ANECDOTES AND EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATING THE CATECHISM
LESSON FIRST
ON THE END OF MAN
Q. Who made the world?
A. God made the world.
The Astronomer and the Globe
The world did not come into existence spontaneously. The celebrated astronomer Athanasius Kirchner had a friend who did not believe in the existence of God, and frequently asserted that the orbs of heaven were self-existent. One day, when this friend visited the astronomer, he noticed in one corner of the room a globe which displayed the hand of a skillful workman. “Who made that globe?” he inquired. “No one made it,” Kirchner answered, “it is self-made.” And when his friend seemed angry at this answer being given him, he added: “If the immense orbs of heaven are self-existent, why not this insignificant little globe?” The unbeliever looked thoughtful, and presently acknowledged that he now saw that his principles were false.
