Did God create everything that exists? Does evil exist? Did God create evil?
A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything that exists?" A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"
"God created everything?" The professor repeated. "Yes Sir, he certainly did," the student replied.
The professor added, "If God created everything; then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil."
The student became quiet and did not answer the professor's hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that (God) was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, "May 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 other 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 F) is the total absence of heat; and 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 everyday. It is in the daily examples 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. The young man's name -- Albert Einstein -
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sure25% Voted for by Nosferatu, buggirl, MattSpyder, Kayden S, petethemeat.
The most surprising thing I find with this whole 'story' is no one else seems surprised that apparently when Einstien went to school they had someone transcribing or otherwise recording the various converstations in the class.
While a touching story, it reeks of "myth".
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Doesn't Make Much Since15% Voted for by sjrlink100, Kayden S, Viridain.
Last time I checked, Einstein was atheist. Or, at the VERY least, agnostic.
Then again, it's pretty hard to prove a dead man's religious standings nowadays...
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Wait10% Voted for by Weydon, buggirl.
...A smart man believes in God!??! THIS PROVES HE'S REAL!!!!
What was the point of this? Smart people believe and don't believe. Everyone knows this. Smart people are right and wrong. Einstein perfected previous theories on reality, and modern groups of scientists are further pervecting his. It doesn't prove anything either way on ANYTHING. He had no scientific theories on God, only strong inclinations and personal feelings (which I generally agree with). But this is no proof.
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Excellent Mary10% Voted for by IridescentRose, Energizer Bunny.
Hi Mary, I love your story. That is what I love about God. He has the answers to everything and they are usually the simplest ones. Someone once stated complexity is just on the other side of simplicity and I think your topic proves it..LOL. It's so simple but so true. Thank you for reminding me about God's simplicity.
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Humans brought evil. God did not create it.10% Voted for by OrangeMoon, Viridain.
Whatever you believe about The Fall, that's when evil entered the world. God made a perfect world and human beings brought in evil. If human beings had not fallen, there would be no evil.
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eh - wrong and right.Voted for by Neros Decay.
i do understand where einstein comes from in the story with the proffessor. he makes good points using actual facts. this cannot be ignored. but while a man as smart as einstein may have believed in something, it does not prove the exsistence in God. im fairly intelligent, and if i choose to believe that i have wings and can fly off of a 14 story building, it doesnt necessarily prove that i have wings. if i were to jump from tha building with only that belief the only proof there is is that either one, i am crazy, or two, im completely oblivious to the laws of gravity and honestly dot know the probable outcome.
in a sense God idd create evil. when someone says evil to someone religious, the most common assumption is Satan, Luicifer or The Devil (all 3 are the same person). origionally, Luicifer was an angel of God. his purpose was to test humans by means of temptation. this has become mistaken for a manner of "evil". but in fact, his actions were just serving God. it wasnt until Luicifer's need for acceptance, attention, and power festered and boiled over to greed and the attempt of overthrowing God. in which event Lucifer was cast out of Heaven. now evil is considered any act influenced by Lucifer, or whichever name you use. evil classyfied as being an absence of god could also be correct. in a sense that ones actions are sins and unmindful of God.a christian is supposed to live life by doing things inlight of God and for God. anything other than that, is considered sin. or evil.
in saying that God did not create evil, you would be partially correct and partially wrong. perspective ad stand on religion i suppose would influence otherwise.
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Great one but...Voted for by Dienush.
I don't believe in God. Einstein was a smart man but everyone can be wrong. this story is wonderful and thought provoking, and after reading it I was like, "OK, this guy has a point - how could I still argue my belief?". "Evil is the absence of God. But "God" has done evil things, if we stick to the bible. Anyway, that isn't as good an argument as this: OK, evil is the absence of God, I agree. God is omnipresent. Evil aka the absence of God can be felt. Doesn't that sound weird to you?
~Diana
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Again...Voted for by Joao Camilo.
Einstein did not said any of those. He did not believed in a material god and openly refused god to teach anything moral like this little anedocte. Einstein was more close to atheism than anything - his god was pure a manifestation of nature, very keen to Espinoza god.
Stop beliving in internet myths
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Well...Voted for by LittleSignal.
But evil is in us, and according to the bible god created us in his image. Therefore, we can conclude that the Christian god has a god deal of negativity and destructiveness in him.
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Assistance in point..Voted for by verses on flesh.
While I agree, this conversation is merely a story, the concept remains true in a sense. This comment is more in response to the other comments you have recieved here because it is easier than commenting on all of them.
God did not "create evil". God created choice. Man created evil when they chose against God. God simply defined "sin", he did not make it. It was there because Eve chose to eat the fruit. Without that option before her there was no free will. The apple was created by God, the apple was knowledge, not evil. The knowledge was the realization of shame.
Yes we were created in God's Image, but we are born of Adam, thus we are born to flesh, born to sin. We must be made pure through our belief in God.
The real question here to all of these people who are saying God does not exist and that you cannot prove there is a God, is "What are your thoughts on Jesus?" because Jesus did exist, and can be proven beyond a resonable doubt he was here, when he was here, what he said when he was here, and how he died.
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E=MC2Voted for by Makessenseright.
When asked by a reporter how He came up with this famous formula Mr. Einstein simply replied "God told me."
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May 13, 2006
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I don't think god exists but...
Yes it is touching. The thing you don't see is that the conversation didn't need to be recorded. I guess Einstein's fellow students may have remembered, isn't it?August 23, 2006
August 25, 2006
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Orangemoon
You are right, I do think it's about the story. The whole point of the story being to take the pre-eminant figure head of the scientific world and usurp his reputation to try and add validity to a dying idea. Christians see their power base failing because of science and so, as they have done so often throughout history, they absorb their enemies into their faith based nonsence through coersion.August 24, 2006
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