At TZF’s Open Forum, now in read-only format here, during a discussion about duality (light & darkness, perfect & imperfect, infinite & finite, heaven & earth, and so on), a suggestion emerged that perhaps God had made a “mistake”, which idea generated the following image in my head.

A Divine Reconsideration
or “Oops, I, uh, Erred”

The time is the present. Seated around an oaken conference table are God, Satan, Adam, and Eve.

God: (to all) Thanks for coming in this morning. I appreciate it.

Satan: (grumbling) You didn’t give much notice. Besides, the way Your people treat me, I’m surprised anyone up There remembers my pager number.

God: (to Satan) Still the whiner, after all these years. (to all) Okay, to business. What I wanted to tell you is that I’m going to be making a few changes.

Adam: (concerned) Changes? I thought You said Your stuff was immutable.

God: Yea, well, I lied. Anyway, here’s the thing: I’m afraid of the dark. (adding, quickly) I know, I know, it doesn’t seem possible. I hardly believe it MySelf. But there it is. I’m afraid of ghosts and goblins and bumps in the night and all that eerie stuff.

Eve: (a little brusquely) What’s the big deal? We’re all afraid of the dark. Just get YourSelf a night light and a baseball bat.

Satan: (with pride) I’m not afraid of the dark. (with cunning) If You want, I’ll come up There at night, and keep You company.

God: Actually, I’ve decided that what I’m going to do is back the whole thing up, all the way to Genesis 1:1, and start over. This time, I’ll be more careful, and avoid the duality thing altogether. So, there’ll just be perfect, no imperfect. Just hot, no cold. Just up, no down. Just good, no bad. And like that. Most importantly, there’ll be just light, no darkness. (God pauses a few moments before continuing, a little tentatively) Oh, and yea, here’s the other thing. This time there’ll be just Me. No you.