Ask Pastor Jim
These are ordered from oldest to newest e-mails sent to Pastor Jim
Note: All E-Mails are 100% Authentic, so send one in and I will respond within a day or two!
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Date: 8/11/2006 14:26:19 +1000
Name: Clark Franklin
E-mail: cfranklin987@yahoo.co*
Message:
I have to say that you have done a fantastic job
with this website. I haven\'t seen such \"Tom
Foolery\" since maddox or tucker max. Way to
develop a character.
Clark
P.S. - If you are serious... wow... thanks for
not living in my state.
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Thanks!
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Date: 8/11/2006 17:14:43 +1000
Senders IP = 12.72.38.12
Name: eddie
E-mail: filthy_3ddie@sbc.com
Message:
You guys are a cult and will burn in hell!!! You
worthless piece of scum!!! God is just a glimmer
of hope!!!
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Christian Love.
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Date: 8/11/2006 18:39:53 +1000
Senders IP = 71.104.192.100
Name: Felix
E-mail: Doncrleon@yahoo.com
Message:
Pasor,
I\'m half white and half filipino. Will I go to
hell? I am an agnostic. But I am always seeking
God and I read my Bible a lot. I honestly
don\'t know at this certain time which religion
is right. If I did say I \"know\" I would be
lying to God and myself. I don\'t think He
wants me to lie to him, I believe He would want
me to be real with Him. But at this moment of my
life I am scarred, for I feel if I don\'t make
up a decision soon, I might die and go to hell!
Pastor please help, my salvation is in jeopardy!
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Okay.
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Date: 8/11/2006 20:41:46 +1000
Name: I. N. Fidel
E-mail: evil_fried@yahoo.co*
Message:
I think I love you. The world would be such a
better place if everyone could understand the
True message of God as you do.
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I doubt Christianity would exist if everyone knew as much about the Bible as I did.
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Date: 8/12/2006 07:56:22 +1000
Senders IP = 82.69.80.16
Name: Joe blogs
E-mail: killer_rats@hotmail.co.uk
Message:
i thought id just mention this... there is no
God and what you belive is a very perverted
version of a good and helpfull religon to be
honest i hope you die a painful death, the
ironic thing is what you belive about hating
black people etc well if god created everything
didnt he create them aswell ? that my bit. do
the world a favour tie a very heavy object to
your leg and jump into a deep river.
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If you don't believe in God then how do you know that what I preach is the true form of Christianity or not?
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Date: 8/12/2006 10:46:42 +1000
Senders IP = 66.176.79.202
Name: Bethany
E-mail: norcal-85@hotmail.com
Message:
Dear Pastor Jim,
So last night my roommate and I came across
your website, and we both found it to be
completely hysterical, thanks for the good
laugh! Anyways I was hoping that this web site
was just a joke, but after reading on we came
to the conclusion that you’re completely
serious! Ha Ha Ha I am so embarrassed for you!
This website is a disgrace, not just because of
the literature but mainly how its put together,
honestly your \"animation\" was done in the
paint program and you pretty much sound like an
illiterate, ignorant, uneducated bloke. Please
take my advice and hire a graphic and web
designer I am sure if your web page looks a bit
more intelligent you will be taken more
seriously! This website hilariously insane! I
don’t want you to take this the wrong way I am
not here to bash your website your entitled to
your beliefs but I am rather confused on the
comment you made, I am not sure exactly where
it is on your website but it says God made
certain people either atheist, homosexuals, as
you so kindly put it bitches because he already
know they were going to hell, my question is why
would he do that? What kind of God would create
life and send his son and call upon people to
teach his works and his wisdom if they are
already doomed to go to hell from the start?
Why would he create these people to walk the
earth and potiently \"brainwash\" the good?
What is the point of sitting here judging
others and \"preaching the word\" to people who
are already going to hell? How would one know
if he or she was born to go to hell anyways?
You want to save people correct that’s what
your calling is for this world? How can you do
that if the people your trying to save is
already going to hell? You’re contradicting
yourself. Pretty much the entire website is
one contradiction after another. If that is so
people are destined to go to hell, why sit here
and waste your time talking so harshly about
them what’s the point just ignore them. It’s
pretty simple actually! Why waste your time
and energy? Also this potty time section for
the kids? Are you serious? It’s complete
ludicrous, also please get all your facts
strait before you bash holidays like Easter and
Halloween, your completely manipulating the
meaning of these holidays! Again I am not here
to argue with you because mainly its pointless
you have your opinion and your entitled to it
of course but you don’t seem to be an open
minded person so again arguing is just
ludicrous. Just take my email for what it is
another opinion and some really good advice for
your web page cause we all know it could use a
little work, also try using spell check before
you post things, makes you sound a bit more
intelligent
Have a wonderful weekend!
