I came across this joke recently. It’s one I’ve heard numerous times before. And every time I hear it, it makes me laugh. You may or may not have heard it yourself, but either way, enjoy:
As he continued walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes. Turning to look, he saw a seven foot Grizzly Bear charging towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. Looking over his shoulder he saw that the bear was closing in on him. His heart was pumping frantically 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 raising his paw to take a swipe at him.
At that instant the atheist cried out: “Oh my God!…”
Time stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
It was then that a bright light shone upon the man and a voice came out of the sky saying:
“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 a Christian now, but perhaps, could you make the BEAR a Christian?”
“Very well,” said the voice. The light went out, and the sounds of the forest resumed.
And then the bear lowered his paw, bowed his head and spoke: “Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive and for which I am truly thankful, Amen.”
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Very funny and poignant as in May 2009 my wife and I are spending a few days in Yosemite National Park! Eek! Lets hope the bears there are buddist’s! Would love to come up and visit sometime in October Paul, how are you and your wife fixed around the 20th to the 23rd? Lunch in the pub or restaurant would be great and my treat.
That would be really special to see bears in their natural habitat — preferably from a reasonable distance away. We saw some babies at Whipsnade once — just happened to be there on their first day out — and they were pretty amazing. But as good as it is there, it’s still obviously artificial. Yosemite will be incredible.
We think that that week is the the one before half-term, so Liz wouldn’t be around during the day. But, providing she remembers to check, I’ll confirm that on Monday when Liz goes back after the summer holiday. It would be great to meet up, and I shall look forward to it immensely. I’ll email you early next week Steve.
Yeah, I was sent this story recently. It’s funny, poignant, sad, thought-provoking (I wonder if the person who made up the joke had anything but “funny” in mind!).
Welcome back from your summer at home Tom. Hope you and the family are settling back into life in Bolivia again.
You raise a good point. The story was obviously written to be funny. But it would be relatively easy to think of other possible reasons for the writing which come through. So the writer certainly could have had more than the “funny” in mind. It would be interesting to know.