Daily Wisdom 05-15-2003 Why go to church?

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Why go to church?

A weekly newspaper editor was a committed Christian and whenever possible promoted local church activities and had a prominent church section in the paper each week. One regular reader, a farmer who happened to be an atheist, viewed all religion as foolishness.The farmer was constantly writing letters to the editor chiding the editor and his neighbors on their Christian beliefs.

The Editor wearied of the man's tirades, but felt a journalistic obligation to run some of his letters from time to time. After a story about area crop expectations appeared in the newspaper's farm section, the atheist farmer wrote the following letter:

Dear Editor:

My friends and neighbors claim to be Christians, refusing to plant their crops on Sunday. They go out of their way to attend church on Sunday and pray to your God. Yet, the fields I plant on Sunday produce an abundance of crops, just like those my neighbors plant during the week. I think this is just another demonstration of the foolishness you Christians practice.

When harvest time comes in October, I'm always as well off as my Christian neighbors. Your religion and all the time you spend in church is just a waste of time.

Respectfully,

A. Farmer

The editor thought about the letter and prayed over it, then published the letter in full in the next week's newspaper with the following one-line response underneath.

God does not always call his accounts due in October. --The Editor

While it's easy to look at others and ridicule their religion, the Bible says it's not about what others do and say. It's about what YOU do and say. The Bible doesn't challenge us by asking who our pastor is, where we go to chruch, or who our neighbors and our friends say Jesus is. It says plainly, "Who do YOU say I am."

Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

By Keith Todd

Today's Daily Wisdom post was edited by Keith Todd, moderator of theSermon Fodder list which offers Christian humor and modern day parables forenjoyment and for use as sermon illustration material. To subscribe go to http://www.sermonfodder.com or drop an email note to Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@yahoogroups.com