SCRIPT TWO: WHY DOES GOD LET PEOPLE BE POOR?

CHARACTERS: Puppet One
Puppet Two

PUPPET ONE: I have a question for you.

PUPPET TWO: Yes?

PUPPET ONE: It is a very hard question.

PUPPET TWO: I like a challenge.

PUPPET ONE: Why does God let people be poor?

PUPPET TWO: That is a very hard question. Let me think about it for a moment.

PUPPET ONE: All right.

PUPPET TWO: Oh, I think I know.

PUPPET ONE: What is your answer?

PUPPET TWO: Well, we are supposed to give charity, aren't we?

PUPPET ONE: Yes, we are. In Deuteronomy and Leviticus, we are told that if a neighbor is poor, we must help him.

PUPPET TWO: Well, how can we do that if people are never poor? God allows people to be poor so that we have the opportunity to help them.

PUPPET ONE: But what if God makes people poor, to punish them? Perhaps they have been bad with their money. Perhaps they have spent it on useless things, or gambled it away. Wouldn't God be angry with us if we helped this person?

PUPPET TWO: Why would he be angry?

PUPPET ONE: Well, let's say a thief is caught by a king, and the king locks him in a prison and says that he shouldn't have any food or water. And then you come along, and see him, and give him food and water. Wouldn't the king be angry with you?

PUPPET TWO: He might. But let me tell you another story. Suppose the king had caught his own son stealing, and had locked him up without food and water. And then you saw that he was suffering, and gave him food and water. Would the king be angry with you for ending the suffering of his child?

PUPPET ONE: No. He would be glad.

PUPPET TWO: Why?

PUPPET ONE: Because no father can stand to see his child hurt.

PUPPET TWO: That is why God would be glad if we helped the poor, even if they had made themselves poor. Because we are all God's children, as it says in Deuteronomy: "You are children of the Lord your God."

PUPPET ONE: I see what you mean.

PUPPET TWO: Now, I have a question for you.

PUPPET ONE: All right. I will try to answer your question as well as you have answered mine.

PUPPET TWO: Are our body and our soul the same thing?

PUPPET ONE: No. When our body dies, our soul lives on.

PUPPET TWO: So, when the soul and body are separated, don't you think they can go to God and say they have never sinned?

PUPPET ONE: Even if they have sinned?

PUPPET TWO: Yes.

PUPPET ONE: Why would they say that?

PUPPET TWO: Because the body could say, look, without the soul telling me what to do, I am nothing. I am just an empty shell. I did not sin. The sin belonged to the soul!

PUPPET ONE: That makes sense.

PUPPET TWO: But the soul could say, look, without the body, nothing could have happened. It was the body who sinned!

PUPPET ONE: That also makes sense.

PUPPET TWO: So who sinned? Nobody!

PUPPET ONE: Well, let me tell you a story.

PUPPET TWO: All right.

PUPPET ONE: There was a king who had a beautiful garden. And in this garden, he had a tree that grew delicious fruit.

PUPPET TWO: What sort of fruit?

PUPPET ONE: Figs.

PUPPET TWO: Those are delicious.

PUPPET ONE: To keep the garden safe, the king hired two watchmen. One of the watchmen couldn't see, and the other couldn't walk.

PUPPET TWO: Why would he hire these men?

PUPPET ONE: I guess he figured that the one who couldn't see wouldn't know about the figs, and so wouldn't steal them, and the one who couldn't walk might see the figs, but could not reach them.

PUPPET TWO: But how could they protect the garden?

PUPPET ONE: Well, the one who couldn't see could hear a thief in the garden, and the one who couldn't walk could see a thief in the garden, and together they could raise the alarm.

PUPPET TWO: Oh! I see!

PUPPET ONE: But, one day, the guards got to talking to each other. And the one without legs said, "I see delicious figs in the garden, and I have an idea how we might get them."

PUPPET TWO: They wanted to steal the figs!

PUPPET ONE: Yes! And the blind guard said, "But how? I can't see, and you can't walk!" And the guard without legs said, "Put me on your shoulders, and I will guide you."

PUPPET TWO: Oh no!

PUPPET ONE: So the blind guard lifted the other guard onto his shoulders, and the guard without legs told him where to walk, and they went to the tree and ate every fruit on it!

PUPPET TWO: Oh no! The king must have been furious!

PUPPET ONE: He was. But the blind guard said, "I couldn't have done it on my own. He made me do it, because he can see, and it was him who told me where to walk!"

PUPPET TWO: What did the other one say?

PUPPET ONE: The other one said, "But I would never have done it on my own! Because he carried me, it is his fault!"

PUPPET TWO: And what did the king do?

PUPPET ONE: The king put the guard without legs on the shoulders of the blind guard, and judged them both together. And that is what God will do. It is your soul that tells your body how to sin, but it is your body that does the sinning, and both will be judged together.