I'll admit it's confusing from The Outside.

How Not To Explain Calvinism

 EXT. SAN DIEGO BEACH - DAY

 Jake and Niki sit at a ramshackle picnic table at a park overlooking the ocean. Several children play in the distance.

 Niki finishes her Big Mac, crumbles the bag and throws it away. She unwraps a Milky Way and she finishes her fries. Jake watches with astonishment as she chomps her way through a second candy bar.

 JAKE

 You really shouldn't eat like that. 

 All that sugar. It's not good for you.

 NIKI

 At least I'm a growing person.

 JAKE

 You won't keep growing at this rate.

NIKI

What rate?

JAKE

You know what I'm talking about.

NIKI (snotty)

You never met a working girl before, have you? You think I like sucking off guys all night? Maybe I do. So what? (a beat) 

You can't even say it, can you?

 JAKE

 Say what?

 NIKI

 'Sucking off.'

JAKE

Okay. Sucking off. 

Now does that make me as good as you?

NIKI

 You don't understand shit.

JAKE

Okay, tell me. Why do you live like you do?

NIKI

Did you ever live in a room with six people and you didn't have any money, any food, any furniture? Have your brother come out, his car break down, he can't get a job? Your friends stealing food, going through trash behind a supermarket?

 JAKE (sympathetic)

 Is that the way it was with you?

 NIKI

 No. But does it make any difference?

 (a beat)

 How did you get to be the way you are?

 Jake doesn't answer.

 NIKI (continuing)

 Don't knock it. A girl can save up a lot money doing this -- big money. 

Then you're free. You can go off to Europe, meet somebody, get married. 

My girlfriend's going to buy her own beauty parlor. Not me. I'm gonna travel. 'Keep movin' that's my motto.

 (a beat)

Would you rather work at Copper Penny at a dollar-eighty an hour, having every two-bit cocksucker able to yell at you? I can make more money suc... doing what I do for five minutes than I can all week at another  job.

 JAKE

 You used to work at Copper Penny?

 NIKI

 No.

 JAKE (pause)

 You and I, Niki, have very different ideas about sex.

 NIKI

 Why? Are you a sex fiend?

 JAKE (smiles)

 No.

 NIKI

 Neither am I.

 JAKE

 But it's all you do.

 NIKI

 How important do you think sex is?

 JAKE

 Not very.

 NIKI

 We're just alike. You think sex is so unimportant you don't do it. I think sex is so unimportant I don't care who I do it with.

 Jake thinks. That sounds right. But it can't be right. He looks away, then back at her.

JAKE

You can never understand a person like me. I am a mystery to you. 

A middle class person, a Mid-westerner. 

A man who doesn't pursue women. 

A man who believes in social order. 

A man who goes to church, believes in God, and a man who, at the end of his life, believes he will be redeemed.

 (a beat)

This is all unfathomable to you. 

Fifty years ago, in art, the prostitute sought to justify her life to the bourgeoisie. Now it is the bourgeoisie who must justify himself to the whore.

JAKE (continuing)

I don't see why I must justify myself to you. I don't care about the things you do. I don't care what's happening in New York or Los Angeles. I don't care about movies or TV. I don't care who's on Johnny Carson.

 NIKI

 (incredulous)

 What do you care about?

 JAKE

 (cold)

 I care about my daughter. 

INT. OKINAWA BAR - DAY

 Niki and Jake stand at the counter talking with JIM RUCKER, an entrepreneurial type about 40.

 NIKI

 You remember me. Louise? Rhymes with squeeze.

 RUCKER

 (looks, then nods)

 You working in San Diego now?

 NIKI

 I'm still in L.A., but I'm looking 

 for Tod. I heard he was around.

 RUCKER

 'Was.' He and that shitheel Ratan went down to T-J. Maybe I shouldn't say that. Anyway, I hear he's back in Frisco now.

 NIKI

 Was he with a girl?

 RUCKER

 No.

 NIKI

  Thanks.

 Niki starts to leave.

 RUCKER

 Keep in touch, baby. Got some good 

 stuff comin' up. Need you back, baby.

 (as they exit)

 And take good care of your friend 

 for me.

 Jake turns back as Niki gives him a tug.

 CUT TO: EXT. OKINAWA BAR - DAY

 They walk toward the car.

 JAKE

 What's T-J?

 NIKI

 Tijuana.

 JAKE

 They were here?

 NIKI

 Tod was.

 (her voice chills)

 He was with Ratan.

 JAKE

 What does that mean?

 (no answer)

 What does he do?

 NIKI

 He deals in pain.

 JAKE

 Is Kristen safe?

 She doesn't answer.

