Does evil really exist?

Question

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 quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was 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 to the 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 matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction in 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 light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. 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 no light 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 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 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 when there is no light.” The professor sat down.

Who was this young man?

Answer 1

The young man was the wiser of the two.

Answer 2

It was not Albert Einstein. I have heard this story many times. People looking to justify their faith would do better to ignore it. First of all it is just one of those myths that float around on the web. It never happened.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/e/einstein-god.htm
http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp

Second of all, Einstein or not, it is a very bad argument. It only works if you give "evil" a metaphysical definition (which almost nobody does any more.) If instead, you define evil concretely, such as "the intention to cause unnecessary suffering" it is clear that it does exist as more than the absence of God or the absence of goodness. If you define "evil" as "the absence of God," then by definition every atheist would be evil. When an atheist acts (even with the intent to minimize suffering in the world) they are necessarily acting evilly because they are acting without God. It is very clear that people, whether they accept or reject God commit both "good" acts (which intend to minimize suffering) and evil acts (which intend to increase it). With a concrete definition of evil (and really, what IS evil except the intent to cause unnecessary harm?) this argument doesn't work.

Answer 3

Evil cannot be measured and neither can good, God, the devil, angels, faith, or anything religious.
none of this can be proven true rather it is a theory which ones imagination creates. These thoughts stuck into us are then manipulated through lack of others knowledge. Not being able to explain certain events causes more people to believe in an imaginary and POSSIBLY a non existant "God"

Answer 4

I will admit that I do not know who the young man was but his logic is flawed. When you talk about cold vs. heat, you are talking about a quantifiable, measurable physical property... the same for light and darkness. However, when you talk about evil vs. good or the presence of God, you are talking about opinion or personal perspective. There's a difference. So yes, evil does exist and it has nothing to do with the presence or absence of God.

Answer 5

First off, the person is most likely unidentified.

Second I'd like to respond to the illogical reasoning in the last paragraph comparing Evil to God.

Evil
Above is a graph, in which "<" is "is worse than". If we were to put "God" in the blank would that make such sense?

Evil doesn't exist physically, it is merely an exaggerated way to negatively think of someone or somethings actions or traits. It is like love, used to describe a feeling.

Answer 6

Even though it exists only in the minds of animals, including humans,evil still is. It has to be! Without evil you wouldn't know what good is; you would have nothing to compare it too. That there is no absolute evil (and no absolute good) is another argument in Philosophy.

It is quite wrong for those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible to say God did not create evil for it clearly states in it that he did (1 Kings 22:23 among other places). and he committed evil acts in the Old testament.

A good discussion of this is to be found in the reference below.

God's peace and love!

Answer 7

No, God did not create evil. He created the devil . and created us all, and all good things. BUt, God also created us with the wonderful priviledge of free choice. We can choose to obey Him or not. and therefore, the devil choose not to listen to God. He became prideful and wanted it all for Himself, all power, all knowledge, all of it. This is what sin is, anything that is against what God tells us. anything contrary to His word. Evil does exist, and it is the absence of God. correct... I dont know who the young man was that you described in your question . Perhaps you can now answer that for us. Light and darkness do both exist, as darkness is the absense of Gods light. and yes we can study it, see the effects of it all. We see a man lets say beating his wife and kids, and where does it end up? Those kids become so messed up and usually become mean and hateful too, unless they will hear God. We see someone being kind and the wonderful affects that have on many that have never known kndness. SO,yes this can be seen and studied. Doesnt take a rocket scientist either. Once you realize the truths about the supernatural realm, you can learn to taste evil and good, feel it, touch it, smell it, and know it. God shows you which is which, and you can feel as a demon, Darkness, tries to attack you , as often you can barely breath and feel anxious. When angels , the HOly Spirit and Jesus come , this is gone, and we feel only relaxed and at peace. These things can easily be studied. Doesnt even matter what science tells us, cuz God says any science that is contrary to HiS word is false and we are to flee from it. Too bad we dont all just do that. obedience to God brings blessing, and disobedience brings curse. Its our choice who we hear and obey and love...

Answer 8

Evil does exist. Read the new book "Another Thought" by OC Tross it will explain the true meaning of evil.

Answer 9

The young man was Albert Einstein

Answer 10

well, i still think evil exists, its just not like cold
evil is when you deliberately try and cause someone pain for no other reason than to enjoy their suffering