I was approximately eight years old and was reading an illustrated book of Bible stories.
In the Old Testament section there was a chapter about the prophet Elijah vs. the worshippers of Baal.
Baal was an idol and since Elijah was extremely firm in this belief that all people should worship Yahweh he heartily disapproved of the worship of Baal.
Why the prophet cared who or what other people choose to worship is beyond me but that's not the point of this post.
What is the post is that Elijah challenged Baal's gang to a worship test; let's prove whose god actually existed.
The Baalers yelled and screamed for their man all night but he never made an appearance.
So...after a long night of waiting for Baal to make known his presence, Elijah knelt down at an altar and commenced intense prayer to Yahweh.
As lo and behold, a great fire came out of the sky and ate everything, including the water on the altar!
I can remember being that eight year old child, looking at the illustration of Elijah with his arms spread out wise prostrate on his knees praying in front on a raging altar fire.
But see I was VERY CONFUSED. I KNEW that if I put a paper cup on the lawn and said, "Okay, show me your stuff, god" that NOTHING WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.
I even went so far as to ask my mother about the issue.
Her quick response was that I asked a lot of silly questions.
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