Why does God allow pain and suffering? Does he really hear our prayers? Why are there so many conflicting messages in the Bible?

These are eternal questions that haunt the souls of many. But for Brian Dalton of Temecula, they're also great comedic material.

"After the tsunami, you know, you think about things like why do we need natural disasters where we can wipe out 250,000 people?" Dalton said.

The musing sparked an idea with Dalton, a musician, filmmaker, writer and graphic artist, inspiring him to write a short script about God approving a list of what natural disasters and human atrocities that would be allowed in the world.

The dark comedy with a light touch became the first episode of "Mr. Deity," a series of short skits available for free on the Internet through iTunes and YouTube.

While almost anyone with a camera and computer can get material on the Internet these days, Dalton and crew's imaginative and often hilarious take on creation has made a splash since the debut in January.

With seven episodes online and another installment due next week, Dalton has at times been the highest-ranked director on YouTube, and the series itself is in the top 10 subscription shows on the site.

He and his cast of three haven't made a dime so far, but offers are coming in and he hopes to some day expand the skits into a television show.

Dalton plays Mr. Deity, or God, as a Woody Allen-type manager who is good with the big picture but struggles with the details.

The next episode will show Mr. Deity, Jesus and Larry -- kind of a middle manager whose biblical counterpart is a little unclear -- trying to come up with 10 Commandments. After hours of brainstorming, they are stuck at three and everybody's patience is wearing thin.

"I'm telling you, that 'Thou shalt not crucify' is really great," suggests Jesus, played by Sean Douglas.

"Let it go," Mr. Deity tells him.

Dalton, Douglas and Jimbo Marshall, who plays Larry, sat on a couch for the entire scene. The one-person crew worked the sound and camera from the kitchen.

A white backdrop behind the couch was the only set dressing, and at one point Marshall complained that his black shirt was picking up hair left on the couch from Dalton's pug.

Yet despite the minimalist look and shoestring budget, Dalton's professional equipment and editing skills create a high-quality product. The talents of his cast, which include Amy Rohren as Lucy (Lucifer), also elevate the production over typical Internet comedy.

Dalton's scripts, which rely more on thoughtful musings over theological paradoxes than broad religious parody, also set the show apart from other attempts at godly humor.

Not that Mr. Deity is without its absurd moments. After learning that Merv Griffin wrote the "Jeopardy" theme song, Mr. Deity says, "I hate that guy. I got that song stuck in my head once in, like, 3 A.D. Couldn't get it out until the bubonic plague."

Don't look for everything to make sense, and don't look for any deep messages in "Mr. Deity."

"Our goal here is not to mock religion, but to use it as a foundation for the humor," Dalton wrote on MrDeity.com.

Dalton himself was at one time was very serious about religion and calls himself a "forman," or former Mormon.

"I was very religious for about 10 years, and also at the time really studied Christianity pretty hard-core," he said. "So much of this is based on what I've been debating in my head for 20 years."

At 19, Dalton spent six weeks in a training center preparing for missionary duty, but was signed to a recording contract before finishing his studies. Instead of embarking on a mission, he went on tour as half of the duo Brian and Paul to promote his album of religious music.

His interests in religion grew broader after working for two years with radio talk show host Dennis Prager, whom Dalton described as a deeply religious Jew. Over the years, however, Dalton grew less religious.

"I'm your basic skeptic and agnostic," he said about his beliefs today. "I still love religion. I love the fact that people are concerned about these bigger issues. We're never going to know everything, which is fine. I just like

people who are concerned with something other than Britney's underwear."

To cast the characters in "Mr. Deity," Dalton relied on friends he had used in his movie, "Killing the Dream," which earned a grand jury award at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival in 2003.

Casting the role of Mr. Deity was more challenging.

"I couldn't find anyone else who would do it," Dalton said about why he plays the title character. "A couple of people thought it was too edgy and didn't want to get involved with it."

Dalton wrote the character as a creator who had a great vision but was a little overwhelmed by details.

"I relate to it because I have many of these problems," he said. "I think I'm a very creative person, but I don't have follow-through, and logistics drive me nuts.

"If there is a God, that's how I see him. He had a great idea, but it just didn't come out the way he wanted, he got depressed and he went, 'What the hell.' And that's my vision of the universe."

The show often offers an explanation to perceived ambiguities and contradictions in the Bible. In an episode about the 10 Commandments, Mr. Deity suggests, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord God in vain."

"What the hell does that mean?" Larry asks.

"It means don't do evil in my name," Mr. Deity answers.

"If that's what that means, you really should reword it because the way it sounds, it's really confusing," Larry says.

In another episode, Larry misunderstands Mr. Deity's comment that Jews and homosexuals would "do well" as "go to hell." He tries to tell him about the mistake, but Larry is already picking up copies of the finished Bible at Kinko's.

Dalton said he has only received one negative e-mail about the show, and he has been encouraged that some of his fan mail has come from ministers, including a Presbyterian pastor who wrote: "I'm actually thinking about using an episode or two as an intro to a sermon, because what you present is the ludicrous side of theology -- the baggage that so many of us recovering conservatives carry -- and that needs to be addressed."

Such feedback has been heartwarming to Dalton.

"I don't have any ill feelings about religion," he said. "Most of my best friends are still religious. I'm the token agnostic."

If Dalton does have a message, it may be for people to just lighten up a little.

"I think there's just way too much bitterness between religious people and non-religious people," he said.

In future episodes, Dalton said, he'll poke fun at who he calls "angry atheists."

"I think the greatest evil in the world is ideology, period," he said. "Any kind of ideology."

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at gwarth@nctimes.com or (760) 740-5410.

On the Web:

mrdeity.com

youtube.com