You be the judge"let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ." the atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class then asks one of his new students to stand.
"you're a Christian, arn't you, son?"
"yes sir," the student says.
"so you believe in God?"
"absolutely"
"is God good?"
"sure! God is good."
"is God all powerful? can God do anything?"
“yes”
“are you good or evil?”
“the bible says I’m evil”
The professor grins knowingly. “Aha! The bible!” he considers for a moment.
“here’s one for you. Lets say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?”
“yes sir, I would.”
“so you’re good!?
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“but why not say that? You’ld help a sicl and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.”
The student does not answer, so the professor continues. “he doesn’t does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?
The student remains silent.
“ you can’t can you?” the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.
“let’s start again, young fellow, is God good?”
“er… yes,” the student says.
“is satan good?”
The student doesn’t hesitate on this one. “no.”
“then where does satan come from?”
The student: “from… God…”
“that’s right. God made satan didn’t he? Tell me, son, is there evil in this world?”
“yes sir”
“evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And Gid did make everything, correct?”
“yes”
“so who created evil?” the professor continued, “if God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.”
Without allowing the student to answer, the professor continues,: “is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?”
The student: “yes”
“so who created them?”
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. "who created them?" there is still no answer. suddenly, the lecturer breaks away to pace infront of the classroom. the class is mesmerized.
"tell me," he continues onto another student, "do you believe in Jesus christ son?"
the student's voice is confident. " yes, professor, i do"
the old man stops pacing. "science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. have you ever seen Jesus?"
" no sir, i;ve never seen him"
"then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus"
"no sir, i have not"
"have you actually felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt yourJesus? have you any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?"
" no sir i'm afraid i haven't"
"yet you still believe in him?"
"yes"
"according to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstratable protocol, science says your God doesn'e sxist. what do you say to that son?"
"nothing," the student replies. "i only have my faith"
"yes, faith," the professor repeats. "and thear is the problem science has with God. there is no evidence, only faith."
the student stands quietly for a momnet, before asking a question of his own. "professor, is there such a thing as heat?"
"yes," the professor replies, "there is heat"
"and there is such a thing as cold?"
"yes, son, there is cold too"
"no sir, there isn't"
the professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. the room suddenly becomse very quiet. the student begins to explain.
"you can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat, or no heat but we don't have anything called "cold". we can hit up to 458 degres below xero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. there is no such thing as cold; otherwise, we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.
every body or object is susceptable to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transport energy. absolute zero (-458 degrees) is the total absence of heat.
you see sir, cold is only a word we se to describe the absence of heat. we cannot measure cold. heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. cold is not the opposite ofheat, sir, just the absence of it."
silence across the class room. a pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
"what about darkness, professor. is there such a thing as darkness?"
"yes" the professor replies without hesitation. "what is night if it isn't darkness?"
"you;re wrong again sir. darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. you can have low light, mormal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it is called darkness, isn;t it? that's the meaning we use to define the word. in reality, darkness sin't. if it were, you would bae able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?"
the professor begins to smile at the student infront of him.
this will be a good semester. "so what point are you making, young man?"
"yes, professor. my point is, your philospohical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conculsion must be flawed."
the frofessor's face cannot hide his suprise this time.
"flawed? can you explain how?"
"you are working on the premise of duality," the student explains.
"you argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and and a bad God. you are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure.
sir, science can't even explain a thought. it uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantiate thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.
Now tell me professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?”
“if you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do”
"have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes sir?"
the professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realises where the argument is going. a very good sememter indeed.
"since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at wirk and vannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion sir? are you not a scientist but a preacher?"
the class is in an uproar. the student remains silent until the comotion has subsided.
"to continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what i mean.
is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelled the professor's brain? no one appears to have doen so.
so, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstratable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all de respect sir. so if science says that you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures sir?"
now the room is silent. hte professor stares at the student, his face unreadable.
finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answeres. " i guess you'll have to take them on faith."
"now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life," the student continues"now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?"
now uncertain, the professor responds, "of course there is . we see it everyday. it is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man
it is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. these manifestations are nothing else but evil"
to this the student replied, "evil does not exist sir, or at least, it does not exist unto itself. evil is simple the absence of God.
it is just like the darkness and cold, a word that man created to describe the absence of God.
God did not create evil. evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God present in his heart.
it is like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light"
the professor sat down.
