"LET ME EXPLAIN THE PROBLEMS 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."
"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. "Ahh! 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 them? "Would you try?"
"Yes sir, I would."
"So you're good...!"
"I wouldn't say that."
"Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed
person if you could...in fact most of us would if we
could... God doesn't.
[No answer.]
"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?"
[No answer]
The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can
you?" He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk
to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you
have to go easy with the new ones. "Let's start again,
young fella."
"Is God good?"
"Er... Yes."
"Is Satan good?"
"No."
"Where does Satan come from?" The student falters.
"From... God..."
"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?" The elderly
man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and
turns to the smirking, student audience. "I think we're
going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies
and gentlemen." He turns back to the Christian.
"Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"
"Yes, sir."
"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"
"Yes."
"Who created evil?
[No answer]
"Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred?
Ugliness. All the terrible things - do they exist in
this world? "
The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."
"Who created them? "
[No answer]
The professor suddenly shouts at his student.
"WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!"The professor closes
in for the kill and climbs into the Christian's face.
In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't
He, son?"
[No answer]
The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze
and fails. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the
front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class
is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues, "How is it
that this God is good if He created all evil throughout
all time?"
The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the
wickedness of the world. "All the hatred, the brutality,
all the pain, all the torture, all the death and
ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God
is all over the world, isn't it, young man?"
[No answer]
"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?"
Pause.
"Don't you?" The professor leans into the student's face
again and whispers,
"Is God good?"
[No answer]
"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"
The student's voice betrays him and cracks.
"Yes, professor. I do." The old man shakes his head
sadly. "Science says you have five senses you use to
identify and observe the world around you. Have you?"
"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... in fact, do you have any sensory
perception of your God whatsoever?"
[No answer]
"Answer me, please."
"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."
"You're AFRAID... you haven't?"
"No, sir."
"Yet you still believe in him?"
"...yes..."
"That takes FAITH!" The professor smiles sagely at the
underling.
"According to the rules of empirical, testable,
demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't
exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God
now?"
[The student doesn't answer]
"Sit down, please."
The Christian sits...Defeated. Another Christian raises
his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?" The
professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in
the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper
wisdom to the gathering."
The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting
points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question
for you. Is there such thing as heat?"
"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."
"Is there such a thing as cold?"
"Yes, son, there's cold too."
"No, sir, there isn't."
The professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes
very cold. The second Christian continues. "You can
have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat,
mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but we
don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit 458 F
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 458 F -
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. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.
"Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?"
"That's a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn't
darkness? What are you getting at...?"
"So you say there is such a thing as darkness?"
"Yes..."
"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 and
give me a jar of it. Can you...give me a jar of darker
darkness, professor?"
Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young
effrontery before him. This will indeed be a good
semester. "Would you mind telling us what your point is,
young man?"
"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical
premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion
must be in error...."
The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare
you...!"
"Sir, may I explain what I mean?"
The class is all ears.
"Explain... oh, explain..." The professor makes an
admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is
affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the
class, for the student to continue.
"You are working on the premise of duality," the
Christian explains. "That for example 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 cannot even
explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism
but has never seen, much less fully understood them. 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, merely the absence
of it."
The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the
desk of a neighbor who has been reading it. "Here is
one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts,
professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"
"Of course there is, now look..."
"Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the
absence of morality. Is there such thing as injustice?
No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such
a thing as evil?" The Christian pauses. "Isn't evil
the absence of good?"
The professor's face has turned an alarming color. He is
so angry he is temporarily speechless. The Christian
continues. "If there is evil in the world, professor,
and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must
be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil.
What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible
tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our
own free will, choose good over evil."
The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I
don't view this matter as having anything to do with
any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize
the concept of God or any other theological factor as
being part of the world equation because God is not
observable."
"I would have thought that the absence of God's moral
code in this world is probably one of the most
observable phenomena going," the Christian replies.
"Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every
week! 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 makes a sucking sound with his teeth and
gives his student a silent, stony stare.
"Professor. 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
priest?"
"I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our
philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite
finished?" the professor hisses.
"So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is
righteous?"
"I believe in what is - that's science!"
"Ahh! SCIENCE!" the student's face splits into a grin.
"Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of
observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is
flawed..."
"SCIENCE IS FLAWED..?" the professor splutters.
The class is in uproar.
The Christian remains standing until the commotion has
subsided. "To continue the point you were making earlier
to the other student, may I give you an example of what
I mean?"
The professor wisely keeps silent.
The Christian looks around the room. "Is there anyone
in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?"
The class breaks out in laughter. The Christian points
towards his elderly, crumbling tutor. "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. The Christian
shakes his head sadly. "It appears no-one here has had
any sensory perception of the professor's brain
whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical,
stable, demonstrable protocol, science, I DECLARE that
the professor has NO BRAIN!" The class is in chaos.
The Christian sits... Because that is what a chair is
for.
I'd like to thank Clara For sending me this E-mail.
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