Nate ran his hands through his hair and looked again at the speed boat. It would work for what they needed and he was grateful the man who had loaned it to them, he knew he would not be able to thank him enough. But even with the boat his mind was not at ease. Where was Alice?

Doug walked past him and got into the boat. He looked distraught and Nate was surprised he was still willing to go with them. It was obvious he would rather be searching for Alice then spending the day on the ocean.

“Are you ready Nate?” he called out.

Nate nodded his head and stepping into the boat said again, “You don't have to come.”

“And who else is going to take you out there?” Doug asked with a forced smile.

Nate sighed and said nothing, they had been over this too many times already. He knew there was no talking Doug out of it.

As Doug started up the boat and everyone sat down he looked again at Nate and said, “I have been doing a lot of thinking.” He turned the boat away from the docks and steered it out in the ocean.

“On what?” Nate asked as the wind picked up.

“God,” Doug looked straight in front of him as he talked.

“What about Him?” Nate asked eagerly.

“Do you know there is no scientific evidence for evaluation?” Doug asked then before Nate could answer added, “If there was a missing link it would have been found by now, everyone knows that. And everywhere, things are getting worse, not better as evaluation would suggest.”

“As in the human body?” Nate asked. “The body slowly deteriorates, if evaluation were true, would it not be getting better?”

“Yes, also natural selection and survival of the fittest,” Nate looked side ways at him. “If survival of the fittest be true, then many of the animals would not be around today, would it not be safe to say that the dinosaurs would have stomped out or eaten all the small creatures, like cats?”

Doug nodded his head. “And when one gets into that it opens the doors for many other things, abortion, Youth in Asa.”

Nate nodded his head in agreement as Doug continued, “As a student I saw the folly in these beliefs, but that was how I was raised. But now that I think about it, I think my main reason for believing them, was because I did not want to believe in a God who created the whole world, and then let evil enter it without stopping it.”

“God told Adam and Eve what fruit they were not to eat, He told them what would happen, and they disobeyed even so. Sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, as it says in Romans 5:12-”

“Those are a lot of verses,” Doug said softly.

Nate nodded his head. “Yes, but they are important, mind if I explain them?”

Doug shook his head slowly. “I guess not.”

“Okay then, verse 12, Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. That one man was Adam, when he sinned sin was spread to all men and all after him where born into sin, where dead in their sins, as God said, 'If you eat of this fruit you will surely die.'”

“So God punished all men because one man ate a piece of fruit?”

“Because Adam disobeyed and everyone after him has willingly disobeyed. As it says in the verse, because all have sinned. We are born into sin, there is no hope for us, man cannot save himself.”

“If what you are saying is true, why can't he?”

“We are dead in our trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1, And you He made alive who where dead in trespasses and sins. Dead men cannot do anything for themselves, don't you agree?”

Doug slowly nodded his head. “Okay, I think I see what you mean. So we are all dead and without hope.”

Nate nodded his head. “Yes, sounds depressing does it not.”

Doug was wary. “If you believed it, yes.”

Nate shook his head slowly and continued. “But, that is not the end of it. God sent His Law to His people to show them what was right and what was wrong. Verse 13 says, for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. In between the time of Adam and Moses there was no Law and so men, though all were sinners, did not have a list of commands as to what they were to do to obey God. 'When there was no Law.' Verse 14 says Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. Backing up verse 13. When it says who is a type of Him who was to come it is speaking of Jesus, verse 15, But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

“Through one man sin entered the world and death through that sin. But God's grace is greater then that, and through one Man, Jesus, the gift of the grace abounds to many. So you see our hope is in Jesus who died for us, He is the only One who can save us, make us alive unto Him!”

Doug said nothing, just stared out at the ocean, he was suddenly grateful they were nearing the place they would be searching that day. But even when Nate and the others had gone down he could not forget what Nate had told him. Jesus, God's Son, that is what the Christians called Him was it not? He had died for mankind to save them from a sin brought on by one man disobeying.

That night Doug could not sleep, he was not sure if it was over his concern for Jack, Jessie, and Alice, or over what Nate had been telling him. What if there was a God? And if there was He would punish those who did not repent of their sins, and that would mean Doug would be sent to Hell when he died.

He had heard of Hell before, a place of eternal punishment where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth, is that not what he had been told once? But was there really a place like that, was there really a God? An God who seemed to be punishing his servants? The Marshalls and Pattersons both believed in this God, and they were both suffering for many trials. Would a God do that to them?

Doug could find no answers to his questions and finally just as dawn broke the sky he fell into a fitful sleep where he dreamed he had gone before God and was sent to Hell for his disbelief.