I read the following article in an email that my sister Jenny sent to me. I really liked the arguments presented. You could say that it’s food for thought and a good article to open up some discussion. Here it is:
The DIFFERENCE
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Science and God
‘Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ.’ The atheist
professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his
new students to stand.
‘You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?’
‘Yes sir,’ the student says.
‘So you believe in God?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Is God good?’
‘Sure! God’s 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. Let’s 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’d help a sick 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? Hmmm? Can
you answer that one?’
The student remains silent.
‘No, 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 fella 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 God 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 in front 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 ever actually felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or
smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had 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, demonstrable
protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that,
son?’
‘Nothing,’ the student replies. ‘I only have my faith.’
‘Yes, faith,’ the professor repeats. ‘And that is the problem
science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.’
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a
question of his own. ‘Professor, is there such thing as heat?’
‘Yes,’ the professor replies. ‘There’s heat.’
‘And is there such a thing as cold?’
‘Yes, son, there’s cold too.’
‘No sir, there isn’t.’
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested.
The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain.
‘You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat,
mega-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 degrees below
zero, 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 susceptible to study when
it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have
or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat.
You see, sir, cold is only a word we use 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 of heat, sir, just the
absence of it.’
Silence across the 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, normal light, bright
light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have
Nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to
define the word. In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able
to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?’
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him.
This will be a good semester. ‘So what point are you making, young man?’
‘Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is
flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.’
The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise 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 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 substantive
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
realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.
‘Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work
and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you
not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a
preacher?’
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the
Commotion has subsided.
‘To continue the point you were making earlier to the other
student, let me give you an example of what I mean.’
The student looks around the room. ‘Is there anyone in the class
who has ever seen the professor’s brain?’ The class breaks out into
laughter.
‘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 done so. So, according to the established rules of
empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no
brain, with all due respect, sir. So if science says you have no brain,
how can we trust your lectures, sir?’
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the
student, his face unreadable.
Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. ‘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 simply the absence of God.
It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has 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’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold
that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there
is no light.’
The professor sat down.
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. – C. S. Lewis
