A tale of Christianity (pretty good)

[hiddenfury1258]

******EDIT*******
I got this from one of my good online friends, but she obviously got it from another source. Therefore I do not know where this came from.

GOD VS SCIENCE
God vs Science

A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students, "Let me explain the problem science has with religion." 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 falters. "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."

Again, the student has no answer. "Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?"

The student squirms on his feet. "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 betrays him and cracks. "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 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 smelt 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.

This students statements are true, can you or can you not make night darker?

Is it possible for it to get colder after absolute zero -458 degree's F.

Can you feel,taste,see,hear,or smell your brain?


Comments?

[metheweirdo]

pretty good, but i still dont get what your asking.

[Chiups]

Originally Posted by hiddenfury1258

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.

Comments?

If Evil is the absence of God..then what about the acts of terrorism against the US. I was under the impression that many of those men acted in the name of Allah (God). Were those actions not purely evil from our standpoint, but justified from theirs?

[mr.handsomeman]

i read this before, i couldn't help but smile when i saw this up here.

[EndUnknown]

this is classic!

[VTHokie09]

Originally Posted by Brown Bear

If Evil is the absence of God..then what about the acts of terrorism against the US. I was under the impression that many of those men acted in the name of Allah (God). Were those actions not purely evil from our standpoint, but justified from theirs?

It depends on what you religion believes. Clearly a Christian does not think as a Muslim does. If someone does something out of faith, it is because that is what they believe their god wants them to do. each religion has its own "higher power" and teaches different lessons.

I smiled when reading this. This is a good article. Thanks for the insight and the post.

[hiddenfury1258]

NP it is one of my favorite stories. =)

[cashman04]

Is it bad, that I dont even care to read this, and i could hardly bring myself to click this link. But damn curiosity.

[k-man2]

This was very entertaining, I wish I had read this before I took my philosophy class, I would argue we took his lectures of faith. haha

[trash berd]

I've seen this before,
#1, any self respecting professor knows the most basic of the questions he was asked, such as the no cold one, I learned that is fourth grade, but this professor didn't, any other professor wouldn't be so dumb

#2, the darkness argument is plain wrong, there cannot be nothing, nothingness does not exist, I've explained this before. That's why there is no perfect vacuum in the universe, and darkness does exist, light covers it up, but it's always there, thats why light has a speed, and darkness does not. Once again, any professor should know this

#3, Saying evolution doesn't exist because we can not see it is like saying dinosaurs didn't exist, we can't see then, but we see remnants, fossils. We see remnants of evolution, such as little things in people that shouldn't be there but are, like B.O., why have it? Any self respecting designer wouldn't create us with so many flaws. And it doesn't matter that this professor hasn't witnessed evolution, but I have (I'm not joking), my friend has spider plants, they require quite a bit of water, when he first got them he was young, he didn't water then enough. Most of them died off, but the strong survived, breeded, and gave the traits of surviving without much water to its offspring, the plants slowly became paler, but weren't dried up. They evolved to survive without as much water.

#4, we know this professor has a brain because if he didn't he'd be dead. Simple as that.

#5, and I can't argue the thing with no evil with god thing because god doen't exist

[Striker D]

Yeah man, I got this in an email one time. A chain email. Though in my version the student was Albert Einstein...which made me question it's autenticity but it's still good nonetheless.

[MemphisMasenko]

Originally Posted by Striker D

Yeah man, I got this in an email one time. A chain email. Though in my version the student was Albert Einstein...which made me question it's authenticity but it's still good nonetheless.

ohhhhhhhh, spam.
I was about to say if this was your own then you shoulda request a fan fiction place. And this woulda been interesting if this was a bit raunchier.

[jsminch]

Thanks for the post hiddenfurry. I liked that one. It was pretty darn good on the theological accuracy, I was supprised (a lot of these web-polemics / apologies aren't).

[ElectroGeek2009]

Wow, that's so true.

[Dragod]

Why the hell does it matter? The basis of science is "If it can't be proven, it is highly unlikely it exists", but they never say "It doesn't exist". That goes against the definition of a Scientist. The reason many scientists don't like the theory of a god is that there is no proof to support the idea of a god, only theories and speculation, as well as substantial evidence that a god does not exist.

I stopped reading after "Is there such a thing as darkness?" A true scientist knows that there is no such thing as cold, only absence of heat (Hell, even I knew that), and you can't prove your own theories by showing the flaws in others' theories.




Edit: I read the rest. The thing is, evolution has not necessarily been proven, but there is strong evidence towards the theory. Just as Galileo thought the universe revolved around the Earth, it was the best theory at the time. You go with what has a strong backing, and strong evidence. It simply isn't enough to say that a god exists, simply because "there is no proof that he doesn't exist". You have to have proof, of which there is none to support a god, yet people still choose to follow the idea. That is a Scientist's true problem with the idea of a "god".

[Chiups]

^

[jsminch]

People seem to be missing the point about the heat/cold argument.

The argument was in response to the question "did God (who is good) create evil (which is...umm...evil)." The metaphor is there to show that evil is not the opposite of good, it is the absense of good. Indeed, just like cold, evil in not a thing at all, it is the absense of another thing.

[trash berd]

Originally Posted by Dragod

you can't prove your own theories by showing the flaws in others' theories.

But you can help strengthen your argument

[Chiups]

Originally Posted by jsminch

People seem to be missing the point about the heat/cold argument.

The argument was in response to the question "did God (who is good) create evil (which is...umm...evil)." The metaphor is there to show that evil is not the opposite of good, it is the absense of good. Indeed, just like cold, evil in not a thing at all, it is the absense of another thing.

That would make perfect sense except that evil is not the absence of good, but its direct opposite. Many things in this world are done with the purest of intention from one point of view but have been pure evil from another. In these cases there was no absence of good because it depends on perspective.

By this reasoning almost everything is the absence of another, thats the basic concept behind opposites. What is war? The absence of peace. What is chaos? The absence of order? What is silence? The absence of sound. And this can go on and on.