Christmas story

Once upon a time, God created the universe.  He started with a big bang, and set up physical laws so that the matter and energy spread apart. Over the next 15 billion years He made the stuff coalesce into galaxies, black holes, stars, and eventually, planets.

He made billions of planets throughout His universe, and on some of them He created life. He created laws of physics, chemistry and biology to govern physical form. He set up spiritual laws to govern evolution, and intelligence, and morality. On some of the planets He created beings with enough intelligence to discover His laws and worship Him, the Creator.

He decreed that in the fullness of time, some intelligent beings on every planet, call them X, would discover nuclear energy, and harness it .  At this point in its evolution, X would be the dominant species on its planet, with the power to choose life or to destroy its biosphere.  God dictated that X would be aware of the choice.

He always gives X a story to guide it through its choice point. The story highlights the spiritual qualities which will enable X to make the right choice. The story is compelling, easily understood, and well known by X.

We humans on planet earth are at the choice point. We have our story, about a person who provides a model for the qualities of love, self-sacrifice, forgiveness, humility, and service to others.  If we cultivate these qualities, we will escape nuclear holocaust and evolve to a new level of cooperation as a species.

It is, of course, the story of Jesus Christ.