Evil is Simply The Absence of God Wed, 27 Jan, 2010
Posted by Adrian T in Alpha Course, alpha@wefc, Questions.Tags: Alpha Course, alpha@wefc, Christianity, God, Questions, Religion
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One of the topics we cover in the Alpha Course is the question “How Can I Resist Evil?“. It’s a question many new converts as well as other people often ask. Take a look at the transcript of the session from our last Alpha Course dealing with the topic, if you are asking the same question.
While researching something for work the other day, I came across an article on the Internet that purports to be an account of a classroom encounter between a student and his professor discussing the existence of God. I’ve seen it in various forms but here’s a version I like best:
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 and every 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; 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 too little 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.
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And for those of you who, like me, prefer pictures to words, here’s a dramatization of the same story made by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, Ministry of Education and Science.
[Editor's Note: If the embedded youtube video does not work for you, try going directly to the youtube video].
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- adrian t
P.S. BTW, in case you did not know, Einstein being the student asking the question is just an urban myth.
What about the Da Vinci Code? Wed, 20 Jan, 2010
Posted by Adrian T in Alpha Course, Questions.Tags: Alpha Course, Alpha Talks, alpha@wefc, Christianity, Questions, Religion
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Remember the book or the movie, The Da Vinci Code? and some of the claims or statements in it like the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus? And their descendants came to be the royalty of France Controversy swirled around many of these claims. Whatever those claims, it was a hugely popular book and certainly a hugely popular movie.
As a facilitator in an Alpha Course, we are taught to turn questions around and ask it of the participants instead to solicit responses and thus, a discussion amongst the participants that turns into learning for everyone. Sometimes, we get asked questions which aren’t handled in the same way and instead, we provide the answers.
While facilitating one of the weekly sessions during a previous Alpha Course, that occurred around the time of the movie, one of the participants in the group I was facilitating surprised us when they asked about the Da Vinci Code and whether some of the claims made in it were true. Many of the participants in the group had differing views and theories. Coincidentally, I had been reading about the same for the last few nights and was somewhat familiar with the topic. But because I was reading for self-interest and not expecting similar questions to pop up in Alpha, I was ill-prepared to share what I’d been reading. It was certainly an interesting discussion though!
