Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like
an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. "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?"
(No answer)
"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?" Pause. "Don't you?" The
professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?"
(No answer)
"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"
The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."
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 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...in
fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?"
(No answer)
"Answer me, please."
"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."
"You're AFRAID... you haven't?"
"No, sir."
"Yet you still believe in him?" >>
"...yes..."
"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?"
{The student doesn't answer}
"Sit down, please." The Christian sits...Defeated.
Another Christian raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?"
The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard!
Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering."
The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting points you are
making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as
heat?"
"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."
"Is there such a thing as cold?"
"Yes, son, there's cold too."
"No, sir, there isn't."
The professor's grin freezes. 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'. 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. 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. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.
"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...?"
"So you say there is such a thing as darkness?"
"Yes..."
"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 and give me a jar of it. Can you...give me a jar of darker darkness,
professor?"
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?"
"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start
with and so your conclusion must be in error...."
The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!""
"Sir, may I explain what I mean?"
The class is all ears. "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.
"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. 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. Death is not the
opposite of life, merely the absence of it." 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 this country hosts,
professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"
"Of course there is, now look..."
"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. "Isn't
evil the absence of good?"
The professor's face has turned an alarming color. He is so angry he is
temporarily speechless.
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?
The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free
will, choose good over evil."
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."
"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 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 makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a
silent, stony stare.
"Professor, 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?"
"I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical
discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor hisses.
"So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?"
"I believe in what is - that's science!"
"Ahh! SCIENCE!" the student's face splits into a grin. "Sir, you rightly
state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a
premise which is flawed..."
"SCIENCE IS FLAWED..?" the professor splutters.
The class is in uproar.
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.
The Christian looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has
ever seen the professor's brain?"
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 brain... felt the professor's
brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain?" 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 brain whatsoever. Well,
according to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol,
science says the professor has no brain."
The class is in chaos. The Christian sits... Because that is what a chair
is for.