BACK GOLDMINE 5'?m2f Cults, belief, faith, Bible reading (optional light cue: dim to dark) AMY -- (enters, wearing backpack, carrying flashlight, shouts) Here it is! I found it! LIZ -- (follows, wearing backpack, carrying flashlight) It's just a cave! Is this what we've been searching for all morning? (optional light cue: dim up to 50%) AMY -- (sweeping flashlight all around) It's not just a cave. It's an abandoned gold mine. LIZ -- (sweeping flashlight all around) You mean somebody dug out all of this rock? AMY -- Yes. Where we're standing was solid rock before he started digging. LIZ -- I don't get it. We're half way up a steep mountain. There were no roads coming up here. How could they get a machine all the way up here to do all this digging? AMY -- It wasn't a THEY, it was a HE. And HE didn't use a machine. He did it by hand, with a pick and shovel. LIZ -- You're kidding! All by himself? AMY -- All by himself. LIZ -- Wow! It must have taken him years to dig all this out! AMY -- It did. The land office records showed that the miner worked this mine for over ten years. They say he died with a pick ax in his hand. LIZ -- How do you know so much about this place? AMY -- I ran across it when I was doing a research paper on geology. LIZ -- Sorry to disappoint you. But, I don't see any gold. I hope you didn't come all this way thinking you were going to get rich. AMY -- No. I came here to talk about your new church. LIZ -- My new church. AMY -- Yes. LIZ -- You came all this way and spent all morning searching for a gold mine just to talk about my church? AMY -- Yes. LIZ -- This I've got to hear. AMY -- Looking for a new church is a lot like prospecting for gold. LIZ -- I'm sure. AMY -- No, really. Before a prospector spends his hard-earned cash to stake a claim, he spends several days, even weeks or months, surveying, poking around, and doing test digs. LIZ -- Makes sense. I wouldn't buy a gold mine unless I found gold first. AMY -- In the gold-rush days, most of the prospectors didn't find gold before they bought the land. LIZ -- They didn't? AMY -- No. The gold is usually deeper than you can dig with a few shallow test holes. Gold is usually sandwiched between two or more layers of a specific kind of quartz. The test digs are to see if the quartz and other sandwich layers are present. LIZ -- Well, obviously that prospector found the quartz and the other sandwich layers. AMY -- No. LIZ -- No?! Then, why did he spend his money and the rest of his life digging out all of (sweep flashlight broadly) THIS? AMY -- The historians of his day coined a phrase for situations like this. They said that the miner "married the mine". LIZ -- He "married the mine"? AMY -- Yes. LIZ -- What does that mean? AMY -- According to the historians, after some miners dig a few test holes, they quit looking for evidence and start looking for justification. LIZ -- I don't get it. AMY -- The more gullible prospectors stopped collecting evidence before they had enough evidence to make an intelligent decision. After a point their test digs were not for the purpose of determining whether there was gold in the ground, but to justify a premature decision. LIZ -- Oh. So you think my decision to join my new church was a premature decision? AMY -- I think you married the mine. LIZ -- How can you say that? AMY -- Because every time I talk to you, you talk in the same sound bites as the missionaries of your church. LIZ -- What's wrong with that? AMY -- If your new church is based on the Bible as they say it is, your test digs into the Bible should be revealing some new evidence, some of it FOR and some of it AGAINST your new church. LIZ -- Well, I can tell you why I don't find any evidence against my new church. There isn't any! AMY -- How do you know? Are you READING the Bible every day? LIZ -- Well, no. They've got me reading these other books and pamphlets. They told me to set aside my Bible for a while. Oh, no! AMY -- What's the matter? LIZ -- You don't suppose THEY married the mine, do you? AMY -- There's only one way to find out. BOTH -- Read the Bible. LIZ -- But they said I wasn't ready to read the Bible, yet. AMY -- Look what happens when you marry the mine and stop looking for evidence. (waves flashlight broadly) LIZ -- What happens? AMY -- The historians said that the prospector who dug this mine didn't find an ounce of gold. He lost everything to this mine, including his life. LIZ -- (turns to exit) Well, that's not going to happen to me. AMY -- (follows) What are you going to do? LIZ -- (exiting) I'm going to do some more test digs in my Bible. (optional light cue: dim to dark) ©2007 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.fea.net/bobsnook email: bobsnook@fea.net BACK |