Bethany
Irish Catholic/Buddhist
P.S. The \"prayer\" for the children the one
stating
\"I will never question you like the Jews,
Thanks to you, Adolf Hitler had the power to
get revenge on them.\" You are aware that
Adolf was not only Jewish, (I’m sure you have a
wonderful argument about that as well) but he
was responsible for killing innocent people
that weren’t Jewish in fact he committed
suicide, now why would God send someone to kill
Jewish people and random people then kill
himself, especially when you commit suicide you
go to hell? That doesn’t make to much sense but
again I am sure you have already have well
thought out ignorant argument for that one
don’t you?
-------------------------------------------------------
It's really pathetic how blind you are. You got it at first though.
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Thanks!
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It's as real as God.
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The message of this website is the Bible itself. Deal with it.
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This is an online service.
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Mmhmm...
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As a Christian I make my facts based on my feelings. The atheists do it the other way around. |
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You're wrong.
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?!
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"1. If the Earth is flat...where the heck are his bounderies?"
No one alive knows since the people typically who find the edge will be falling off soon.
"2. And why doesn\'t the water spill from the oceans/seas?"
It does.
"4. The bible says that the Earth is a circle(a
2d figure you say)...why your drawings of the
Earth are not circles? =)"
Because the Earth is a circle with four corners.
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You're an idiot.
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And where does fighting terrorism fit in there?
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Amen Brother!
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I'll let Pastor Fred Phelps answer this one.
http://www.godhatesfags.com/writings/20060331_god-loves-everyone-lie.pdf
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"that whole website is....its just....its evil."
The actual Bible is far more so.
"clean up your website. it is an
abomination to what christianity stands for."
Exactly.
"You Sir have earned the title Satan by filling young
people's minds with
such lies and misleading them in their path for religious justice."
Satan hmmm?
"hahahaha i'm addressing you as Sir of course because
only a man could do so
much wrong on one website, women are too clever to do something as
dispicable as this."
Women are to busy stirring my brown gravy.
"Americans tend to be rather stupid."
Which is why we are so powerful, have the most and greatest inventions and scientists.
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Those are all fakes.
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Eh?
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=)
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Scientologists come from all faiths and non-faiths. Over time and deeper involvement in Scientology though the people are brainwashed to give up their religion for Scientology fully.
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The only people who truly believe in the Bible are from Westboro Baptist Church.
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Date: 8/17/2006 19:34:59 +1000
From: Samantha <swarriner2006@yahoo.com>
I have to say that I am repulsed by your website. You have taken the Word of
God and twisted it to suite yourself. You contradict yourself in every other
sentence. YOu call yourself a preacher, yet you say, and I quote YOUR words \"I
hate people who pick and choose what they want to believe in, in the BIBLE.\"
If you are a true preacher, you wouldn\'t spend your time hating them. Instead
you would be praying for them to find the TRUE meaning in God\'s words as I am
doing for you. You really do need prayer.
I don\'t usually spend my time insulting other people\'s religions. I am a
Babtist and proud of it. I have attended different churches. Some of them I
agree with and some of them I don\'t. But your ideas and interpretations of the
Lord\'s words are very far from base. The Earth is not flat. It is a
sphere....ROUND. When the Bible refers to a \"circle\" it is refering to a
shere. Have you not noticed how language has advanced since the Bible was
written and transfered to a different language?
You also said to \"never speak kindly to an Atheist.\" It again seems to me
that you being a preacher and all, WOULD speak to them. You should be speaking
His word. Then again, with your whack ideas, they probably have better chances
if you don\'t. I totally disagree with your racist ideas. I have friends of
all colors and nationalities. They are God\'s children, too. I don\'t agree
with homosexuality, but I have a few gay friends. It is God they will answer to
when they die. It is not up to us to judge them. We do not decide who goes to
Heaven when we die.
I think you need to put your wild ideas aside one Sunday morning and get your
rear - end into a real church. By the way, I work at a Red Lobster. Am I going
to Hell? That is how I came across this ludacris web site. Get a life. I\'ll
pray for you. You really do need it.
"I am a Babtist and proud of it."
Proof you are an idiot. There is no such thing as a "Babtist".
"When the Bible refers to a \"circle\" it is refering to a shere."
So I bet you also believe when the Bible says one thing you can change it to whatever you want to just so you don't look like an idiot.
"By the way, I work at a Red Lobster. Am I going to Hell?"
Only for customers who have to deal with idiots like you.
"Get a life."
I'm not a murder!
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Date: 8/17/2006 20:46:02 +1000
From: Eamonn <Eamonnfulford@hotmail.co*>
This site made me laugh my ass off. I have since sent it to countless
friends...Keep up the good work.
(and above all THANK YOU)
No problem!
=)
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Date: 8/17/2006 20:57:48 +1000
From: Eamonn <Eamonnfulford@hotmail.co*>
Okay...I\'ve been reading one or two of the responses you got, Pastor Jim...and
I\'m forced to agree; this website is pure sarcastic genius.
