Some years ago, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a wonderfully popular series of comedy sketches called the “2000-Year-Old Man” which prompted several hilarious albums. The premise has Reiner interviewing the Brooks playing the old man and inquiring concerning life way back when. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, “Did you always believe in God?”
Brooks replies, “No. We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him.”
Reiner wonders, “You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?”
“Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!”
The interviewer asks, “Did you have prayers?”
Brooks answers, “Yes, would you like to hear one? O Phil, please don’t be mean, and hurt us, or break us in two with your bare hands.”
Reiner: “So when did you start worshiping God?”
And then this wonderful answer: “Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a lightning bolt hit Phil. We gathered around and saw that he was dead.
Then we said to one another, “There’s somethin’ bigger than Phil!”
David E. Leininger
