here is the email:
Thought you might enjoy the logic in this, or maybe not... but i did :)
Does evil exist? A 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 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?"
The Professor replied "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. Cold does not
exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have not
heat."
The student continued. "Professor, does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does."
The student relied, "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 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 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 not light."
The professor sat down. The young man's name was --- Albert Einstein
this is my reply (what else would you have said? it really gets my goat that people write stuff like this.): Does evil exist? A 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 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?"
The Professor replied "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. Cold does not
exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have not
heat."
The student continued. "Professor, does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does."
The student relied, "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 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 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 not light."
The professor sat down. The young man's name was --- Albert Einstein
thanks. i like dissecting stuff like this.
first, some possible history of the anecdote:
http://www.snopes.com/religion/Einstein.asp
second, i am highly incredulous/skeptical that einstein EVER said anything like this:
this sounds so much like what a "christian" who is making this up, would say. Einstein was raised a jew, and later became a pantheist, after his spiritual idol Baruch Spinoza, the father of modern pantheism, and an excommunicated jew. when i was first leaving the truth, i read some of Spinoza's treatise on nature and divinity, and thought that of all religious ideas, the idea that nature is god, is the most realistic. Einstein was also a scientist. the first part of the anecdote sounds much like a scientist talking, with his careful adherence to definitions etc. but the last paragraph gives away the source of the anecdote. Einstein starts talking with an implied assertion that god exists, and that god has "love" that is resident in peoples "heart". figurative or not, Einstein would never have been so careless in his use of logic. the whole anecdote was going nicely until the non sequitur at the end.
third. i would like to reply to this statement by the writer of the anecdote:
how does that follow? this implies that there is no alternative. how about: evil is a human's interpretation of nature. and nature is not good or evil, just indifferent. we just interpret indifference as evil because we are in the habit of projecting consciousness on inanimate objects and forces of nature.
buddy, the thing about this statement is that it implies that god exists. of course, this means nothing to an atheist because she would have a lack of belief in god. before you can say something like the quote above and have it make an impact, you first have to prove the existence of god. once you have done that, you can say that evil is simply a lack of god in something.
i just noticed another incredible loophole in the anecdote that Einstein would have never endorsed. if evil is the absence of god, then the atheist professor was right: god does not exist, since there is evil "everywhere". weird. an atheist professor would never have been silenced by such an argument.i would not continue passing this stuff on, if i were you. if you want to be a Christian, then that is cool. i know lots of good christians. but the probability of this being a lie/fabrication is so high, that it truly would be un-christian to pass it on. i hope this helps.
it would be super interesting to me if you would pass my reply back onto whoever forwarded it to you. i would love to know his or her response to the points i raise. long time no talk. cheers,
first, some possible history of the anecdote:
http://www.snopes.com/religion
second, i am highly incredulous/skeptical that einstein EVER said anything like this:
Evil is the result of what happens when man
does not have God's love present in his heart.
this sounds so much like what a "christian" who is making this up, would say. Einstein was raised a jew, and later became a pantheist, after his spiritual idol Baruch Spinoza, the father of modern pantheism, and an excommunicated jew. when i was first leaving the truth, i read some of Spinoza's treatise on nature and divinity, and thought that of all religious ideas, the idea that nature is god, is the most realistic. Einstein was also a scientist. the first part of the anecdote sounds much like a scientist talking, with his careful adherence to definitions etc. but the last paragraph gives away the source of the anecdote. Einstein starts talking with an implied assertion that god exists, and that god has "love" that is resident in peoples "heart". figurative or not, Einstein would never have been so careless in his use of logic. the whole anecdote was going nicely until the non sequitur at the end.
third. i would like to reply to this statement by the writer of the anecdote:
Evil is simply the absence of God.
how does that follow? this implies that there is no alternative. how about: evil is a human's interpretation of nature. and nature is not good or evil, just indifferent. we just interpret indifference as evil because we are in the habit of projecting consciousness on inanimate objects and forces of nature.
buddy, the thing about this statement is that it implies that god exists. of course, this means nothing to an atheist because she would have a lack of belief in god. before you can say something like the quote above and have it make an impact, you first have to prove the existence of god. once you have done that, you can say that evil is simply a lack of god in something.
i just noticed another incredible loophole in the anecdote that Einstein would have never endorsed. if evil is the absence of god, then the atheist professor was right: god does not exist, since there is evil "everywhere". weird. an atheist professor would never have been silenced by such an argument.i would not continue passing this stuff on, if i were you. if you want to be a Christian, then that is cool. i know lots of good christians. but the probability of this being a lie/fabrication is so high, that it truly would be un-christian to pass it on. i hope this helps.
it would be super interesting to me if you would pass my reply back onto whoever forwarded it to you. i would love to know his or her response to the points i raise. long time no talk. cheers,
. Alas, I fear we will never hear the end of "Einstein believed, he was smart, ergo God" style arguments.Very nice reply tetrapod, loved it.ig.
I also would like to know why it is seemingly impossible for young Einstien to have held radically different views from an older Einstien. Do we not give him credit for the ability to change his opinion, if he so wished?
Seems poor ole Einstien has posthumously been placed in a very confining box, by those who admire his work but cannot tolerate those things which may (or may not) be at odds with their own flavour of visualisation of how the world is...
A summary of the above, for those incapable of taking it on the chin, would be - you have a right to your beliefs, and I'll gladly fight for that right, but get a life and stop railing against those who believe differently!
. [edited to add: I'm slow and my mouse is goofin *grumble grumble*]
