Showdown by Ted Dekker

began to act strangely and was given to outbursts and wild discourses on relativism and man’s free will. When David reined him in,Marsuvees withdrew almost completely. Then, without warning, he left the monastery.
    â€œNot that I’m accusing him, mind you. I would expect to see him twisting the ear of some poor parish somewhere, not plotting to affect Billy’s good sense. But maybe his departure has undermined Billy’s confidence in us. Marsuvees was rather outspoken about free will and grace. For all we know, he told Billy to go down there.”
    The monk’s unscheduled departure caused a stir among the staff. Never had a teacher left without fulfilling his four-year commitment. Where he’d gone was of considerable concern, but the project had little contact with the outside world, and information was scarce.
    The closest town was a small pit stop called Paradise, which in theory could provide a link to society beyond the electronic communications that the director reserved for himself. But even when the teachers left the monastery for brief reprieves, contact with this town was strictly prohibited. It was simply too close to risk any interaction.
    David didn’t seem interested in pursing this tangent on Marsuvees Black.
    â€œWhat if the rebellion spreads?”Andrew asked. “Others have been questioning as well. What if Billy challenges the rules in an open debate?”
    No response. The debate was by design the proverbial apple that David had set before them all. If any student was able to challenge the principles that governed the monastery and win the majority support of the other students, all existing rules would be subject to that student’s interpretation until another clear majority overturned him or her.
    David had ultimately placed the whole project in the hands of children. The rules guided them, but they had authority to determine the rules. If this incident spiraled out of control, the whole monastery could be run by Billy. It would be a disaster.
    Then again, Billy was the project. He and the other thirty-six students.
    â€œWe do have risk,” David finally said. “But the others aren’t questioning like Billy has been.”
    â€œRisk? You don’t throw a child in the pit of death and refer to it as risk.”
    â€œThe pit of death, as you call it, resides in them! They were born with it.” David stretched his arm out and pointed at the monastery wall. “Do you think Billy wasn’t born evil? This study isn’t about protecting them from evil, but teaching them as children to overcome it in the way Christ did.”
    He lowered his arm, face pink from his outburst. “‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.’ Should we avoid the valley of death? No! We walk through it and conquer it and then turn back and face it without fear. For the joy set before him, Christ endured the cross. That’s what we are doing, Andrew. I’ve given my life to that, not to false piety!”
    â€œYou’re suggesting that to be genuine conquerors they must face the horrors of evil?”
    â€œI’m suggesting that the horrors of sin will only be flushed out of hiding when the power of faith confronts them.”
    â€œShould we sin so that grace may abound?” Andrew demanded. “The children already face evil in their own hearts, as you say. I don’t see the value in subjecting them to the pit of hell itself. Isn’t it better to deal with this in the classroom?”
    For a long moment David stared at him. Then he walked to the bookshelf, withdrew a large ancient Bible, and dropped it on a reading table beside the bookcase. He tapped the cover pointedly.
    â€œTell me why the Gospel writers gave us so much detail about the passion of Christ? Never mind, I’ll tell you: so that we wouldn’t forget his suffering. How dare a child of God look away from the pain