THE BONES OF BELIEF

A clergyman took a seat in a dining car on a train traveling along the Hudson River. Opposite him was an atheist who, seeing his clerical collar, started a discussion.





"I see you are a clergyman."





"Yes," came the reply. "I am a minister of the gospel."





"I suppose you believe the Bible."





The clergyman, orthodox in his views, responded, "I certainly do believe the Bible to be the Word of God."





"But aren't there things in the Bible you can't explain?"





With humility the minister answered, "Yes, there are places in the Bible too hard for me to understand."





With an air of triumph as though he had cornered the preacher, the atheist asked, "Well, what do you do then?"





Unruffled, the clergyman went on eating his dinner - which happened to be Hudson shad, a tasty fish but noted for its bony structure.





Looking up, he said, "Sir, I do just the same as when eating this shad. When I come to the bones, I put them to the side of the plate and go on enjoying my lunch. I leave the bones for some fool to choke on.



James S. Hewett

Illustrations Unlimited

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988