Sermon Central
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Ingersoll And The Patience Of God
Contributed by Guy Mcgraw on Mar 5, 2012 (message contributor)
INGERSOLL AND THE PATIENCE OF GOD
Robert Ingersoll, an American Agnostic, after delivering one of his addresses, pulled his watch from his pocket and said, "According to the Bible, God has struck men to death for blasphemy. I will blaspheme Him and give Him five minutes to strike me dead and damn my soul."
There was a period of perfect silence while one minute went by; two minutes passed, and people began to get nervous; three minutes, and a woman fainted; four minutes, and at five minutes, he snapped shut his watch, put it in his pocket, and said: "You see, there is no God, or He would have taken me at my word."
There are moments that the world should be glad that I am not God. That would be one of them. If I were God there would be a Lightning Bolt factory on every corner.
The story was told later to another famous man of the time named Joseph Parker, who said, "And did the American think he could exhaust the patience of God in five minutes?"
I am glad I did not exhaust God's patience over the span of 20+ years but that He gave me time and space to repent.
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