God vs. Science
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kmmorell
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kmmorell
3 years, 10 months ago by kmmorell
A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students, '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 corrupt?' 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 sniffed 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.'

At the back of the room another student stands quietly for a moment before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?'

'Yes,' the professor replies. 'There's 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.'

'Science uses electricity and magnetism, but we have 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 professor 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
riley_fxX
Bracelet King
riley_fxX
3 years, 10 months ago by riley_fxX
this was very interesting to read. as someone who does not believe in god, i don’t think im a evil person. but i respect your opinions and in the same way i believe that you should respect mine.
crafter83
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crafter83
3 years, 10 months ago by crafter83
I agree with @riley_fxX. This is good story, but doesn’t change my mind.
kmmorell
Bracelet King
kmmorell
3 years, 10 months ago by kmmorell
@riley_fxX @crafter83 Wasn't supposed to offend or anything, so im sorry if i did, I just saw it and thought i should post it. Again. Wasn't mean to offend or anything to be directed at people who don't believe.
crafter83
Bracelet King
crafter83
3 years, 10 months ago by crafter83
Well as long as you weren’t using it to convert people, you shouldn’t feel bad at all.
I am actually agnostic and so don’t agree with either side. So this was really amusing for me
riley_fxX
Bracelet King
riley_fxX
3 years, 10 months ago by riley_fxX
@crafter83 same
HelloooIts
Bracelet King
HelloooIts
3 years, 10 months ago by HelloooIts
cool story!!
also that science teacher is absolute garbage lol he doesnt even know the basics ab darkness and stuff
eva-seria
Bracelet King
eva-seria
3 years, 10 months ago by eva-seria
I wouldn't call philosophy a "science" science. It studies the way people ask questions about their world and how they make sense of it across history, but it's not something you can be objectively right about, and that's what this fictional professor is doing.

Also idk if whoever wrote this knows that most philosophical movements were directly about religious discourse so there's no way to talk about Western Philosophy without talking about religion at some point. Not saying that you can't be an atheist philosophy prof, but i just don't think you can say that philosophy as a whole disproves the existence of God because most philosophical movements were trying to PROVE the existence of God.

(I'm not religious, I'd call myself irreligious because i flat out don't care if there's a God or not. If you do believe though, that's totally cool! I'm mostly talking about this because I think philosophy is an important tool for learning about culture across history/thinking about human connection, but this story doesn't really represent it very well imo)
PugCakePop
Bracelet King
PugCakePop
3 years, 10 months ago by PugCakePop
Thats a pretty cool story, im an agnostic but its still a nice read
meganff01
Bracelet King
meganff01
3 years, 10 months ago by meganff01
that was a really interesting and cool story. thanks
Etown
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Etown
3 years, 10 months ago by Etown
That was such a good story and I had fun reading it! 😁
kmmorell
Bracelet King
kmmorell
3 years, 10 months ago by kmmorell
Again, not really meant to offend, just thought it was a nice read.
crafter83
Bracelet King
crafter83
3 years, 10 months ago by crafter83
Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone is offended
kmmorell
Bracelet King
kmmorell
3 years, 10 months ago by kmmorell
@crafter83 🙂
crafter83
Bracelet King
crafter83
3 years, 10 months ago by crafter83
I think even though a lot of us who commented aren’t Christians, we still enjoyed the story.
crafter83
Bracelet King
crafter83
3 years, 10 months ago by crafter83
Is that your dog?
kmmorell
Bracelet King
kmmorell
3 years, 10 months ago by kmmorell
@crafter83 yeah, posted it with the main thought of just the story, rather than religion.
kmmorell
Bracelet King
kmmorell
3 years, 10 months ago by kmmorell
@crafter83 yes and no. We had him for about 3 weeks. We foster animals and he's been my favorite so far.
crafter83
Bracelet King
crafter83
3 years, 10 months ago by crafter83
That’s nice.
I can see why, he is super cute and seems very friendly
Xxpuffish
Professional
Xxpuffish
3 years, 10 months ago by Xxpuffish
Philosophy is not a science however religion and science are very much enter twined, there might be some outlandish stories in each religion but you have to understand that men wrote the scriptures and texts and you have to take them in the context that people back then would take it for example Jesus walking on water - that very well could’ve been him walking in a dried out or shallow lake/ the man becoming not blind - Jesus could’ve simply taken water and washed away mud that was clamping his eyelids down because it was muddy see what I mean science can’t disprove religion and religion can’t disprove science
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