One Question v6.qxp
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“If You’re Really There, God, Why On Earth Don’t You Prove It?” “This morning, boys and girls, we’re going to do some painting. You can paint anything you like, and if you don’t know what to paint, just paint what you did at the weekend.” The primary school teacher watched as the children got their plastic aprons on and started to paint enthusiastically. After a while, the teacher walked around the room to see how they were getting on. Some were painting mummy and daddy in the park, others were painting the seaside, and some were painting the animals they’d seen at the zoo. Eventually the teacher stopped over a particularly shapeless and colourful painting. “That’s very nice, Scott,” she said encouragingly, “what is it?” “Oh, that’s God,” said Scott. “But no-one’s ever seen God,” said the teacher. Scott looked up at her. “They have now.” It’s not only small children who paint pictures of God. Think of the thousands of different people who’ve been doing just that since the dawn of time. There’ve been gods in the shape of animals, gods in the shape of fire or water, gods in the stars and the sun, distant gods, inner gods, benign gods and fearsome ones. And I guess if I were to
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