You mock the living shit out of everything and then admit that you\'re actually
a committed Christian.
Farce? Yes. I think you\'re making a larger comedic point here, and that the
rest of you poor saps just don\'t get the joke. What a pity. Keep it up Jimmy,
old chap. You\'ve got a fanbase. In fact, I\'m glad your website has inspired so
much disdain. GOOD STUFF!
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Date: 8/18/2006 01:03:36 +1000
From: Justin <justingdsy@yahoo.co*>
I came to your site through Ari, he is a wild man! I am curious your take on
Marijuana and how it falls. I think I read somewhere on here that He gave all
plants for food. Why is it illegal?
Thanks! Your site is very interesting.
Since it would make to much sense and solve so many problems to legalize. You're in a Christian country.
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Date: 8/18/2006 06:30:58 +1000
From: kenshin <kenshin_kid_4995@hotmail.com>
Oh god, this is great! Your website is such a laugh, if you are serious though
understand I will find you, rape your daughter and feed her insides too you! Not
only that I will see too it that your son is eaten by ravenous wolves whilst I
jack off to it. Please, remove this crap from the internet! Thanks ^^.
So do you love me or hate me?
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Date: 8/18/2006 12:03:43 +1000
From: athiest peace <toxicdream@msn.co*>
i must say that before i searched around your site a bit i almost didn\'t catch
the pure satire. you\'re a funny guy, jim. though, what\'s even funnier is the
people, that even after searching your site, still manage to take you seriously.
christians are crazy and dumbasses are even crazier, but you\'re my hero. kudos.
Thanks!
=)
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Date: 8/18/2006 15:58:49 +1000
From: sam <gijudas@sbcglobal.net>
i really need to know you are a real christian or if this site is a big mockery
of christians
Christians do that themselves. I'm just highlighting things.
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Date: 8/18/2006 16:34:16 +1000
From: Nathan Tails <neonline69@hotmail.com>
I am the uploader and owner of the youtube \"Anna Meets the furries\" videos and
request you remove them from your site. If not I shall remove them from being
posted abroad. The videos are not ment for a site like this.
-Nathan Tails
(a \"furry\") and to you that means satan worshipper no doubt. Let me inform you
there are Christian furs who DO GO TO CHURCH, yes. Being furry is not a
religion. We do not know why the big deal over something like this. I fear my
church would patronize me over this and what am I to do give it up and lead an
unhappy life , no.
I AM FURRY hear me Murr..
(lol, seriously were not something evil and to be feared)
I made a backup copy of those files on YouTube. I have a special downloader program and if you remove it I'll just put it right back up.
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Date: 8/18/2006 16:45:39 +1000
From: Nathan Tails <neonline69@hotmail.com>
\"Here is our hit list of the follows of Satan we need to take out by category
then by alphabet order.\"
Oh my goodness, you sick freaks of neo-christianity!
You have learned nothing of Jesus\'s acceptance of people of all nations,
creeds, and race. Nothing from the dark ages of Christianity. To the massacre of
Pagans who were the Native American tribes who lived peaceably with nature. Was
it God\'s will to \'convert or kill all peoples\'
No, no this is some kind of joke internet site, right?
You can\'t be serious!
You know furries are highly flammable.
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Date: 8/18/2006 17:08:33 +1000
From: Nathan Tails <neonline69@hotmail.com>
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God\'s Law. I
have learned a great deal from your self righteous speeches, and try to share
that
knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend
the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that
Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other
specific laws and how to follow them.
1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a
pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors.
They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in
her period of menstrual cleanliness - Lev.15:19-24. The problem is,
how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and
female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend
of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can
you clarify? Why can\'t I own Canadians?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus
35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated
to kill him myself?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than
homosexuality. I don\'t agree. Can you settle this?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I
have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading
glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room
here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair
around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.
19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes
me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two
different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing
garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester
blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really
necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town
together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn\'t we just burn them to
death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with
their in-laws? (Lev.20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident
you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God\'s word is
eternal and unchanging.
Your devoted disciple and adoring fan,
Nathan Tails
You copy and pasted that you thief.
http://skeptically.org/againstreligion/id3.html
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Date: 8/18/2006 17:16:30 +1000
From: Nathan Tails <neonline69@hotmail.com>
1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily
provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth
all things.
Granted, that\'s not Christ speaking. But it\'s the idea that\'s important.
Christ never put any restrictions on the kind of love a person could express or
who it could be expressed towards.
Holy crap you can copy and paste things from the Bible!
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Date: 8/18/2006 17:41:27 +1000
From: Nathan Tails <neonline69@hotmail.com>
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding
guns than holding hands?\" - Ernest Gaines
Fag.
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Date: 8/18/2006 18:17:28 +1000
From: Nathan Tails <neonline69@hotmail.com>
His shoes scuffed as he reached for the next marbled step; his every misstep was
her heartfelt torment. She reached her toes down in advance of him, holding his
arm. \"Six more steps,\" she said softly, stepping down in front of him,
bringing him gently.
