Image Of God (1964)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] Quiet, please. Philosopher at work. Hey, Plato, feed the body. The bell rings in 10 minutes. Sandwich me. Linda, you better feed Sleepy. If he doesn't eat, he'll never get off his launching pad. Oh, will you look at that? I wish I was on that jet right now. 2 hours I'd be in New York. I'm just the New Yorker type. I can see me now picking up a pair of tickets to Billy Rose Theater. Cops, of course. Left there by Ed Sullivan to welcome me to the big town. Well, what gives with Linda? Don't feel bad, Freddy. We should have told you. Linda's mom and dad took the noon jet to New York just before the holidays and well, didn't quite get there. Linda's dad was going to New York on business and her mom went along to see some of the shows. I'm sorry. I didn't know. [Music] [Applause] Son, Linda, I I didn't know. Really? I didn't know. Oh, I guess I heard about the plane crash before we moved here, but but but none of the kids told me about you. Well, it's not your fault, Fred. Everybody's just been trying not to talk about it. Here, I brought your books. Thank you. Can I do anything? No, it's all right. Oh, and don't feel bad, please. It was really my fault. [Music] You know, I haven't seen too much of Linda. Well, except when she eats lunch with the gang. Say, she's a friend of Cathy's, isn't she? Mhm. I haven't seen her at any of our Sunday evening sessions. Does she ever go to church? Kathy used to bring her once in a while before folks were killed. Where does she live now? With an aunt or something. Maybe she would come out Sunday. Kathy asked her. No dice. Well, do you think I should try? What do you want? A vote of confidence? I know you're going to ask her anyway. You know, sleep, I hadn't noticed before, but Linda's a pretty good-look girl. What a phony. Look, if you want romance, take her out on a date. Don't give me this jazz about Sunday evenings at church. Hi, gang. Hello. Hello, Casey. Hey, Kathy Doll. Well, what's new? Fred the phony here was just about to ask you what Linda said last time. You asked her to join our gang at church. Answer Sleepy so he can tell me. Well, I I was kind of surprised. Not at what Linda said, but the way she said it. First, she thanked me and shook her head. I could see she was starting to cry, so I I tried to change the subject. Then she she said she respected the way I felt about God, but she wasn't going to kid herself anymore. Well, did you say anything else? No, she she didn't want to talk about it. Sounds like Linda's been picking up some of Jerry Hooper's ideas. What kind of ideas? I'm in Jerry's physics class and well, I don't get much of a chance to talk to him. Well, Jerry's a nice guy and he's probably the smartest kid in school. A real brain. But don't get in any arguments with him on religion or politics. He'll tear you to pieces. Like how? Well, Jerry believes in a god. At least I think he calls him a god. But it's not the same god we believe in. At least I don't think so. I'm going to have to have a bull session with that boy someday. Well, not me. When he gets way out there, I can't dig him. I don't think our history teacher can either. Say, uh, Linda and Jerry, are are they going together? Not steady, steady. Just just dating. Steady. In other words, Freddy, my boy, you've got your work cut out for you. [Applause] [Music] Oh, hi, Linda. Oh, hi Fred. How's it going? Oh, I'm all right, thank you. Listen, I am sorry. Oh, that goes double for me. Say, I've got my car at school today. How would you like a lift home? I'm going your way anyhow. Track starts tomorrow and the coach wants me to pick up a fiberglass pole at JC. All right. Thank you. [Music] Hey, what a great place for a party. Well, I haven't had any yet. Oh, I didn't mean it. Well, it is a swell room. I know. I like it much better than the living room or my own room just to sit around or study. We had a room like this back in Dayton. Well, that was where we lived before we moved here. Wasn't it hard? I mean, switching a semester from one school to another. Oh, yeah. Just at first, though. I mean, leaving your friends. Yeah. Yeah. That that was kind of rough. But I met a swell bunch of kids. Basketball helped and I think mostly it was the group at church. Uh say Linda, I wondered. Well, uh why don't you come out with Kathy and the rest of the gang this Sunday evening? We're playing in a swell program and I could pick you up. No, thank you, Fred. I' I'd rather not. Linda, I haven't been very honest with myself or or you. I've been mixing up two different things. I really do want to get to know you, but but I wasn't thinking about that right now. I asked you to come out this Sunday evening because, well, I think it will help you. Uh, thanks, Fred. I I don't think so. I was just leaving for choir practice when when I heard about mom