God vs. Science

[callumacrae]

'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? Hmmm? 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 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-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We
can hit up 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 t! 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 endeavour, 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 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 everyday 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 was an extract from Einstein's book, God vs. Science.
The student was Einstein.

What do you think about this?

 

[anirtak143]

this is interesting.. id keep the comments to myself.

 

[tittat]

this is really interesting..... the moral is presented in a nice way.
And i agree with you, absence of heat is what we call cold.When i was in my lower primary classes i remember my teacher taught me this story.

 

[tom0472]

brains can be imaged

evolution has been observed in the lab by inducing bacteria resistant to antibiotics

heres a similarly interesting site:
http://www.whywontgodhealamputees.com/

 

[warlordste]

what about people who belive in god but also belives in what science says as well???? i mean the reason why they could say that god gave us feel will to make our own mistakes and will not interfear with the progression of human nature which where science comes in if we work hard and find stuff out for our selfs instead of getting it on the plate me personally i belive there must be sommat else a higher being if u call this god or not is another matter but i also belive in science and the fact that we evolved from a single cell so not always has science has a problem with god.

 

[Smith6612]

This is quite an interesting read. However, I won't start a debate on such a thing, as I've had several Religion vs. Science battles over at my forum that seriously tore up the community for a week. But yeah, the thing about the human brain, the Ancient Egyptians knew about brains, as when they buried a pharaoh, they would remove the organs from the body, and one of them included the brain. Yes, it sounds disgusting, but hey, they found out about what was in the body.

 

[warlordste]

again this shows that science and what they belive can exist and not be a problem beacuse they took the human anatomy apart so they could enter the afterlife and i don't see how come that people think its ethier one or the other you can have both

 

[callumacrae]

what about people who belive in god but also belives in what science says as well????

http://cis.org.uk/

 

[timur]

Very interesting indeed.

 

[azntechguy]

When in doubt, always give Snopes a check.

Conveniently, Snopes actually has an article on this God vs. Science tale!

 

[kkenny]

Good read. Really interesting, but I feel like holding back a few statements.

 

[dinny_post1]

very interesting

 

[Zdroyd]

Evil is not the absence of Good. Apathy is the absence of Good. If I do nothing I am not evil I am just apathetic.
Evil is the opposite of good, not the absence of Good.

Just because the rules apply to Heat and Light does not mean they apply to Good and Evil.

Edit: My (super atheist) friend showed me this before, and then he followed up will multiple counter points.

 

[ichwar]

Wrong again. Einstein totally missed the point. God created everything. Thus He can do to it whatever He wants. Think of it this: if you build a house, you can do to it what ever you want. You can smash the windows, you can bang up all the walls, you can even burn it down, just as long as you own it. So, in the same way, we are God's creation, He can do to us what ever He wants. If you don't think so, then you don't have any right to do whatever you want to your stuff. If God makes someone sick, then it is not wrong/evil, because He has the right to do it. We're His stuff.

 

[pietimer]

I'm glad Einstein didn't write this. That would have made me sad.

Imho, both sides are making some stupid arguments.

 

[John Klyne]

I'm glad Einstein didn't write this. That would have made me sad.

Imho, both sides are making some stupid arguments.

I thought the original poster said that this was what Einstein said, and that it came from a book of Einsteins.....

I handed this to a chemistry and biology and evolution teacher and had them respond........with nothing.

The students read it, and thus many refused to listen to a number of the things the science teachers were saying.....it was so funny watching the teachers just stare at the paper.

This is very interesting...changed my views on many things now, I know that for sure.

 

[Darasen]

An interesting tid bit. Of course this was not actually from Einstein as is rather obvious given for one that he was never a Christian. The professor's arguments are full of holes and the student in the story seems to have little idea of what the Bible says as well. Being evil is not synonymous with being a sinner. I do like the comparison of evil being an absence of God.

The why doesn't God heal amputees argument is old and full full of logical fallacy.

 

[kewpie]

science hands down

 

[chicken1]

This is actually very interesting... of course, God created everything, but you do have the matters of science. I guess that argument could go on for hours...

 

[noerrorsfound]

If God makes someone sick, then it is not wrong/evil, because He has the right to do it. We're His stuff.

So if I own a pet, it's perfectly okay for me to torture it?