“IF SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE GOTTEN GOD ALL WRONG* -THEN WE WHO ARE NEITHER ENTIRELY CLEAR AS TO WHERE WE ARE COMING FROM (AT ALL TIMES) -AND TO A GREATER, OR LESSER DEGREE STRUGGLE TO CONVEY OUR OWN CONFUSION (OR IGNORANCE/INEXPERIENCE) -THEN WHAT ARE OTHERS TO MAKE OF US – THEN WHY WOULD IT BE CONSIDERED SO FAR-FETCHED FOR OTHERS TO “GET US ALL WRONG” 🤷‍♂️

In a nutshell: “IF SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE GOTTEN GOD ALL WRONG – THEN WHY WOULD IT BE CONSIDERED SO FAR-FETCHED FOR OTHERS TO “GET US ALL WRONG” 🤷‍♂️

*

**”Act as if ye had faith; and faith will be given to you.”
–David Mamet (b. November 30, 1947)

This certainly sounds like it comes straight out of the King James version of the Bible, but its origin is far more contemporary.

The line is spoken by Paul Newman in Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict (1982). Mamet’s screenplay was based on the late Barry Reed’s 1980 novel, which in turn was ghost written by this fella.

It’s left as an exercise to the reader to attempt to locate the line in the novel. All the Internet references I checked credit it to Mamet, and who am I to doubt WikiQuote?

How could a line of dialogue from a modern film be mistaken for scripture written two millenia ago? It appears in the middle of Paul Newman’s jury summation scene, which is cited by those who rank such things as one of the greatest monologues to appear in a motion picture:

•Title is an excerpt from the book/film “Conversations With God” by Neale Donald Walsh. Film credits: Henry Czerny in starring role playing Neale Walsch; Directed by Steven Deutsch (2006).