An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that evolution had created.
"What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!", he said to himself. As he was walking along the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. When he turned to see what the cause was, he saw a 7-foot grizzly charging right towards him. He ran as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing, He ran even faster, crying in fear. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.
At that moment, the Atheist cried out "Oh my God!...." Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving.
As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don''''t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"
The atheist looked directly into the light "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice.
The light went out. The river ran again. And the sounds of the forest resumed.
And then the bear dropped his right paw ..... brought both paws together...bowed his head and spoke: "Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful."
译文:
无神论者和熊
一个无神论者一边在森林中散步一般欣赏着大自然的鬼斧神工。
“参天大树！奔流不息的河流！美丽的动物！”，他正沿着河散步，这时他听到在他后面的树丛中传来了沙沙的声音。但他转身去看的时候，一只7英尺高的灰熊正朝他冲了过来。他拼命的跑，并不时的回头看。灰熊越来越近了，他有加快了脚步,他被吓得哭了起来。当他再次向后望的时候，那熊又近了。他的心跳加速，并试图跑的再快些。他摔倒了，打了个又站了起来，但那熊已经向他扑来，它用左够到了他后又用右爪给了他一下。
就在这时，那个无神论者喊道：“我的上帝啊”时间停止了。熊也定住了，整个森林寂静了下来。就连河水也静止了。
这时一道光照到了那人的脸上，从天上传来了一个声音，“既然你不相信我的存在而且还告诉其他人不要相信；认为这些生物都是宇宙的产物。你难道还真的指望我来帮你？我是否可以把你看成我的追随者呢？”
他对着那光说“如果我让你现在把我当做一个基督徒来看待未免有点太虚伪了，但或许你可以把这熊变成一个基督徒？”上帝说“好的”
那光消失了。河水又开始流动。森林有回复了往日的嘈杂。
熊放下了它的右爪，双手合什低下了头说：“感谢上帝赐给我的美餐，太感谢了”