\"Is there a coffee shop in the waiting area? Can you see yet?\" he asked.
She kept her eyes on his feet; the expensive foreign shoes that housed and
protected them. They found the next step, and she slipped her pads down one
more. \"Pay attention to the stairs, please, Master,\" she reproached gently.
The boy sighed, features obscured by the dark glasses. She dared a glance at his
face. He seemed more impatient with the situation than with her, and she felt
relieved. Her tail wagged softly, for no one.
Why would they put the train platform downstairs? she wondered. Just to make it
inconvenient? As if reading her mind, the boy said, \"I hate this.
This is such a bother. Why couldn\'t you just drive me, Faith?\"
\"We\'re almost there... two more steps.\" She concentrated on the boy, letting
the stares and sudden changes in gait of the humans around her pass over her
almost unnoticed. Almost.
The boy held to her and not the handrail. That was the most delightful
compliment she could imagine. \"Last step, Master.\" The boy reached his foot
down and found the ground floor. Faith led him to one side and stood him by an
ancient-looking fluted column. She felt his hand take the swivel harness
strapped to her hips.
\"It\'s a large room, as you can hear,\" she observed. \"There are eight gates,
evenly spaced; odd numbered ones down the left side, even numbered ones down the
right. Ours is gate three on the left. There is a gift shop at the far left, and
two restaurants on the right, and yes, one of them is a coffee shop. According
to the monitor, our train is on time, and will be arriving on track 3 in just
over half an hour. The men\'s room is around the corner here on our right, and
the women\'s room is over there on our left.\"
\"Good, take me to the men\'s room.\"
\"Yes, Master.\" She stepped forward, tugging the harness, and he followed.
The men\'s\' room was large, mostly bank upon bank of urinals. There were one or
two men in there. The reek of urine, faintly exciting, spun biographies out at
her like bees attacking a hungry bear. Scents of health, disease, feast and
famine, illicit relations... They all rushed to sing their choruses in her nose.
She trotted the boy over to do his business, feeling the dampness of less
careful visitors under her feet, and stepped back.
One of the men down the aisle a bit looked up at her as if she\'d come in toting
a machine gun. She heard the trickle of his urine dry up like a river bed in
Death Valley. She tried not to look at him. Or anyone.
\"I\'m done,\" the boy called to her. She padded back over and guided his hand
to her harness, and then showed him to the wash basins. She could feel the eyes
on her back.
The boy sighed, letting her bring his hands to the soap dispenser and doing the
rest. \"Faith, why didn\'t you just drive me?\"
\"Now, Master, you know I\'m not allowed to drive on the big highways. Just in
the city. Between the fingers, please. Do a good job, now.\"
\"Why don\'t you just lick him clean?\"
It was muttered. The boy would never have heard it, but she did. Her mind raced
with clever replies, but it was not her place to make them. Her place was to
look after the boy, and picking a fight with a rude man in a washroom was hardly
the way to go about it. She swallowed the insult, one of hundreds, perhaps
thousands, and helped the child dry his hands.
Faith looked at herself in the mirror. Saw the men behind her, eyeing her. What
a balancing act the creation of her race had been for its designers. Human
enough to get by day to day, but different enough that her opinions and feelings
could be discounted; she was \'other\'. Still, some of the design must have been
pure whim. But then, she decided, by its very nature, playing God was to be
capricious. She had a long, flowing mane like hair, and breasts like a human
woman, but there were eight of them, four pairs down the front of her in
diminishing size; all modestly concealed in fur. She had an hourglass shape and
a smooth, curvy backside, but a tail was rooted to it. Her eyes were soft and
alluring, but set over a snout that was long enough to be dangerous, but short
enough not to be ugly. The entire effect was to make her approachably human, but
sufficiently different that she would not complicate things. She knew the men
were eyeing her with a certain casual interest, but then dismissing their
interest
as deviant. At least, most of them were.
\"Do we have time to go the coffee shop?\" he asked her.
\"Yes, Master, I think if we\'re quick. No more than fifteen minutes, though.\"
She watched the boy smile, and she led him into the small cafe.
The sign said, rather ridiculously, \"Please wait to be seated\", and so Faith
waited. The woman at the cash looked up at her. People like Faith -- if one
considered them people at all -- were still very rare. A person might, on
average, see one or two in the space of a year, even in a city this size. She
came over, eyeing Faith, eyeing the child, obviously in a quandary about whom
she was supposed to address. Finally she asked the air between them, \"Just
two?\"
\"Just two,\" Faith replied. The woman nodded to her, unable to take her eyes
off her, and led them to a tight booth. Faith helped the boy squeeze into the
seat, and then, folding the harness to allow herself to sit, she sat opposite
him. The waitress came back with two menus, and suddenly realizing the boy was
blind, she prepared to hand them to Faith. Then another problem struck her and
she clapped them to her own breast.