and dad. I was home alone practicing a song. Jesus savior pilot me. I wasn't a regular member of the choir but but they knew I sang. So they asked me to sing this song. Then the police came and they told me. I'm sorry, Linda. I I wish Well, I'll never sing that song again. I'll never sing any song or or say any prayer to a a god who would kill my mom and dad. Maybe there just isn't even a god. just just no God at all. Linda, there is a God. Not just a God, but but God himself. The one the Bible tells us about. I know it. I I just know it. That's all. I wish you could know it, too. [Music] Next time you should wear a parachute. Hi, Jerry. Hi. You got home or something? How come you're out here all alone jumping without a crossbar? Oh, I just picked up a new fiberglass pole. I thought I'd try it out. Oh, wow. Now I know what a blastoff is like. Uh, would you like to try it? Oh, you got to be kidding. I'm starting a local chapter of the Letterman's Club for non-athletes. We'll wear a an F emblem and date all the girls while you poor slobs are knocking yourselves out. Of course, you know, some of you athletic bums aren't so bad for yourselves when it comes to moving in on another guy's girl. You know, Jerry, I looked around real careful and and I didn't see one private property sign just anywhere. Before any girl becomes my private property, I'm going to be an old man, like 30 or so. I can't jump very high, but I sure can run fast. Meanwhile, Linda's a cute kid, and you're going to have to jump a lot higher than you did just now to beat my time. Jerry, I can jump a lot higher than that. Kidding aside, Fred, you know, Linda was pretty upset when you left. Yeah, I know. I I didn't know what to do or didn't know what to say. I went through the ringer when her folks were killed and I couldn't think of anything to do or say either. I tried to get her to start meeting with our gang on Sunday evenings. You're welcome to come too, Jerry. Thanks, Fred. Don't get me wrong. I respect you guys a lot, but I just don't buy that kind of jazz. Linda doesn't either anymore. It isn't jazz to me. I'm sorry, Fred. I didn't mean it that way. Really? I know that you and Sleepy and Joe and the rest of the bunch got a hold of something that means a lot to you. Well, that's great, but it just isn't my slice of grapefruit. So, go ahead, Fred, and try to beat out my time with Linda if you can. Beat your time with me. That comes under the heading of competitive sports. But don't forget that she's just starting to get her feet back in the ground again. Don't get her all confused with this church, God, Jesus knows best routine. That's kind of hard to buy when your mom and dad tell you goodbye and never come back. Maybe God does know best, huh? Maybe. But would you buy it if it was your folks? I don't know, Jerry. I I can't imagine that even happening to me. But I hope I would buy it just like you said. I I hope I would buy it even if it didn't make any sense. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Come on, Sleepy. Let's shoot some baskets. See who gets the Cokes. Go away. I'm joining Jerry's club for non-athletes. You guys just aren't intellectual enough for me. Okay, I'll get him this time. [Music] How you doing, lover boy? Oh, I almost cleared 13 ft yesterday. By 8 in, you almost cleared 13 ft. I'm talking about Linda. Give me the odds. Well, I read him about 6040. 60 who? Who else? I told you I almost cleared 13 ft. Uh, who you taking to the prom? Jeanie. Jerry had already asked Linda. I got her for the varsity hop, though. I'd love to see Jerry's face when she tells him. You uh just playing games or you really want to help Linda? I want to help her, but I want to play games, too. I just don't know how to help her, Sleepy. I'm dead if I bring that subject up again. Maybe it just does take a long time for anybody to get over to get over something like she went through. It takes more than time, I think. Okay, then what's the answer? I've been thinking. So far, no luck. But I'll bet that boy Jerry finds a way of telling her what he thinks. Yeah, it's easier when you're knocking something. Yeah, I guess so. Here you go, guys. Thank you. Hope you'll at least get up for lunch. Hey, uh, has Kathy said anything about Linda yet? Well, she said that, well, she just wants to be a good friend. You guys coming out this Sunday night? Sure. I'll be back on time. Back from where? Oh, I'm picking up Jerry after church. We're going to go hiking up to Rib Hill. You and Jerry? Yeah, we've been having some great bull sessions. Well, now that just don't frost the banana. [Music] We must have been hiking for 9 hours. Only two. I'm not out there leaping over a bamboo pole every afternoon. Maybe you ought to try it. I'd lose my app emblem. Maybe I'll get kicked out of the non-athletes of America just for walking this far. You know, it's the same