It was in the 1800s that a Lutheran pastor passed by the swinging doors of a tavern. From inside the drinking hole came a shout, a slurred voice calling out, "Es gibt keinen Gott." Not sure if he had heard correctly, the pastor turned around and went into the saloon. He had not gone three steps past the threshold of the bar when the sentence was shouted again. This time the words were louder; the tone, far more aggressive. “Es gibt keinen Gott.” For those whose German is a bit rusty, the sentence means, "There is no God." That statement is, for Lutheran ministers, and just about any Christian pastor or parishioner, fightin’ words.
The Reverend, contrary to the bets of the onlookers, declined to get involved in a few rounds of verbal fisticuffs. Instead, he went over to the irate man, leaned up against the bar, laid a hand on the shouter’s shoulder and, looking him in the eye, said, "Meine Freunde, my friend, what you just said isn't new. The Bible agrees with you. The Scriptures say the same thing: ‘There is no God.’" The drunk, who had fixed his fists for a fight, was taken aback by the preacher’s gentle manner. Stammering, he said, "Uh, uh, I didn't know the Bible said there was no God!" "Absolutely," continued the pastor, "You can look it up for yourself. You’ll find those words in Psalm 14, verse 1. Better yet, let me tell you what Psalm 14:1 says. It says: 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Of course,” the minister continued, “there is a big difference between you and the man the Bible talked about. The Bible’s fool kept his opinion to himself. By shouting your mockery in a tavern, you’ve raised foolishness to a new level."
