Does evil exist?

[Mulholland]

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. 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 (-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 no 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.



This dialogue has been attributed to Albert Einstein, but devalued at snopes...Still an interesting perspective.

This basically sums up the creation v. evolution debate...The evolutionists are being smashed and, therefore, the creationists are being silenced.

[dd74]

I've heard something like this in reference to art and color. Black is not a color and white is light.

Hmmm...

Mull: what do you do for a living? If at all, you're one hell of a researcher.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by Mulholland
This basically sums up the creation v. evolution debate...The evolutionists are being smashed and, therefore, the creationists are being silenced.

how in the world does that story have *anything* to do with the creation/evolution debate?

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Drugs, man. Lots of drugs.

But only the prescription kind, anything else would be a sin.

[dd74]

Originally posted by nostatic
how in the world does that story have *anything* to do with the creation/evolution debate?

All I thought here was: ...you're just an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect the bill...

Now, I wonder from where that came?

[Emission]

I am getting a headache.

[nostatic]

that's a big twinkie...

[Moneyguy1]

Evolution and creationism are not in conflict. God can do anything He likes and take as long as He wants, even experimenting along the way.

To claim otherwise is to claim to know the mind of God. ANd that, according to St. Augustine, is not possible.

End of argument.

[Mulholland]

Originally posted by nostatic
how in the world does that story have *anything* to do with the creation/evolution debate?

The parallel is the utter devastation the intelligent designers have wrought on the macroevolution theorists.

[Mulholland]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Evolution and creationism are not in conflict. God can do anything He likes and take as long as He wants, even experimenting along the way.

To claim otherwise is to claim to know the mind of God. ANd that, according to St. Augustine, is not possible.

End of argument.

End of argument is right...evolution (macro if it will make you happy) is a failed theory still being shoved down the young skulls full of mush as fact, most often as a strategy to debunk the existence of God.

The debate is not over and will continue until judgment day.

[Mulholland]

Originally posted by dd74
Mull: what do you do for a living? If at all, you're one hell of a researcher.

Studied finance in college. Moved to Hollyweird to pursue modeling, got sucked into the black hole of acting/bartending. Got side-tracked by drugs (preferably non-prescription), got sober and found the Savior. Been a medical terminologist for the last 5 years...So research is sorta my forte...To make a long story short.

[nostatic]

umm...right. a) there is no logical parallel and b) there hasn't been "utter devastation", just the usual disagreements. You're not trained as a scientist, are you?

For someone who claims to be so steeped in faith, you sure seem desperate for "proof" that you are right, and have a seemingly unquenchable need to show the error of everyone else's ways.

[Moneyguy1]

NoStatic

Scientists are actually the most likely to believe in some kind of intelligence behind the universe. They deal with its beauty every day.

Fundamental Christianity and other religions have to categorize, pigeonhole, and quantify everything into neat little piles that fit a preset notion of how they think things should be, not as they are. Programmed, unable to act or react outside a narrow set of predetermined options, either unwilling or unable to think independently. In a word, Robots. The Jesuits had it right: "Give us a child for the first six years and he is ours for life".

I have news for folks who think this way:.....The earth IS round, and goes around the sun. Galileo was correct, although branded a heretic. (oops he did get an apology..abeit a bit late). And, the earth IS a bit older than the Middle Ages scholars thought it was.

Like I said, God can take His own sweet time and do things any way HE likes. It's OK with me. After all, weren't we made in His image? Are we basically curious creatures that seem to desire knowledge (well, at least most of us)? Then it is possible that God is therefore a curious individual that also likes to tinker and explore. Far be it from me to limit God's abilities or nature.

I like to think that God has a sense of humor. Not only did God create the aardvark and armidillo, but he gave us some other wonderful creatures that post regularly on this bulletin board!!!

Lighten up, fer cryin out loud...

[turbocarrera]

I have to agree with Mul on this one.. With all the holes in evoloution theory, you can hardly call it fact - it just pains most intellectuals way too much to admit they don't know and will likely never know..

Last time I looked into it, it would have taken 18,000,000,000 years for the Earth to have evolved all the life that flourishes on this ever cooling ball of molten rock.. of course, that's not rock-solid science either (lame pun intended, sort of)

When you get into theoretical physics, evoloution does not work at all, while creation works beautifully.. and of course, biologists only know what physicists teach them.

[on-ramp]

Which "God" are we referring to here? there are thousands.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Religion and science should NOT be mixed. They're like oil and water. One is rooted in experimentation and observation, the other in faith and that which cannot be seen. To combine them is foolish and inappropriate.

[dillinger]

Originally posted by on-ramp
Which "God" are we referring to here? there are thousands.

OOH, NOOO. I can't wait to see what comes of this.

[lendaddy]

Well there's god shamgod. That's two right there

[trj911]

Mulholland, well put! All that is needed is child-like faith!

[lendaddy]

"Religion and science should NOT be mixed"

I won't tell John Travolta or L. Ron Hubbard if you don't.