distance back. I think I'll walk backwards. Then when I talk it it'll be kind of like a jack. What? Well, sure. A a beam of light could move an object in space. Why not words? Then two guys could orbit around Mars just by talking through the exhaust of their jet. Brother, they better bottle you. Well, after all, words are spoken ideas. They've got more power to propel than a reactor. Everything depends on words. Even your religion or science, too. Okay, Fred, I'm not knocking religion. Maybe I'm just as religious as you are. Maybe I'm just looking for a modern religion that makes sense today. Religion makes sense to me. I think it's pretty modern. It seems awfully old to me. The idea of God is the person up there doesn't make sense anymore. Up where? In the Andromeda galaxy or 50 billion lighty years beyond? or of time and light and space curve. Or is he inside of us or in the middle of a nucleus of every atom? And when we explode an atom, do we explode God, too? You know, with a blastoff like that, we both should be in orbit. If you ever do get into space, they're going to have to muzzle you. Let's have 10 seconds of silence while I catch up. I don't know where God is, but I do know that he is. You know, the other day down at one of our bull sessions at church, one of the fellas brought up an interesting point. I thought it made pretty good sense. He said, "If someone could explain God, then well, then God wouldn't be God anymore. That we're just not geared to understand or or know just what he is like." Well, it's like expecting this watch to explain the guy who made it tick. The watch maker who made the watch, well, he knows what's inside. But the watch, it doesn't know what's inside the man who made it. Sounds like a bunch of cornball philosophy to me. Besides, I'm not a watch. I've got a brain. And if God's ever going to get through to me, this is where he's going to have to get through. If you mean that in the right way, Jerry, well, then I'll agree with you. But God has given us his word to hear and to believe. What word? Well, the Bible, mostly the New Testament, the religion of Jesus. Come on, Fred. Everything we know about Jesus depends on eyewitnesses. Most of them guys who couldn't even write their own names. Besides, Clarence Deros said, "Show me an eyewitness and I'll show you a liar." If you consider Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount a lie, well then I think it's the best lie we've ever been told. Okay, I can buy the Sermon on the Mount. No matter who wrote it or when. Well, that's the whole point. No matter who wrote it or when. It's the meaning of the words that counts. I said I bought the Sermon on the Mount. Well, then you'll have to buy Jesus. I can buy Jesus, but not that jazz about the only begotten son or an all powerful God who somehow could only be get himself one son. What about the other possible 100 million earths just in our galaxy? What's God going to do about sons to save all those people? I guess no one can answer that. It's enough for me to know that he that he did send his son to save this world. It just doesn't add up, Fred. We don't believe anymore that our little earth is the center of the universe or that stars hang from strings in the sky for little angels to swing on. Isn't it about time we did some facelifting on the image of God? Don't get me wrong, Jerry, but but nothing you have said is well can change the fact that somewhere there's a God who created this wonderful universe. That he loves his creatures. That he's shown his love in many ways, mostly by sending his son Jesus into the world to be our savior. Somehow somewhere, he's going to make sense out of everything that's messed up today. No matter how many universes there may be, there's only one God and one savior. And I know that savior. Okay, let's mosey along. Yeah. Hey. Hey, Jerry. I've got it. Lay down. Maybe it'll go away. No, I'm serious. I've got a terrific idea. Tell it. Don't sell it. Why do we waste these bull sessions on just the two of us? How would you like to come to one of our group meetings some Sunday night? We'd have a free-for-all that just wouldn't quit. Maybe, but I can't see anybody letting me spout it off in a church. Well, I'm inviting you right now. I know I could sell it. You know, there's probably a lot of kids that have the same doubts that you have, but they won't speak up. Let's unlock all those doors. No, I'm not the crusader type. You have your cup of tea. I'll have mine. You're not getting chicken now, are you? No, I'm not. I just don't see the point of it. Well, what's the point in talking the way we've done this afternoon? There's a lot of point. Jerry, my dad says that people who talk things out, they never get into trouble. But what about people like Linda who who keep things locked up inside? Can you talk to her the way we talk? No, no, I really