\"Can you, uh... I mean,\" she stammered at Faith.
\"Yes, ma\'am, I can read,\" Faith replied patiently, and took the menu the
woman offered. The waitress stepped away, and Faith opened the menu. \"What do
you feel like today, hmmm?\" she asked him. \"It\'ll have to be something quick.
A donut, maybe?\"
\"Nah,\" he said. \"I\'m hungry. I feel better today.\"
Faith wagged her tail, though he could not see it. \"Well, how about a piece of
chocolate pie? You know how you love that.\"
\"Yeah, do they have it here?\"
\"Says so,\" she replied.
\"Okay, I\'ll have that. And a milkshake. Strawberry.\"
She smiled. \"Oh, you must feel better today. Good. We\'ll make sure you get
something a little bit bad for you.\" She turned her warm brown eyes to the
waitress, who, still staring, caught her gaze at once and hurried over, digging
her order pad from her hip pocket.
\"My Master would like a slice of chocolate pie, and a strawberry milkshake,
please,\" Faith ordered.
The waitress nodded. \"Anything for yourself?\"
\"I\'m fine, thank you, ma\'am,\" Faith said, handing the menu back.
\"Aw, come on, Faith,\" the boy prodded. \"Don\'t make me eat alone. That would
be rude.\"
\"Very well, Master,\" she smiled. \"I\'ll have a honeydipped donut, please,
ma\'am, and some tea.\"
\"Coming right up,\" the waitress said.
The boy waited until the waitress was out of earshot. \"Can I ask you
something?\" he said.
\"Of course, Master.\"
\"In school the other day, when you left me to use the bathroom, Victor said you
don\'t have a soul. Is that true?\"
Faith studied his face, puzzled by the question. She twitched her ear, and said,
\"Well, I don\'t know, really. I don\'t know for sure that anyone has a soul. I
hope I do...\"
\"Because if you don\'t have a soul, Victor says you can\'t be with me in
Heaven. When I die.\"
Faith squirmed a bit. She leaned forward, placing her paw on the boy\'s hand.
\"Donny,\" she whined, softly, \"please don\'t talk like that.\"
\"I would just be stumbling around Heaven, tripping over clouds.\" Donny smiled,
his voice sparkling with a child\'s laugh, even speaking of death.
\"You wouldn\'t need me in Heaven,\" she said softly. \"You\'ll be able to see,
perfectly. And you won\'t hurt inside anymore. But...\" She squeezed his hand in
hers. \"But that won\'t be for a really long time.\"
He smiled at her, as if he could see her face.
She smiled back. \"Besides,\" she said. \"In Heaven you get wings, so you don\'t
have to worry about tripping over things.\"
Donny nodded. The waitress brought their order, and Faith watched him eat, her
heart brimming with joy. It had been such a long time since he had had an
appetite. He raised his head, the chocolate ringing his little mouth, and she
brushed his lips with the back of her paw.
The boy was dying. He knew it, and she knew it. But it was only in the last
little while that he had begun to speak of it. It turned her blood to icewater.
In daylight, with the pink in his cheeks, she could fight it down. But at night,
in the cot at the foot of his bed, she would hear him; the rasping breaths, the
stirrings, and she would go to him, and soothe him. And it was getting worse.
And so they were making this trip.
His fork clinked on the empty plate. When he realized he had had the last bite,
Donny put his fork down. Faith took a napkin and wiped his mouth. In response,
he pressed his hand into her face, gently studying her familiar features. In
spite of herself, she licked his hand, and held it to her cheek.
\"I bet you\'ll look pretty in Heaven,\" he told her. \"I can\'t wait to see
you. Especially with wings.\"
\"Donny, please, please,\" she begged him.
The boy nodded, old enough to understand her pain. \"I\'m sorry,\" he said.
\"I\'ll stop.\"
\"You\'ll be okay,\" she reassured him. \"The doctors at St. Francis are the
best. You remember how they helped you last time. Soon, you won\'t have any more
pain. I promise you.\" She realized the double meaning of what she had just
said, and it chilled her to the bones. She wondered if it were lost on him. She
hoped so. She clarified, more for herself than him, \"They\'ll make you well and
you\'ll grow up strong. Who knows... if they change the law back, maybe they can
even grow you some new eyes. Then you won\'t need me anymore.\" She wagged,
stung by the idea, but knowing it would be selfish to deny him that miracle.
\"I\'ll always need you, Faith,\" he told her. \"Always.\"
\"And I\'ll be here as long as you do,\" she said.
Faith helped the boy up and retrieved the debit card from the little pouch on
her hip. She paid the bill, and led Donny out into the main concourse. \"We\'ll
get in line, okay? Do you mind standing for a bit? Is it okay, Master?\"
\"Sure, I\'m okay.\"
Faith padded across the smooth, cool marble floor; her ankles angled by science
such that they never quite reached the ground, making her steps springy and
giving her the appearance of someone wearing invisible high heels.
