"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 questions.
"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 Jesus?"
"No, sir, I have not."
"Have you ever 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."
"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-yeat, unlimited heat, white
heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'.
We can go 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. Everybody 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 meaing 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 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 students 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, touched or smelt 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.
That student was Albert Einstein...
