God versus Science

[Darth_mel]

A long article but well worth a read, esp if you are of Christian faith.

 

An actual discussion between a philosophy professor and his 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? 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 Go 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 down 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.

 

If you read it all the way through and had a smile on your face when you finished, mail to your friends and family with the title 'God vs Science'

 

PS: the student was Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein wrote a book titled God vs Science in 1921....

 

"Dear God, grant me the ability to reject the things about me that are not true, the humility to accept the things that are, and the discernment to know the difference."

 

 

[Nolicense]

i suspect that he ever wrote this, so I tried to search for the book using ISBN. Nothing

But came across this.

 

http://frbobscorner.com/2008/05/29/god-versus-science/

 

which lead to this

 

http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp

Edited August 11, 2009 by Nolicense

[Simplesilver]

WHOA. True true.

Abit complicated to seem at first ^^

[Davinci]

I thought Einstein was agnostic?

Edited August 11, 2009 by Davinci

[Darth_mel]

That is debatable.... :)

[Nolicense]

Oh yeah, Einstien was jewish. Why did the professor say he was christian? dead ringer

[Scion]

i like this story... esp the part where absence of heat is cold, absence of light is darkness and absence of God is evil...

 

but i dun quite agree with his evolution logic... cannot observe evolution with own eyes doesn't mean it dun exist... one has to realise a human being's existence on earth is so short... just like plate tectonic movement and dinosaurs, we can't observe them as well...

 

anyway it's good that someone posted a link that busted this urban legend... it shows that not everything on the internet or email is true...

[Freestylers09]

Read abit before related on this before..some of the theory actually existed or v similiar long ago in china,1 of the 3 经 call 易经 recorded before..

 

爱因斯坦(Albert Einstein)被称作人类史上的智慧集大成者，这不是对他的什么虚妄、吹捧之辞。他的高明伟大之处在于其将宇宙间的特（狭义相对论）与一般（广义相对论）都纳入了他的理论体系并且切实解决了人们在思想上和实践中的许多重大问题。狭义相对论最著名的推论是质能公式（E=Mc^2 ），目前它对人类做出的最大贡献是计算核反应过程中所释放的能量并导致了原子弹的诞生；广义相对论所预言的引力透镜和黑洞也相继被天文观测所证实。它的出现解决了关于时空和引力的诸多困惑人类良久的问题。我们是否可以这样说，正是由于相对论的出现使得人类对于宇宙万物的认识更趋于客观、更趋于本质。它在精确的前提下（有具体的公式）同时兼顾了模糊，使得模糊得到了最大限度的精确、精确得到了最大限度的模糊。在这种意义上来讲它与我们中国《易经》中

[Porker]

Albert Einstein actually thought that science is the most logical way of explaining phenomena in the universe and not by faith and certainly not by christianity or god.

 

If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. -- Albert Einstein

 

The above is a quote from him. Note that I'm not promoting a war between christianity and buddhism but just trying to point out the error in your text.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Porker

[Gr80]

Dear administrator,

 

I'm not against any religion as I'm borned a true Singaporean who respects the differences in each race and religion.

 

I feel matters relating to religion should be discussed in other platforms and not in a No. 1 Car Forum in SG.

 

We definitely don't want this comprehensive forum to be religious-based coz Religion is a sensitive issue. We need to respect each other.

 

We should not tarnish our harmonious society.

 

This story could be well accepted in other forums but not a car forum.

 

Please delete this thread for National Education purpose.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Pimpmycar]

Please do not delete this thread for National Education purpose, the people have the right to know the truth.

 

 

 

science religion

(The dinosaurs existed 25000000 billion years ago) VS (God created the earth 6666 years ago in 7 days)

 

 

 

Which 1 would you teach your children ?

[Porker]

I think you meant 25000000 years ago.

 

Anyway good one there.

[Baka]

i suspect that he ever wrote this, so I tried to search for the book using ISBN. Nothing

But came across this.

 

http://frbobscorner.com/2008/05/29/god-versus-science/

 

which lead to this

 

http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp

 

Thanks for the great links.

 

"So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.'"

 

All know that a MRI scan or X-ray can be a scientific evidence of existance of brains, without having to open up a person's head..

[Nolicense]

Please do not delete this thread for National Education purpose, the people have the right to know the truth.

 

 

 

science religion

(The dinosaurs existed 25000000 billion years ago) VS (God created the earth 6666 years ago in 7 days)

 

 

 

Which 1 would you teach your children ?

 

Bro,

 

i think some people prefer the latter as the truth. it takes faith to believe in the latter. if you do not have faith then they will not consider you christian.

 

i know what i state is not disrespectful to other people's religion. sometimes when i call christianity a religion, i get F because they say it is not a religion. it is the truth with capital T.

 

we are in times of extremism. better keep our mouth shut.

[Pimpmycar]

Please do not delete this thread for National Education purpose, our younger generation have the right to know the truth.

 

science religion

(The dinosaurs existed 25000000 billion years ago) VS (God created the earth 6666 years ago in 7 days)

 

If you 10 yr kid rush home from school just to ask you this question, do you .......................

 

A- Your school are not telling you the truth.

 

B- Your school are telling you the truth.

 

c- Hide under the bed and talk, later mata will caught you ok

 

D- Scienctist and dinosaurs are not real so as peter pan and papa smurf.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Pimpmycar

[Pimpmycar]

It's no joke porker my friend 10 yr kid pop this question to him.

 

[Ngck]

Please do not delete this thread for National Education purpose, our younger generation have the right to know the truth.

 

science religion

(The dinosaurs existed 25000000 billion years ago) VS (God created the earth 6666 years ago in 7 days)

 

If you 10 yr kid rush home from school just to ask you this question, do you .......................

 

A- Your school are not telling you the truth.

 

B- Your school are telling you the truth.

 

c- Hide under the bed and talk, later mata will caught you ok

 

D- Scienctist and dinosaurs are not real so as peter pan and papa smurf.

 

 

maybe god started with dinosaurs first? then got bored and began to play with humans?

[Pimpmycar]

Why not transformer but human ?