Science v. God: Isn't this a good point?

Question

Science vs. 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,

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.'

NOT DONE YET, JUST WAIT

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 endeavour, 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

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.

*Got this in email and just thought it was interesting. Thanks to the people who actually waited to see it all before answering...*

Honestly I don't get what you mean by Einstein and I did NOT say I thought this was a true story, just some interesting points, and fictional stories are not a dumb way to make some points.

Answer 1

Very good. The only thing missing is the understanding of Sin. Evil or sin is the violation of God's law. When people say God can do anything it should be understood that God can not sin, or do the illogical because it would be a violation of his natural laws. Also to say their is no physical proof of God is incorrect. Creation is the biggest evidence of God, so is our conscience. God wrote his law in our hearts so that we are with out excuses when we violate them.
Is any one here with out sin?
Has anyone kept the 10 commandments?
I think not. And what is the punishment for violating God's law? the Bible says death in Hell.
If those here were to be judged by God's standards would you be innocent or guilty?
If you are honest with yourself you would have to say guilty.
What then? Read Luke 13:3

Answer 2

I suspect you're going to end this with "darkness is the absence of light, silence is the absence of sound, etc., therefore evil is the absence of God."

That's simply a redefinition of the word "God" to mean "that which is not evil." There is no reason to believe that "that which is not evil" possesses any of the other properties that believers generally ascribe to God. I believe in the existence of "that which is not evil" but believing in that does not entail believing in a deity.

EDIT:
The fact that nobody has seen the professor's brain does not mean that one can't produce evidence that the professor's brain exists. For example, we could perform an CAT scan on the professor. We could use the scan to observe the fact that certain electrical signals from the professor's brain are similar to electrical signals from the brains of other people, who have died and had autopsies performed on them.

Since all of the other people in the autopsies had brains that made those electrical signals, we can infer that the professor, too, has a brain.

Answer 3

There are many problems with this tripe, even putting aside the fact that this would never happen in a classroom.

The heat analogy used to explain evil isn't a valid one. Lack of good leads to apathy, not evil. There is a difference between not helping someone who is in trouble and actively hurting someone. There is a depravity in evil that a simple lack of goodness cannot explain. Heat and cold are simple, they are different terms for the amount of molecular motion. Good and evil are nowhere near as simple. Motivation matters, outcome matters, there are a ton of different variables.

The theology is also terrible Man is not inherently evil, Christian theology just says that man is not in and of himself purely good. YHWH cannot have any sin in his presence, but that doesnt mean that humanity is evil to the core.

Answer 4

The professor puts up a good argument, all for nought, the brainwashed are beyond understanding logic, The Pope is well aware of this fact.

Answer 5

Reasoning by reciting some story is not a very distinguished form of logic.

Simply state what you believe and the reason for it rather than making a fictional tale about a conversation.

Answer 6

I read all the details the student in this story makes a good point.

Answer 7

It's always easy to win an argument when you can speak for both sides. At least you didn't say the student was Einstein.

Answer 8

A very long, drawn-out way to say that sometimes you just have to have faith. Cute story, but way too long.

Answer 9

although i don't know any professors that would do this, you're likely to get another response involving "albert einstein" which is also made up..

edit: oh this IS that story, just a different twist...continue

edit: she might still call the student einstein, she isn't done

edit: LOL bettie

Answer 10

Pray to have the Lord, Help