 JAKE

 (continuing)

 Let's get a plane for San Francisco.

 CUT TO: INT. L.A. POLICE MISSING PERSONS - DAY DETECTIVE BURROWS walks back into his office. Mast, sitting on the edge of the desk, is waiting for him.

 BURROWS

 Apparently your friend has gone into 

 Mexico. A Border Guard responded to 

 the APB. How does it feel to have 

 the L.A.P.D. doing your work for 

 you?

 

 MAST

 You're going to thank me for this. 

 You know what the media's like. They 

 love this kinda shit. If that guy 

 goes off half-cocked and gets himself 

 hurt, you're going to have so much 

 bad publicity, you...

 BURROWS

 (interrupting)

 I heard you the first time. We had 

 nothing to go on with this kid. Just 

 a runaway.

 (a beat)

 Do you really think he's in danger?

 MAST

 If he has anything to say about it, yeah. 

I've been asking a lot of  questions and I don't like the answers I'm getting. He's made a lot of people nervous, including some poor faggot who thought he was going to be a movie star.

 BURROWS

 We aren't gonna arrest him for that...

 MAST

 (interrupting)

 Big threat. TV would ream you.

 BURROWS

 Keep me informed of what he's up to. 

 You help me, I'll help you. Mast nods.

BURROWS

 (continuing)

 Why don't people stay where they 

 belong?

CUT TO: INT. SAN DIEGO AIRPORT - DAY

 Jake and Niki sit in a line of multi-colored plexi-glass chairs in the Western Terminal of the airport. Niki munches a pack of Chuckles while Jake, his elbows on his knees, looks at the floor. Niki prattles on.

NIKI

You know what your problem is? 

You're a very negative person. 

You think negatively.

 Jake tries to ignore her.

 NIKI (continuing)

 You have to believe in something. 

 What do they believe in -- the 

 Whatjamacillit church?

 JAKE

 Christian Reformed. It's a Dutch 

 Calvinist denomination.

 NIKI

 Do they believe in reincarnation? I 

 believe in reincarnation.

 JAKE

 They believe in the 'TULIP.'

 NIKI

 What the crap?

 JAKE (smiles)

 It's an anagram. It comes from the 

 Canons of Dort. Every letter stands 

 for a different belief. T-U-L-I-P. 

 Like -- are you sure you're interested 

 in this?

 NIKI

 Yeah, yeah, go on.

 JAKE

 T stands for Total depravity, that 

 is, all men, through original sin, 

 are totally evil and incapable of 

 good. 'All my works are like filthy 

 rags in the sight of the Lord.'

 NIKI

 Shit.

 Jake is charmed. He's never been called upon to explain his beliefs to someone so totally ignorant of them.

JAKE

Be that as it may. U is for Unconditional Election. God has chosen a certain number of people to be saved, The Elect, and He has chosen them from the beginning of time. 

L is for Limited Atonement. Only a limited number will be atoned, will go to Heaven.

 

NIKI

Fuck.

JAKE

I can stop if you want.

 NIKI

 No, please go on.

 The INTERCOM ANNOUNCES a flight: Jake listens for a moment. It's a flight to Mexico City.

 JAKE

 I is for Irresistible Grace. God's 

 grace cannot be resisted or denied. 

 And P is for the Perseverance of the 

 Saints. Once you are in Grace you 

 cannot fall from the number of the 

 elect. And that's the 'TULIP.'

 NIKI

Wait, wait. I'm trying to figure this out. 

This is like Rona Barrett. 

Before you become saved, God already knows who you are?

 JAKE

 He has to. That's Predestination. 

If God is omniscient, if He knows everything -

- and He wouldn't be God if He didn't -

- then He must have known, even before the creation of the world, the names of those who would be saved.

NIKI

So it's already worked out. 

The Fix is in?

JAKE

More or less.

NIKI

Wow. Then why be good? 

Either You're Saved or you ain't.

JAKE

Out of gratitude for being chosen. 

That's where Grace comes in. 

God first chooses you, then allows you, 

by Grace, to choose Him of your own free will.

 

NIKI

(amazed)

You really believe all that?

JAKE

Yeah. (shrugs) Well, mostly.

NIKI

I thought I was fucked up.

 

JAKE

I'll admit it's confusing 

from The Outside. 

You've got to see 

it from The Inside --

NIKI

If you see anything 

from The Inside 

it makes sense...!!

 

You ought to hear perverts talk. 

A guy once almost 

had me convinced to let his 

German Shepherd fuck me.

JAKE

….It's not quite the same thing.

NIKI

It doesn't make any fuckin’ sense to Me. 

The INTERCOM ANNOUNCES 

Western Flight #601 to San Francisco.

 They rise.