Einstein

[memoriesbymichelle]

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?...

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, 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. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness 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 its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is 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?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : 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 not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? 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, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.

I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?

Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.

By the way, that student was EINSTEIN

 

[dayhiker]

I've read that in the past, its a good read .. it was Augustine that said evil is a privation or the absence of good.

 

[MorkandMindy]

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, 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. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness 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 its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD.

The student appears to be making the case that evil does not exist and therefore that God did not need to make it, that evil is only the absence of good.

The student is also making also the case against duality, of there being a good GOD and a bad GOD.

Well if there is no Satan, just the absence of God, then why was the crucifixion necessary and how could the Psalmist say:


Where can I go to escape your spirit?
Where can I flee to escape your presence?
8 If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there.
If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be.
9 If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn,
and settle down on the other side of the sea,
10 even there your hand would guide me,
your right hand would grab hold of me.
11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me,
and the light will turn to night all around me,”
12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see,
and the night is as bright as day;
darkness and light are the same to you.

(Ps 139)

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

No I think he is making a case that the professors logic or thought process was faulty at best. He acknowledged that God made Satan, who is evil.

 

[MorkandMindy]

...

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

...

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

...

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness 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 its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. ...

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.

...

[The line of reasoning in this debate jumps about so I used ellipses to cut out the side issues and stick to the issue of good / evil and the related points on existence and absence]

No I think he is making a case that the professors logic or thought process was faulty at best. He acknowledged that God made Satan, who is evil.

Yes both agreed that God made Satan but when it came to evil although the Prof. said God must have made that also the student was silent, and again on disease.

And the student continued that line with examples of cold being just the absence of heat, darkness the absence of light, and that there is not a good GOD and a bad GOD, and that death doesn't exist either as it is just the absence of life.



The student is saying that death doesn't exist nor does cold or darkness or a bad GOD.

Do you agree with the student?

 

[MorkandMindy]

The student was advocating the modern scientific understanding of darkness as being just the absence of light and not the Biblical line, for example:

Ex 10.21
The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick it can be felt.

Again PS 139 I quoted gives day and night and light and darkness all individual existences.





A similar situation exists where modern versions totally ignore the 'firmament' mentioned in the 1611 King James Version. The meaning of the original text is I believe best described as 'bronze spread out by casting'. In the newer versions the ability to hold onto the stars is downplayed and the strength of the firmament is ignored and the entire emphasis is placed on the 'spread out' bit so it is just described as 'an expanse' which the reader then is left to imagine something like an empty expanse described by science.

All that comes from interpreting the Bible with a modernist mindset.

 

[MorkandMindy]

There is also a failure to understand a different culture - in this case Switzerland around 1900. The situation in the OP could have happened in the USA at present between an American Christian Fundamentalist and 'the enemy', but not in Europe and certainly not in the more enlightened times in Switzerland. Albert Einstein was culturally Jewish with a high regard for learning, but did not believe in a personal God of the Jewish, Christian or Islamic variety. The idea that he would reject evolution has to be an invention.

 

[exitstageright]

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?...

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, 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. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness 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 its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is 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?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : 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 not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? 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, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.

I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?

Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.

By the way, that student was EINSTEIN

I am not surprised.Einstein was a genius. It is very sad that we do not have more people like Einstein.

 

[mjmcmillan]

 

[MorkandMindy]

Albert Einstein was not a Christian, did not attempt to humiliate, did not engage in rambling arguments, and did not hold many of the opinions claimed in the OP.

 

[blackribbon]

Evil was not "created" by God but rather is the absence of God.

Einstein was not a Christian. He was basically a form of agnostic Jew...he believed in God but his belief system was not Christian and he was not a practicing Jew although he held on to the culture.

Although he did not probably really say the OP post, there is a lot of thought provoking and truth in the original essay regardless of who was the author.

 

[blackribbon]

The student is saying that death doesn't exist nor does cold or darkness or a bad GOD.

Do you agree with the student?

Cold doesn't really exist. Death does not exist. Darkness does not exist. And a bad God does not exist. These are all true statements.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Cold doesn't really exist. Death does not exist. Darkness does not exist. And a bad God does not exist. These are all true statements.

The only thing I disagree with is the Death does not exist, because Jesus did have to die on the cross and He could not have died if death doesn't exist. I understand the concept though, that it is the absence of life, but since we know there is still life after death, albeit different, maybe there isn't true death.
Also we know that energy created cannot be uncreated so....

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Whether or not the story is true that it was or wasn't Einstein, doesn't matter to me. I thought that, if this was true in any sense, it was a brilliant comeback to debate the Professor and I wonder, if it were true, what the student got as a grade in this class because I don't think professors like being challenged.
Also there are alot of people in the world that think like this professor whether or not they are really professors or not and not to argue with someone because I don't believe in wrangling with words, it is helpful in my view to be able to show the other person that they may not be thinking with a full glass or how they came to their opinion might be based on faulty reasoning and it might cause them to re-think their opinion. Most likely not, but it has happened to me before so...

 

[dayhiker]

I think we today tend to think of death as the end of life. But it's my understanding that in Bible days the main meaning of death was separation. So death is the separation of the body from the soul/spirit or separation from family. Jesus when He cried My God, My God why have you forsaken me then would be aware of the Father separating Himself from His Son.

The only thing I disagree with is the Death does not exist, because Jesus did have to die on the cross and He could not have died if death doesn't exist. I understand the concept though, that it is the absence of life, but since we know there is still life after death, albeit different, maybe there isn't true death.
Also we know that energy created cannot be uncreated so....

 

[dayhiker]

Michelle ... wow, some post-modern thinking! I like it!

Whether or not the story is true that it was or wasn't Einstein, doesn't matter to me. I thought that, if this was true in any sense, it was a brilliant comeback to debate the Professor and I wonder, if it were true, what the student got as a grade in this class because I don't think professors like being challenged.

 

[mjmcmillan]

The only thing I disagree with is the Death does not exist, because Jesus did have to die on the cross and He could not have died if death doesn't exist. I understand the concept though, that it is the absence of life, but since we know there is still life after death, albeit different, maybe there isn't true death.
Also we know that energy created cannot be uncreated so....

Hmmm...... God is the Author of life, so just maybe.... If He chooses to take away life, then the person He takes it away from is suffering from an absence of life. The "Second Death" in Revelations seems to indicate that whatever is there isn't alive as we know it, anyway.

 

[KWCrazy]

I always liked this story, even though it was NOT Einstein and most likely never took place but in the mind of the author.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

I always liked this story, even though it was NOT Einstein and most likely never took place but in the mind of the author.

Thanks for the link, I like the story too whether or not it actually happened.

 

[blackribbon]

The only thing I disagree with is the Death does not exist, because Jesus did have to die on the cross and He could not have died if death doesn't exist. I understand the concept though, that it is the absence of life, but since we know there is still life after death, albeit different, maybe there isn't true death.
Also we know that energy created cannot be uncreated so....

I believe that what we call death is just the removal of life from the body. I believe that life continues after it leaves the human body. Christ did not die as in "ceased to exist"...but his human body had to experience the separation of His spirit from the body just like ours does. His resurrected body was probably the same kind we will eventually get when we go on to Heaven.

Life is what defines death...what we call death is just the absence of life...a rock never had life, so it is never dead even though it is in the same state as a petrified animal which is properly called "dead".