Return to Earth

Chapter 25

Lita had spent hours interrogating the one who attacked Kierst and Victor, while Dune watched the monitors on the bridge to see if any contact would be made. Kierst wanted to talk to the man himself, but was unable to get anywhere near him. No one was going anywhere until Lita was done. There was no access given to the simulators and no training of any kind.

Victor had gone to the range to practice without drawing his pistol, which left Kierst bored. He didn't want to interrupt what anyone else was doing and had enough of the range for a while. Kierst thought about going to his room to try to read some of the Bible Dune kept trying to push into his hands, but wouldn't know where to begin.

He decided to join Dune watching an empty monitor. "Anything?"

Frustration could be heard in his voice. "Nothing. Not even voices on the microphones that were planted. It's like they don't even use the room. Wish there had been time to bug them directly. Be a lot better than this sitting and sitting and waiting."

He needed something to talk about. "What differences between the Bibles?"

Dune looked at him with a slight smile. "You must really be bored."

Kierst stared at the monitor. "Watching this with you. What do you think?"

An uncomfortable silence grew. "I'll give you a quick rundown on Judaism and Christianity. Can't have Christianity with Judaism.

"Both believe there's one God, who gave man a moral compass. We know instinctively what is right and wrong. God is forgiving, along with a lot of other traits, like love and wrath.

"The Jewish Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament, is filled with plenty of examples of those traits, including justice and mercy.

"Within that same Jewish Bible, there are prophesies regarding Messiah, or savior. It speaks of a lamb and lion from the House of David, who was from the line of Judah.

"Christians believe a Jewish Rabbi, Yeshua, fulfilled the prophecies of the lamb, and will return to fulfill the lion. Jews don't believe the Messiah has come. A lot of conflict over what seems an important distinction, but it isn't."

Kierst interrupted before he could go any further. "Disagreeing over a savior seems pretty big to me. A lot of wars, if I remember right, but not just between Jews and Christians, but between Christians and Christians. Not a very loving or forgiving thing."

He was expecting Dune to get defensive, but heard nothing like that in his tone. "You're right, it wasn't. All that fighting and bloodshed came from forgetting the root of Christianity was a Jewish Rabbi.

"In order to be a Christian, you only need to believe three things. Rabbi Yeshua was the lamb and was crucified by the Romans, his death was for my sins and everyone elses, and the belief he rose from the dead.

"All that fighting among Christians comes from forgetting those three things bind us."