Saturday, October 30, 2004

The "Good/Evil=God?" Question

I've gotten complaints about not blogging often enough, (dunno why, it's not like anyone comments-and don't comment now just to say that you've commented...) so here's something fascinating that I got as a forward-don't know how true it is, but it's a really really good point (especially when you see who the student was!)

The university professor challenged his students with this question.
"Did God create everything that exists?"
A student bravely replied "yes, he did!"
"God created everything? The professor asked.
"Yes sir", the student replied.
The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are then God is evil".
The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor was quitepleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that Christian, Judaism & Muslim faiths are a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question, professor?"
"Of course", replied the professor.
The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"
"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?"
The students snickered at the young man`s question.
The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According tothe laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. 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 (- 460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matterbecomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.
The student continued. "Professor, does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does".
The student replied,"Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton`s prism to break white lightinto many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You can not measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. [TRW's note-just keep that in mind when you do anything :)]
"How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn`t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is nolight present."
Finally the young man asked the professor. "Sir, does evil exist?"
Now uncertain, the professor responded,"Of course, as I have already said. We see it every day. 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 arenothing 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 not like faith or love that exist just as does light and heat. 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 whenthere is no light."
The professor sat down.
Old ending:
The young man's name--- Albert Einstein.
But it's been confirmed through my official confirmer (that'll be twice so far, aishel!) that snopes calls it an urban legend. I'm keeping the story up, though, because I still like the actual refutation, no matter whether it happened or not. Whoever thought of it was really smart! ;) Readers should just be aware that Einstein was NOT, I repeat, NOT the student in the story. Thanks!

6 comments:

tinablue87 said...

Yay Einstein! I am proud to be in a school with his namesake :).

Natan said...

suh-WEET!

Jonah said...

Einstein of course was the greatest agnostic of recent times, going to great legnths to deny that his proofs proved the existence of God. Of course he also didn't like ppl "disproving" God.

Natan said...

Ok, so I checked snopes, and its not true.

http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp

TRW said...

Man!! It was such a nice story though! (thanks for keeping me honest, though...historians ARE supposed to verify facts before posting them...I just couldn't hold myself back..;) )

Natan said...

lol. like you said, it still sounds good. :)