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I Believe In God

Just a reminder, Einstein was not a religious person but he did have a spiritual side.

Does evil exist?

The 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 student became quiet before such an answer. 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?"

"What kind of question is this? 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 ob<x>ject 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; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "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 white 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 not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. 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.

The young man's name — Albert Einstein.
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Julesyro
The cold and darkness part makes sense, but I really cannot understand the analogy to God. For me that logical link is not there. I doubt Einstein would have ever said that.
silverwings2012
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 not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. 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."
lazurm
I'm in a bit of a quandry on silverwings2012 response here as it seems to presuppose that evil can only exist "when man does not have God's love present in his heart" but there are many who may have not been considered evil in their particular day and place, but the definition of evil may have changed over time and therefore their actions may become considered evil later, even after all concerned have died (slavery is but one of many examples).

But wouldn't it be true that God would consider something either evil or good and not relative? Additionally, some things are partially evil and greatly good so how does that work out by way of your explanation? Does that mean that the doer only had partial Godly love? If so, that leaves me more confused. The same goes for things that are considered evil in one culture but not evil in another, the same for goodness.

Also, the Church has already stated that atheists can be good people and there are many examples of such. They don't, by definition, have God's love present in their heart (or do they) but are good anyway.
johnny253
God is good or good is God, the opposite of God is evil.
johnny253
One does not have to intellectually believe in God to have God in his heart. God is there whether he recognizes him or not. That's why we always from the beginning have a sense of what's good and what's evil. You say that"What's good in one society may not be good in another Society." That is true but that person THINKS it's good and that's what counts. We have, as a Society certain norms which we define as Good and those opposed as Evil. That's true in all Societies in all times no matter where.