realized that the best outcome would be for death to bring everlasting darkness and the end of the mind. A less desirable outcome for a man like him could involve things too horrible to imagine. The difference now was that Thomas had become more afraid that the outcome he was hoping for was not the true one. 

Second, he now had to worry about his death coming in a less pleasant way. He had never been looking forward to the needle, but starvation was guaranteed to be worse. Upon informing the prisoners of the news, the guards had fled the cell block for their churches or their homes. The screams and cries of the other death row inmates could be heard even through the concrete due to the small barred window in the front of the cell as the other men around him began to recognize that they faced a similar fate. 

So he would die trapped in the cell with no hope of escape. It would happen over a period of days as he slowly wasted away before the sight of a seemingly merciless creator. 

Above all, Thomas wanted to believe that he was here because God had forsaken him. A part of him knew that this was not true. Beneath his tough exterior and the cold blood that ran through his veins was a hint of consciousness and regret telling him that whatever he was to face was going to be the result of his own actions. 

Regardless of this, his situation did not change. In a world where second chances did not exist, he sat on his hard bed and stared forward at the door that would never open again. 

The small, outdated television in the cell had stopped working weeks ago and had never been repaired, so the only thing that he had to keep him occupied was his mind. So he sat and thought. 

He had wondered about the existence of a creator before as he knew that he would soon be meeting Him were He to exist. He had hoped with every ounce of his being (praying being the wrong word) that such a creator did not exist. Thomas understood that whether the creator was good or bad would be irrelevant in determining his fate; a good God would look unfavorably down upon men like him, and a bad God would disregard the kindness or evil of humans before damning them indiscriminately. So when He came forth on that day, Thomas knew that his fate was sealed. 

Turning towards the wall on his left, Thomas felt the cold, rough cement that had kept him contained like an animal for almost longer than he could remember. His eyes scanned the wall from left to right, fixating on the innumerable tally marks etched into the stone signifying his everlasting stay in this cage. He could go back and count how many days, months, or years he had been here, but he knew that it would only depress him even more. Besides, his stay would come to an end within the next week or two anyway. 

Throughout his time in prison following his conviction, he had begun to question the reality of free will in the universe; although he had never been educated past the ninth grade, he had enjoyed reading the work of enlightenment philosophers who suggested that perhaps he was not personally responsible for what he had done. He had always told himself that if there was an all-powerful and all-knowing God, this God would have either chosen not to place him on the earth or not to cause him to follow the life path that led him to take the actions that he did. Surely this God would want to stop him from committing crimes against his fellow man, so there were two possibilities in his mind; either God had chosen to have Thomas take these actions and it was not his fault, or no such God existed. 

Unfortunately, the latter option seemed to have been proven incorrect and the former, while logically sound, did not resonate with the internal compass that existed within Thomas. Even if it would make sense that free will couldn’t exist in a universe with an omnipotent God, Thomas knew on the inside that he was personally guilty. Even if this creator had known from the start what would happen and sat back to allow it, Thomas had still made the choice to follow through with his irrationality. 

Deep down he understood that the universe in which he resided was one that gave the gift and curse of free will to those who inhabited it. 

Because of this, he knew that he was responsible for what he had done and would suffer the consequences.

Such were the the thoughts of a sinner on the day that He made it clear that He was out there somewhere. 

The Lost Lamb 

Jacob sat with his family in the kitchen of their modest home surrounded by a booming silence that spoke louder than any words could. He, his brother, his mother, and his father had come together to talk about what had just happened but had all been struck so hard by this unique occurrence that they simply stared at the table without uttering a word. 

In his mind, however, Jacob was screaming. 

At first his confusion had lay in what exactly was going on. Was it possible that he was not dreaming and that his world had, for the first time at least in modern history, been contacted by something greater? 

Once he had accepted the truth he had begun to wonder what would happen going forward. Had He come forward unannounced for the first and last time, or would there be more contact to follow? Did this mean that the end of the world was coming? 

Finally, however, right before his father had come knocking on his door to ask him to come sit with the rest of his small family, Jacob had started to consider what all of this meant for him personally. He was no saint, but also no great sinner. He had never been a particularly religious person, but he had also never been a particularly depraved one. He was stuck in the middle ground between knowing he was going to heaven and knowing that he was going to hell (if these places existed), and, as he now realized, did not even know if he was a good or bad person in the first place. 

How is it possible that I’ve never even considered that? He thought to himself. In my eighteen years of life I haven’t even once stopped to think about whether I’m making a positive or negative contribution to the world. 

After sitting at the table in silence for a few minutes with these thoughts bouncing around in his head, Jacob realized that most people in the world were probably in the same situation as he. Neither wholly good or wholly bad, but rather somewhere in the middle where no real self- judgment could be made. 

He also began to realize that something was coming. 

There was no way that He would have simply dropped in for a visit and then decided to fade away into the cosmos once again without a planned followup. Sure, many people would make the argument that humans cannot understand why an infinite being acts the way that he does, but Jacob knew that it only followed basic rationality that there was a reason for all of this. 

The chaos that the television in the other room was going on about would eventually settle down, and the world would return to a state of equilibrium once more. Even if the world would permanently be changed by what had happened, acute pandemonium cannot be everlasting. 

However, Jacob reasoned, this did not mean that things would be calm. Wars would undoubtedly break out as disputes arose over who He looked down upon the most fondly, and perhaps the lives of normal people like he and his family would somehow be affected. If he was lucky, life in his little town would settle down once more and the only exposure he would have to the craziness would be through the media. Unfortunately, however, he felt that this was unlikely. 

As someone who was neither wholly good nor wholly bad, Jacob did not worry exclusively about the people around him nor exclusively himself. His mind was torn between an instinct of self-preservation and the love that he was taught to feel for his friends and family. Having been placed in a situation that no human had ever faced before today, he simply remained unsure of what he was to do going forward, what he should have done differently before, and simply what was going to happen.

Finally, after what felt like an hour but was really only a few minutes, Jacob’s father began to speak. 

“I’m not sure what is going to happen in this situation, and neither is anybody else,” he began. Jacob found it surprising that he had been going over this thought in his own mind just moments before. “But there’s one thing that I can be absolutely sure of.” 

Jacob’s father paused for a moment, almost seeming to wait for someone to ask what it was that he knew. When no one responded, he continued. 

“This family is going to stick together. Lots of people are going to lose their wits, and there’s nothing we can do about that. But it’s going to be important for the four of us to watch each others backs and make sure that everyone living under this roof is alright. This is a scary time for everyone, both because we don’t know what to expect of…of God, and also because we don’t know what to expect of people’s reaction to Him.” 

Again, silence. 

“But the best thing we can do for each other now is to simply live as happy and positive of lives as we can. Some things are in our control and some aren’t. Nobody can guarantee if our world will be the same tomorrow as it is today, but that doesn’t mean that we need to be afraid.”

Jacob sensed that his dad was saying these things as much for himself as he was for his wife and children. In a moment where nothing was certain, his father clearly felt obligated to protect his family even when in truth he had no power to do so. But he also sensed fear in his words that was unlike anything he had heard from his dad in his relatively short life. 

But he was right. All there was left to do was look out for each other and attempt to be happy. In the near future the world could stay the exact same, change entirely, or even come to an abrupt end. So Jacob chose to listen to his father and live in the moment with his peripherals on what was to come. 

 Such were the the thoughts of a normal young man on the day that He made it clear that He was out there somewhere.