Behind her the boy trailed boldly, fully confident of his steps in her care. His
gait gave her pride.
As they moved past one of the huge pillars that held the roof of the station,
Faith caught sight of a man, standing there. He was elderly, dressed neatly in
an old black suit; both he and it looked European. Beside him stood a young
woman, equally elegant; from her scent, she was a relative of his. Probably his
daughter, Faith decided. She stood behind a large keyboard, and there was an
open case on the floor in front of them. The old man smiled at her as they
passed, tipping his fedora to her, as if she were a regular person, as if he saw
people like her everyday. Letting her professionalism lapse for a moment, an
unforgivable moment, she turned her head, meeting his eye, and she wagged her
tail at him, softly.
\"Bella cane,\" the man said softly. \"Per te.\" He spread his hands as she
passed, closing his eyes, and the young woman beside him began to play the
keyboard. A soft, lovely melody, at once sad and inspiring, poured from her
fingertips and into the air like mulled wine.
The man opened his throat, and for a moment, nothing came. Slowly, the note
rose, and Faith, eyes forward, craned her ears back to listen as she lead Donny
past. \"Ave Maria,\" the man sang, a warm, rich tenor filling the air like an
empty bowl.
\"What\'s that?\" the boy asked her.
\"Performers, Master.\"
\"No, I mean, that song. It\'s pretty. I like it.\"
\"Oh,\" Faith said, settling Donny into line. \"It\'s called Ave Maria.\"
\"Awvay...?\"
\"Ave Maria. It\'s Latin. It means \'Hail Mary\', I think.\"
\"Oh. Mary who?\"
\"Jesus\' mother.\"
\"Ohhhh, okay.\" He shuffled, and she turned her attention back to the music for
a moment. \"Why hail?\"
\"Why--? Oh. Well, some people pray to her. It\'s kind of like a prayer, this
song.\"
\"How does the rest go?\"
\"I\'m sorry, Master, I don\'t know.\" Faith searched her memory hard for the
boy. Fetching. \"Hail Mary, full of... full of grace... The Lord... The Lord
is.... I\'m sorry, Master, it\'s all I remember.\"
The boy nodded. Together, they listened to the song. As it ended, the sound of
train bells marched down the stairs to them. \"Do you pray, Faith?\" he asked.
\"That\'s our train,\" she told him.
Donny nodded. \"I\'m scared,\" he told her.
\"I know,\" she said. \"But don\'t be. I\'m with you.\" She led him along the
shuffling line, up the stairs to the platform. Impatient people behind them
wisely held their tongues.
\"Why couldn\'t Mom or Dad be with us?\" he sighed.
\"Your parents are busy people. You know that, Master. But they will be there.
In a couple of days, they\'ll be joining us at St. Francis.\" She took a comb
from the little package on her hip and smoothed it through his hair.
\"Why don\'t they love me, Faith?\" His voice was quiet. It was an adult
question no adult would ever ask.
\"They do love you!\" she told him, hating herself for lying to him. The boy\'s
mother was perhaps forgivable after a fashion; she loved none of her children,
or anyone but herself; given over almost entirely to her social life and
obligations. But Donald\'s father was a man full of love. Conditional love. And
at some point, the bottom line had dictated the boy would die, and was not worth
the emotional investment. He was quiet and friendly with Donald, but that was
all. His excuse for not being physically demonstrative with the boy was that
Donny was \'fragile\'; which was certainly true, but not to that extent. It
seemed to Faith that, if and when she littered, the child who was weakest would
win her fiercest love. The others would need it less. That the boy\'s father
could deny this child of all his children his love was utterly foreign to her,
and though she disguised it completely behind a mask of goodwill, she despised
the man. \"They do love you,\" she said again, and, daringly, she kissed his
forehead.
The boy nodded.
\"Salia doesn\'t like me,\" he said.
\"Salia,\" Faith grinned, \"is just jealous because you get more attention and
you have a SMART to help you cheat on your math tests.\"
The boy chuckled for her, and Faith\'s heart melted. \"Mrs. Rathburn is getting
wise to your tail trick,\" he said. \"She\'s going to chuck you out if you keep
it up.\"
\"Just let her try,\" Faith said, and she gave a playful low growl. She smiled.
\"Salia is just a little girl, and she doesn\'t understand yet. In a couple of
years she will. And Ray, Ray loves you more than anyone in the world,\" she
said.
\"Not as much as you do,\" he replied.
No. No, child, no one loves you as much as I do. \"Sure he does. He\'s your
brother.\"
His hand moved up and down her back, fingers scritching into her fell. Her thin
lips parted and she panted softly, her eyes narrow.
Somewhere behind her, Faith heard a woman whisper, \"Don\'t point, Rhoda, it\'s
not polite. She\'s a special big doggy who\'s there to help out that little
blind boy. But you\'ll hurt her feelings if you point.\"
Faith curled into herself for a moment.