can't. Well, wouldn't it be good for her to listen to one of our sessions, even if she didn't speak up? I suppose it would. Then it's a deal. Well, you'll never get Lynon to come out in the first place. Maybe I can't. And and maybe you can't. But what if we both try together? Oh, brother. You're the one they had to put in a bottle. Come on. Sure is a nice day. That's just what I was going to say. Yes, it's a very nice day. It's more like May than it is April. Well, I think it's it's more like June than May or April. Yeah, I think so, too, Jerry. All right, you two. What's this all about? We've just come to ask you for a date, that's all. Well, I'm oldfashioned. I like to have a date with just one boy at a time. Linda, this really isn't a gag. And Jerry and I haven't buried the hatchet either. I'm still going to beat his time. No, but we want to put you in the middle of a real fight. I've mentioned that Fred and I like to kick around ideas together. Well, we're planning to put on a big show for his whole group, and we'd like you to pitch in with us. You can say anything you want to say or say nothing at all. You'll probably agree with some of the things that are said and disagree with the others. Jerry and I are friends, but but we're also friendly enemies. You know, it helps to get your ideas out in the open to to stand up for what you believe in and fight for it, no matter what it is. We think it'd be good for you, too. Don't say no. Not yet. I don't agree with a lot of things that Fred says, but I agree with him on this. We both think a lot of you, Linda, and and we do want to help. I can't say I'd know how I'd feel in your place, Linda, but I don't think Jerry could either. But I do know this that that you can't keep a hurt locked up inside. We'd both go to a meeting like we're planning, even if to say a different thing. [Music] live without. You know, I think Jerry's right. The image of God could stand a little facelifting. You bet it could. I can't buy that. Some of our churches, maybe, but not God. Well, now you're not reading me. Can I say something? Sure. Give Kathy a chance. Well, I will, but let me finish first. Now, take math in the time of Christ. Then take Einstein. Now, we've come a long way in math in 2,000 years, but but we still think about God in the same old-fashioned way. Oh, I don't know. Einstein didn't think God was so oldfashioned. Maybe he meant something else when he said God. Maybe he agreed with Huxley that you don't have to believe in a personal God to be truly religious. Jerry, you're mixing the apples with the peas. Being truly religious isn't always being truly Christian. Sure. I suppose it doesn't matter when the things in the New Testament were written down or who did the actual writing. The important thing is we believe that God was talking through the men who wrote them. But that's not the whole point. No sir. God may have been talking through a lot of other people, but we don't put halos on them. I want to say something about facelifting God. I think the face of God is just as new to each of us today as it was thousands of years ago. He's still our father. We don't have to change his image. Maybe we have to change ours to be more like him. We don't know why some things happen to those we love. But well, maybe that's not God's fault. Maybe it's because we're not perfect enough. not enough like him to be able to see. Yeah. Jerry, uh, did you have anything else to say? No, I I I think I've said enough for now. Well, I've just been the moderator for tonight and for the most part, I've tried not to say too much. And I'll try not to say too much right now. I think Kathy and the rest of you have already said it. It's been good for all of us that Jerry and the others said what they said. Well, the way I feel it, it makes you stronger in your faith. Well, whenever somebody challenges it, it makes you dig your roots deeper and stronger. I hope we can have more sessions like this one. As for our topic tonight, facelifting the image of God, I believe we as Christians must agree that God's image needs no facelifting. He's given us the best possible picture of himself through Jesus Christ, our savior. Especially when Jesus died for us on the cross. Whenever we want to know what God looks like, all we have to do is think of Jesus and what he really means to us. I guess you could say that, well, Jesus is God's face to us. As long as we hold on to that idea, well, I think we have something really solid to hold on to. Now, I'd like to suggest that we close this evening by well, by singing a song. I hope that a certain person in this room will forgive me for suggesting this one. Um, Jesus, Savior, Pilate, me. Uh, it's 6:49. [Applause] [Music] Jesus in this sea on the way before he roiding rock and treasurous showing up Jesus. Savior King. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]