Silence filled the air. The tension was evident: it weighed our heads and shoulders down. I sighed. My thumb flicked on my revolver's cylinder, the crackling mechanic sounds slicing through the sheet of silence. I lifted the revolver, aimed the muzzle through the partition holes, penetrating the barrel to the other side, then I heard, "Pardon my transgressions." Then I said, "Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Him in paradise." I cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. Click! Then silence.
***
In this very day and age, all religions of men, in all nations, came forth in unity and behold, The Place of Worship was established. In its form, all religions of men were encapsulated in one body that men would worship under one entity. It was thus agreed and commanded that man shall not sin against his kind and if it happens that he may, the wages were death and all were to confess. Seven men, The Elders, I among them, were mandated to hear confessions from all and, in a decision of fate, decide who lives and who doesn't. In this very day, I was to hear the confessions.
***
The Place of Worship was a behemoth of a structure whose pinnacle of the crucifix pierced the dark and heavy clouds that now bled in showers of heavy rain droplets. I stood by the gates and looked at The Bride whose garments were stained in the filth of sin and dripped of ungodliness. Her beauty was tainted in unreadiness to receive The Groom. 'Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.'
I wore the hood of my black cloak and slowly, but surely, trod the paths to the mystic wooded door of The Place of Worship. The lightning flashed through the windows illuminating from the frescoes on the ceiling to the aisle. By the alter, the chief priest stood in a white chasuble, his arms holding by the wrists within the sleeves.
"The heads of the churches: the priests, the elders and deacons, and all members have been summoned as per the decree." He started off turning to lead to the confession room.
"It shall be destroyed, and in three days build."
He led on to the confession room that saw us climbing up a spiral staircase shuffling through a queue of the heads of churches and men that awaited their fate. He opened the door and we took sides, separated by a perforated wooden partition.
"Forgive me for I have sinned."
"Confess"
"Against my priestly duties have I transgressed. I have stained The Bride's garments. Rightly after being ordained did I get drunk to the sacred pastoral wine. I begot accustomed to the act every night of the days of worship." He paused and sighed in shame. "From the basket of the tithe and offering have I enriched myself." He continued. "Then came this night, a cold night it was, that my mind was engaged in lustful sin. And thus I prayed, that if it may be His will, that this sinful cup be taken from me. And behold, as I stared through the window, Sister Magdalene walked by. I rushed to the door to greet her. 'Greetings Sister.' I said. 'Greetings to you my priest.' She spake, her head down and eyes affixed to the floor. 'A cold night.' I said. 'Indeed.' She agreed. 'Again, if two lie together, then they have heat; but how can one be warm alone?' And thus I lured her to my residence and broke my vow to chastity." He paused and couldn't help but cry. A cry of regret. A cry for grace that was so taken for granted. A cry for the church.
"And the baby?"
"Never got to see the light of day."
The Execute, a Colt 1860 Army revolver, was sheathed in rubber. I pulled it out, empty of its cylinder, I placed a bullet and flicked it with my thumb. Russian Roulette.
"Pardon my transgressions."
"What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death." He closed his eyes tightly squeezing out tears. "Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Him in paradise." I aimed through the partition holes and pulled the trigger. Click! Silence! Click! Empty!
He opened his eyes in disbelief, gasped heavily falling down on his knees sobbing.
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Go and sin no more."
The incarnation of Christianity complexity in relevance to Paradise is intriguing. This ramifies the irrelevance proximal but yet distal forceful inclusion of anything really to justify its acceptance to the society. The line between what's widely considered good or evil is thinning out.