Description
Zeus, an ET scientist, explores the rational development of certain beliefs on Earth. Assisted by his friend, Professor Henry Hawkins, they discuss the behavior of a Jewish man named Abraham. Abraham is ordered by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, but God suspends the sacrifice, sparing Isaac and ending the practice of human sacrifice for Jewish people.
Two thousand years ago, a Jewish man named Jesus collected twelve disciples and many more followers to worship the same God as Abraham. Earlier, Moses, a descendant of Abraham, left a law punishing women guilty of adultery with death by stoning. Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Despite the law of Moses, Jesus opposed the death penalty. Zeus suggested to his friend, Hawkins, that Jesus was opposed to human sacrifice.
Later, Jesus was executed by Roman soldiers. The followers of Jesus established a new religion called Christianity, in which Jesus was proclaimed to be the Son of God whose death was a sacrifice to pay for the sins of all mankind. Zeus arguses with Hawkins that making Jesus a human sacrifice contradicts the banning of human sacrifice by Jewish people going back to Abraham.
Islam was formed only a few hundred years ago and accepts Jesus as a Jewish prophet but not as the Son of God. Islam does not believe that God would allow Jesus to die on the cross. Zeus speculates that the God of Islam seems more like the God of Abraham than does the God of Christianity. Zeus argues that there can never be an excuse for executing an innocent person.