- University Classroom Setting...
"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?"
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- "Yes, sir."
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- "So you believe in God?"
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- "Absolutely."
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- "Is God good?"
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- "Sure! God's good."
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- "Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"
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- "Yes."
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- " Are you good or evil?"
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- "The Bible says I'm evil."
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- 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?"
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- "Yes sir, I would."
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- "So you're good...!"
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- "I wouldn't say that."
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- "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.]
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- "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?"
-
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- [No answer]
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- 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, son."
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- "Is God good?"
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- "Er... Yes."
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- "Is Satan good?"
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- "No."
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- "Where does Satan come from?"
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- The student falters. "From... God..."
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- "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?"
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- "Yes, sir."
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- "Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"
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- "Yes."
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- "Who created evil?
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- [No answer]
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- "Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred?
Ugliness. All those terrible things - do they exist in this world? "
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- The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."
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- "Who created them? "
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- [No answer]
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- 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?"
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- [No answer]
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- 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.
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- "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?"
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- [No answer]
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- "Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?"
Pause.
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- "Don't you?" The professor leans into the student's
face again and whispers, "Is God good?"
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- [No answer]
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- "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"
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- The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes,
professor. I do."
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- 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 seen Him? "
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- "No, sir. I've never seen Him."
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- "Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"
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- "No, sir. I have not."
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- "Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus
or smelled your Jesus... in fact, do you have any sensory perception of
your God whatsoever?"
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- [No answer]
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- "Answer me, please."
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- "No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."
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- "You're AFRAID... you haven't?"
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- "No, sir."
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- "Yet you still believe in him?"
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- "...yes..."
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- "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?"
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- [The student doesn't answer]
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- "Sit down, please."
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- The Christian sits...Defeated(?).
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- Another Christian raises his hand. "Professor, may
I address the class?"
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- The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian
in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the
gathering."
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- The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting
points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you if that's okay.
Is there such thing as heat?"
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- "Yes," the professor replies, frowning. "There's
heat."
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- "Is there such a thing as cold?"
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- "Yes, son, there's cold too."
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- "No, sir, there isn't."
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- The professor's grin freezes.
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- 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'.
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- We can hit 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 458 -- You see, sir, cold
is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat.
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- We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal
units because heat is energy.
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- Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence
of it." Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.
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- "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...?"
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- "So you say there is such a thing as darkness?"
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- "Yes..."
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- "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.
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- 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?"
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- 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?"
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- "Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical
premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."
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- The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!""
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- "Sir, may I explain what I mean?"
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- The class is all ears.
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- "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.
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- "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.
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- 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.
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- Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence
of it."
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- 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 you can buy, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"
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- "Of course there is, now look..."
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- "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.
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- "Isn't evil the absence of good?"
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- The professor's face has turned an alarming color. He
is so angry he is temporarily speechless.
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- 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?
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- The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will,
of our own free will, choose good over evil."
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- 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."
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- "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 believethat we have
evolved from a monkey?"
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- "If you are referring to the natural evolutionary
process, young man, yes, of course I do."
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- "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.
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- "Professor. All previous attempts to explain how
the process works have failed. 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?"
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- "I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our
philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor
hisses.
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- "So you don't accept God's moral code to do what
is righteous?"
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- "I believe in what is - that's observable science!"
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- "Ahh! SCIENCE!" the student's face splits into
a grin. "Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed
phenomena. What you call "science" too is a premise which is
flawed..."
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- "SCIENCE IS FLAWED..?" the professor splutters.
The class is in uproar.
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- 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.
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- The Christian looks around the room.*Sir, the basic law
of physics says matter can neither be created nor destroyed, and yet you
in spite of that believe in "spontaneous generation" of the entire
physical universe! Spontaneous generation of vermin was disproved centuries
ago.
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- Talk about straining out the gnat and swallowing the
camel! Sir, biogenesis is "observable science" as you say--life
has only been observed to come from other life of like kind--and yet you
apparently still believe that that is exactly what happened--in spite of
science--that life somehow came from non-life.
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- Young man, the professor began tersely, I believe that
science will eventually....
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- "That science will eventually prove that matter
can be created, that life can come from non-life" interrupted the
young Christian? Sir, that's not science--that's Faith! What you believe
is the exact opposite of "observable science"!Your faith is in
what you are calling "science", my faith is in God who created
"science".
-
- Make no mistake, Professor, we're both operating from
faith."
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- There follows a long pause as the Professor stares the
young Christian down without a word.
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- "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen
the professor's mind?" 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 mind... felt the professor's mind, touched
or smelled the professor's mind?"
-
- 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 mind whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical,
stable, demonstrable protocol and science, I DECLARE that the professor
has no mind." The class is in chaos. The Christian sits... Because
that is what a chair is for, and begins filling out a drop slip.
-
- (source: unknown.)
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