A conductor stepped off the train onto the platform. \"Tickets, please...
tickets...\" He moved down the line, occasionally glancing at Faith as he
scanned the stubs for authenticity. He came up to Faith and tipped his cap.
\"Tickets, please.\"
Faith produced the ticket. A single ticket. The boy\'s ticket. The conductor
scanned it. \"Just the two of you?\"
\"Yes, sir,\" Faith replied.
\"Are you this child\'s guardian or proxy on this journey?\"
\"Yes, sir, I am.\"
The conductor took another scanner from his belt. He eyed the ident tag on her
collar. \"Sorry, miss, just a formality.\"
Faith nodded, raising her chin. The man brought the scanner near it and recorded
the information. \"Thank you, miss,\" he said. \"Have a nice day.\"
\"Thank you, sir.\"
The conductor moved down the line. \"Tickets, please, tickets...\"
\"Can we get on now?\" Donny said.
\"Yes.\" She led him to the step. It would have been awkward for him, so she
begged his leave and picked him up under the arms and put him on the train
herself. It tore at her heart how light he was, even now. She led Donny down the
aisle and found what she considered an appropriate berth, and they took it. She
sat Donny by the window and herself between him and the door. After a moment,
the train jerked, and began to move.
\"Here we go,\" Faith smiled.
Then the train stopped. Faith glanced around. After a moment, it began to move
again. She shrugged to herself. At almost that moment, a man pounded past their
compartment, glancing in as he passed. Faith heard him stop, and then come back.
He opened the door and came in, disheveled; sweating and panting, he stank of
gin. He threw himself down on the opposite couch. Faith felt Donny press a bit
closer to her, and smelled his apprehension. She wanted to throw the man from
the compartment, but there was nothing she could do.
\"Close call!\" the man moaned. \"Almost didn\'t make it.\" He threw a newspaper
on the seat beside him, and it spilled itself out, partly onto the floor.
Faith stared forward.
Still panting, the man\'s eye roamed her form. \"Slavery,\" he said. \"Nothing
but bloody slavery.\"
Faith squirmed.
\"There\'ll come a day,\" the man said, wagging his finger, and then belching.
\"There\'ll come a day when people will rise up. You shouldn\'t take it, you
know,\" he told her. \"Just because you look different, is no reason they should
treat you like an animal.\"
Faith said, nervously, \"Please, sir. Don\'t talk that way. You could be
arrested.\"
\"Nobody\'s bloody free these days. Nobody. Not even us.\" He was thundering
now, probably loud enough to be heard outside.
Donny said, \"You\'re not supposed to talk to my SMART! You\'re not supposed
to-\" He began to cough. \"-not supposed to - distract...\" His voice left him,
and he went into a coughing fit. Faith curled her arms around him.
\"Calm down, calm down, Master!\"
\"Hey, is the little fellow going to be o-\"
Faith turned, snarling. \"Don\'t upset him! Can\'t you see he\'s sick? Get out!
Get out now or I\'ll report you!\"
The man blinked, taken aback. He raised his hands. \"Alright, alright, I\'ll go,
I\'ll go!\" He rose, nearly falling back, and headed for the door. \"God\'s
teeth; try to help some bloody people...\" He was gone.
Faith calmed Donny, rocking him in her arms, but it was clear it had taken
something out of him. In just a few moments, he was asleep, his head against her
shoulder. She eyed the man\'s newspaper covetously, but dared not move and
disturb Donny. When the boy finally shifted, lying against the wall of the
train, Faith leaned forward, retrieving a color insert magazine from the
newspaper.
The magazine was called \"Utilities\", and the cover blazed: \"The New SMARTS:
Conversations with Dr. Terrence Ludlow and Cardinal Ying\".
Faith blinked. Probably, she shouldn\'t be caught reading this, but she turned
the pages, softly. The article began:
GENEVA (UPS): In the Twentieth Century, the Third World War was always
conceived of as a nuclear holocaust that would rain sudden death from the sky,
incinerating cities, nations, and the very supports of civilization itself. When
World War III finally came, the result was somewhat milder, if more insidious.
The bombs never fell, but the viruses that roamed the planet over the next
generation consumed a sixth of the human race and set civilization back
generations in terms of development. Only now is it generally agreed that
humanity has recovered to the point it had reached before the war.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the survivors of the war, recoiling in horror at
the misery and devastation wrought by the recombinant DNA technologies that made
it possible, turned their backs on the science, internationally outlawing many
otherwise promising biotechnologies. But there is today a sentiment afoot that
may reverse these statutes. How many more people, an increasing chorus of voices
ask, must die of heart failure and liver cancer, or be crippled or deformed
because simple cloning techniques mastered nearly a century ago sit on the
shelves, collecting dust in a total ban because of mistakes made a half century
ago by madmen? Surely by now we\'ve learned the lesson, say these voices, and
have the wisdom to pick and chose what are good biological technologies, and
what aren\'t.
