You and Elliott at The Dead Salamander

[The final of six vignettes in the publication The Withered Grape which describe picture scenes in navigating self denial and self control through the seas of legalism and freedomism.] 

It has been the most difficult twenty minutes of your life. You and Elliott have known each other since high school. You have known his wife, Eolian, almost as long. However, now he has met this girl at a bar where he stops after work. Eolian has found out and “forced him” to make a choice.

You stare at your untasted coffee.

“Elliott,” you say softly. “You know this is wrong.”

“I knew you’d do that to me,” he growls.

“Do what to you?”

“Judge me. Just like all those other hypocrites. Well, Dr. Ramshackle at Sinking Sand Church says love is the most important thing. So, I’ll be going to his church now. They don’t judge people.”

You look at him. “What does he say about our church?”

His face reddens. “That’s different.”

You sigh. “Elliott, I am not supposed to condemn people. Condemnation is a final act and it belongs to God. However, I am to call actions what they are. I don’t know why you have yielded to this temptation. I suppose embedded sin can lie dormant for many years, like it was with David. But the fact is, what you are doing is adultery and it is wrong. You cannot love her in a way which walks out on your commitment to your wife and still say, honestly, that you love Jesus Christ.”

“You Bible thumpers are never happy until you’ve made someone miserable.”

“Funny you'd say that.”

"How so?”

“Well, you’ve made Eolian and the kids miserable, so it looks like Bible thumpers don't have an edge on that skill. In fact, I would say that judgment was a bit hypocritical."

Tight-lipped he stares at his coffee. You take a deep breath and add one more thought. 

"Honestly, I've observed that if you wiped every Bible thumper off the planet, there would be no shortage of hypocrites left behind."

With a few choice words he walks out of the shop. The knot in your stomach comes from the realization that more than he may walk out of your life. You, after all, will be the one being unreasonable and legalistic to the freedomist crowd.

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