Wednesday 2-9-11

GOD vs SCIENCE









“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? 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 smelled 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.”

“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 down 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 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 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 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.




PS: the student was Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein wrote a book titled God vs.
Science in 1921.