Other voices say that we have learned nothing, if we haven\'t learned to
leave well enough alone. These voices hearken back to a safer age, when the
lines between species were absolute, when viruses that affected one species
rarely crossed over lethally to infect another, and when the question of what is
and is not human was thought to have been settled.
One of these voices, a voice in favor or re-initiating the advancement of
biotechnologies, is Dr. Terrence Ludlow of Johns Hopkins University. I recently
had a chance to speak to him here in Geneva, where the World Health Organization
is preparing its recommendations to the United Nations General Assembly on this
issue, due for re-examination as the fiftieth anniversary of the ban approaches.
Faith scanned down the article and the interview with Dr. Ludlow... Initially,
he spoke of cloning technologies, the sort that would generate new organs for
dying people, made of their own cells, with the necessary genetic corrections
made (if any), letting millions of people live longer, more productive lives.
She reached over and stroked Donald softly, and turned back to her reading.
Quickly, though, the real point of Ludlow\'s position came into sight.
TL: People have to put the whole question in perspective. Yes, of course,
biological warfare is a terrible thing! So is armed robbery, but we don\'t ban
money. What we need is a sensible, balanced course. Certain areas of
investigation should remain closed off, but others should be re-opened. I\'m
just saying, we\'ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Let\'s go get the
baby back.
UM: Which areas of investigation, Doctor?
TL: Let me give you a prime example. The prime example. Look at all the good
that\'s come into the world through SMARTs Sentient Mammalian Anthropomorphs -
Restricted Technology. Nearly eighty years ago, the first SMARTs were created,
and they\'ve been with us ever since. They were unaffected by the war, and who
can argue the boon they\'ve been to thousands of unfortunate victims? And the
whole project, every single birth, has been overseen and directed by the World
Health Organization, in conjunction with participating UN member states. So far,
only dogs have been SMARTed, but I can see the time is quickly coming when we\'ll
need other forms of SMARTs. And I don\'t believe we should be cowed from it by a
war whose mistakes we have no intention of repeating.
UM: Other forms of SMARTs?
TL: We\'re running out of room and resources on the surface of the planet.
It\'s only natural that we should turn to the oceans. Dolphins will be a great
help, but they\'re willful and have only limited motility. They can\'t easily
manipulate objects, and servo-appliances strapped onto them tend to irritate
them. I believe we\'ll need some sort of aquatic intelligence rather more
similar to ourselves if we\'re going to make a go of it. I\'m thinking of some
sort of anthropomorphic seal, myself.
UM: Doctor, there are voices in the other camp that are charging the creation
of new lifeforms violates the sanctity and dignity of existing life and cheapens
human life as it exists.
TL: Ah. You\'re speaking of religious establishment. Yes, of course, it\'s
never been in their interests for mankind to advance. If people start thinking
for themselves, the collection plate tends to get lighter.
UM: That seems a rather cynical attitude, Doctor.
TL: Does it? I wonder where we\'d be today if everyone thought so. Surely,
Galileo, Copernicus, and Tyndale didn\'t listen to the Church.
Neither did Hitler, Faith thought, frowning, and she read on.
There are other voices, of course, taking the opposite tack, and chief among
them is Cardinal Juan Ying of Manila, in Geneva at the conference as an
independent speaker, but with the moral weight of his position as cardinal
behind him. Cardinal Ying has spent most of the past two years in Rome,
participating in Vatican III, shortly to issue the official position of the
Roman Catholic Church on recombinant technologies. While the announced position
of the Church on the issue of the creation of new forms of life is not expected
to be much of a surprise, what is at issue is the position that the Church will
take on the question of whether or not SMARTs can be considered to have souls.
While this question at first seems academic, even ephemeral, in combination with
the questions now being asked in Geneva, the ripple effect could be
far-reaching.
UM: Your Eminence, it\'s widely anticipated that the Third Vatican Council
will recommend that recombinant technology is immoral.
CJY: I don\'t think that\'s much in question. It\'s hardly a secret that our
church, and most of the other faiths around the world, Christian and non-
Christian, are in profound agreement that such technologies are a usurpation of
the genitive powers of God.
UM: A position that dovetails with the Church\'s position on reproductive
technologies and birth control...
CJY: Well, yes, the views are consistent. I think I can safely say that the
position of the Council will be that the Church considers immoral any device,
science, or method that interferes with, or assumes the powers and prerogatives
of the Lord in the creation of life, outside of the normal means with which we
were provided at the dawn of time.
UM: But what remains to be seen is what the Council will decide regarding the
recommendations of the group of Cardinals you lead, whose position it is that
SMARTs are moral beings in possession of souls, regarded by God as fully human,
and as such, are deserving of all human rights under the UN Charter.
CJY: That is what we believe, and I am confident we will pe