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I recently received this in an email.
I admit I am not an overly religious person. This email got me to do some thinking. So I thought I would share it. Usually I hate these Emails that say pass it on to 100people or you will not have luck tomorrow. This just made me think.
This has a thought provoking message no matter how you believe.
Does evil exist?
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. Everybody and every 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 at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have too little 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.
The young mans name --- Albert Einstein
Thank you CHRISTIEJOLU...
Love you big bunches.
10 comments:
Very well said !
Yes, I had this mail too, but you know how close Christie and me are, and it started me thinking about a lot of things too.
I think that was one of her really early posts when she didn't really know what she was going to write her blog about, and I told her, just write whatever you feel. Music plays a huge part in her life, so I said try that then, so she did, and I am so pleased that it had took off and that she is doing as good as she is!
I have that same one, saved in my "Inspirational" folder. Love it!
Love ya too!
I still love this story.
That's wonderful, but perhaps a bit too simplistic. My sister-in-law considered herself a Christian woman. She went to church every Sunday, all her friends belong to the same church, she espoused Christianity at every opportunity, and yet she was one of the most evil I had ever met -- truly evil, or to use her favorite word "wicked". She caused severe irreparable, long-lasting harm to almost everyone she came into contact with, including her own children and her family.
My father, on the other hand, had not been to church since he was a child, and he questioned the Bible and the presence of God. And yet he was the kindest, most altruistic, most "Christian" man anyone had ever met. He was the soul of kindness and goodness to everyone -- people and animals.
I guess my question would be, which one of these people was in the presence of God, and which one wasn't? This is something that has always puzzled me.
Hello again. :-) Thanks for your comment on my blog, and in reply to your reply ... my question was not about salvation, but about good versus evil. I believe evil exists, but not necessarily because of the absence of God. My sister-in-law believed she was in the presence of God, and yet she was still evil -- by any definition. If darkness is the absence of light, and evil is the absence of God, then evil existed in her -- in the presence of God.
This is the dichotomy that makes me question the presence of God. It's a matter of faith, which I do not have, because I see too much evil connected with people who are in the presence of God, and vice versa.
Mother Teresa was one of the most saintly people who ever lived, and yet she admitted that for all of her life, "she felt no presence of God whatsoever", "neither in her heart or in the eucharist". She doubted the existence of God.
She said, "Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul ... How painful is this unknown pain — I have no Faith. Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal, ... What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true."
It's a very interesting subject, and it comes down simply to having faith ... or not. I actually envy people who do.
Thanks to you and your reader for sharing. I really enjoyed that.
Iteresting Jo.
I do not think your sister-in-law was in the presence of God simply because she went to church and moutehd doctrines she did not live by. I think she invoked God's name in an exploitive manner to shroud herself in a goodness shucked off like a coat when suited.Some of the wickedest atrocities have been committed in the name of God by all religions.
I think your dad[without needing to sermonize] was the one who was in the presence of God,even if he questioned that presence.
My Mother is the most Christian person I know. An atheist.
I'm sorry for answering your comment, KW and I am sure you will do far better than me in your response. :)
That was an interesting post.A great food for thought.
Thanks for sharing, and also thank you for your lovely comments.
Have a wonderful week ahead!
Betty :)
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