Professor Vs. Student

'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?'

'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 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 endeavor, 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.


PS: the student was Albert Einstein

Damaged Goods

Ok. Here goes nothing. This is me being vulnerable. This is my heart on my sleeve. This is everything. Most people are too afraid to bear their souls in such an open manner. And perhaps I’ll be ridiculed for it. What I have to say might upset people. It might make people question what’s going through my head. I don’t blame them. In fact I would probably agree with all of them. Opening your heart this publicly for so many to see is borderline crazy. But then crazy I am. I’d rather be crazy and be true to this feeling then to keep everything bundled up inside all nice and cozy, safe and unharmed. I think C.S. Lewis sums it up best with this;

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

I cannot go back to the past. As much as I would wish that, to be able to turn back the hands of time back to April two years ago and not do what happened, I’d give anything. To go back and tell myself what I know now, to spare myself this horrible heartache and regret and wondering of “what if”. But I can’t. What’s done is done. It did happen. I cannot ignore it or pretend that what happened between me and him was only a figment of our imaginations. We must look at it, learn from it and hopefully grow from it.  But growth is hard. And sometimes we break along the way. But just like a wildfire devastates a forest, the new growth that comes from it is unimaginable.  We cannot possibly expect to touch someone’s life and not have it affect us. Souls were made to bond with each other. And once they're bonded, it’s stuck. Any cutting off of relationships breaks the soul. It’s unnatural. That’s not to say that what has been broken can’t be mended, but once it’s mended there will always be scars. It’s like an expensive vase that’s been broken and glued back together. It looks the same, it functions the same, but it’s not how it was before. It’s cracked and marred, forever containing the scars of remembrance of being broken. The scars may not hurt as much over time, but every once in a while something comes along and knocks the vase off its pedestal again and new scars are made and mended.

If the vase was never broken, it could never know it could be fixed. But in that it also learns it must try everything to not be broken again and so it places itself higher and higher on the shelves in hopes of being safer. But the higher it goes the less people can admire its beauty, so then it must make the decision; either remain out of sight in fear of being broken or come down off the shelves into the light but become vulnerable in a spot that is much more easy for it to be knocked down again. But by coming down it’s also able to be loved again. But perhaps people won’t love it as much because they look on it and see how often it’s been broken by reckless people.

The scars on the vase don’t make it any less valuable, see. It’s still one of a kind, but the vase doesn’t know that. It looks at all the cracks and damage and deems itself worthless. And why shouldn’t it? That’s the value that the world places on damaged goods. But doesn’t the value come from the Maker?  How valuable of a thing to be made only once! If no one else, the Maker sees the value in damaged goods and the vase can take great joy to know that its Maker looks upon it, even though it’s broken and mended numerous times, and delights in it. The Maker does not say to the vase “You foolish thing! How dare you display yourself so recklessly and get broken!”  No. Instead the Maker gently takes up the broken pieces, glues them back together gently and loving and sets the vase back on display so all may look upon it, see its beauty and give thanks to the Maker for making something so precious and one of a kind. Someday, someone other than the Maker will realize the worth the vase has too.  It just has to be patient.  Sure someone might have seen its beauty before, but they weren’t ready to handle it, broke it and returned it. This discourages the vase because it loved the person that took it, but it was brought back, damaged and then replaced by another vase.  Not everyone who looks upon the vase is able to handle it, even if the vase thinks otherwise. The Maker knows who is good for the vase and will only let the best buyer take it. He will only give it to a person who is deemed worthy to be able to handle something so precious, valuable and fragile and to be able to handle it with gentle love. But until then, the pretty vase must delight in its Maker’s glory and know that it is loved and cherished.