Note: Another one week to go.
The title of this post came from the inspiration of a book entitled "A Matter of Honour" by Jeffery Archer. The reason I write this post is because recently a friend of mine just asked me about my faith, and why as a medic student I still can believe in God since science can't prove the existence of God or spirits. Well, I can't really answer that question, what I can say is, it is a matter of faith. I found some interesting stories too share, but the second story is kind of long, you can skip it if you wish.
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Story 1
Source: From an e-mail
One day, a professor of a university decided to defy his pupils.
Prof. : Did God create everything that exists?
Stud. B : Yes, He did. (answered bravely)
Prof. : Everything?
Stud. B : Yes, everything.
Prof. : In this case, God also created evil, correct? Because evil exists.
To that, the student had no answer and remained in silence. The teacher was delighted at the opportunity to prove one more time that faith was only a myth. To that, the student had no answer and remained in silence. The teacher was delighted at the opportunity to prove one more time that faith was only a myth. Suddenly, another student raised his hand and asked a question.
Stud. A : May I ask you a question , professor?
Prof. : Of course.
Stud. A : Does cold exist?
Prof. : Of course. Did you never feel cold?
Stud. A : Actually, sir, cold does not exist. According to studies in Physics, cold is the total and complete absence of heat. An object can only be studied if it has and transmits energy and it is the heat of an object that transmits it’s energy. Without heat, the objects are inert, incapable to react. But cold does not exist. We created the term cold to explain the lack of heat. And darkness?
Prof. : It exists.
Stud.A : Again, you’re wrong sir, darkness is the total absence of light.
You can study light and brightness, but not darkness. The prism of Nichols shows the variety of different colors in which the light can be decomposed according to the longitude of the waves. Darkness is the term we created to explain the total absence of light. And evil, sir, does evil exist?
Prof. :Of course it exists, as I mentioned at the beginning, we see violations, crimes and violence anywhere in the world, and those things are evil.
Stud. A : God did not create evil. Evil is the absence of God in people’s hearts, it is the absence of love, humanity and faith. Love and faith are like heat and light. They exist. Their absence lead to evil”
Now it was the professor’s turn to remain silent..
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Story 2
Source: http://groups.google.com/group/hk.talk.feelings/msg/80ba1918f0c58fe4?hl=en&pli=1
"LET ME EXPLAIN the problem science has with Jesus Christ." 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."
"So you believe in God?"
"Absolutely."
"Is God good?"
"Sure! God's good."
"Yes."
"Are you good or evil?"
"The Bible says I'm evil."
The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh! 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 them? Would you try?"
"Yes sir, I would."
"So you're good...!"
"I wouldn't say that."
"Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could...... in fact most of us would if we could...... God doesn't."
No answer.
"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? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"
No answer.
The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. "Let's start again, young man."
"Er... Yes."
"Is Satan good?"
"No."
"Where does Satan come from?"
The student falters. "From...God..."
"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?" The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience. "I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen." He turns back to the Christian.
"Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"
"Yes, sir."
"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"
"Who created evil?"
No answer.
"Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All the terrible things - do they exist in this world?"
The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."
"Who created them?"
No answer.
The professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!" The professor closes in for the kill and climb into the
Christian's face.
In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't He, son?"
No answer. The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues, "How is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?" The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. "All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?"
No answer.
"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?" Pause. "Don't you?"
The professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?"
No answer.
"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"
The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."
The old man shakes his head sadly. "Science says you have five senses
you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever
seen your 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... In fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?"
No answer.
"Answer me, please."
"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."
"You're AFRAID... you haven't?"
"No, sir."
"Yet you still believe in him?"
"...yes..."
"That takes FAITH!"
The professor smiles sagely at the underling. "According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?"
The student doesn't answer.
"Sit down, please."
The Christian sits...Defeated.
Another Christian raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?"
The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering."
The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?"
"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."
"Is there such a thing as cold?"
"Yes, son, there's cold too."
"No, sir, there isn't."
The professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold. The second Christian continues. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, 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, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458 - 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.
The professor replied,"First . I have never said that cold is the opposite of heat. By your implying that that I did, you are putting words in my mouth. Cold is a relative measurement of heat especially below zero. Any temperature of heat under zero can be described by the definition of cold. As I said that cold is not the opposite of heat, it is merely a description of heat in relation to its relative state to absolute zero. Furthermore, I can extend the premise of your arguement and apply it to the description of size. There is no such thing as shrinkage because being small is just the absence of being big or absence of positive growth in size. The smallest particle in this universe is electron that resides in an atom, Since anything that shrinks will eventually end up not going any smaller, can we say that the process of shrinkage never exists?"
The Christian is perplexed and confused. This Christian is really ready to give up knowing otherwise that he would make a scene out of himself and be the laughing stock of others for the rest of the semester. Silence sweeps through the room. After a brief pause, the crowd is thrilled and thrown to the edges of their seats between this exchange of words.
A piece of paper drops from the Christian's hand. On the paper is a list of questions that the Christian has prepared previously which he perceives now to be too ridiculous to bring up. As the Christian is almost ready to make his way back to his seat, he is asked to stay further more to challenge the professor. He reluctantly obliges.
"Is there such a thing as darkness, professor? I know it is now a
stupid question."
"That's a dumb question,right on, son. What is night if it isn't a state of darkness? What are you getting at...? Didnt God say in your Bible,' let there be dark' Are you getting at denying this so-called act of God?"
"So you say there IS such a thing as darkness?"
"Yes..., speaking in your own term as according to your Bible...... and...... No in the sense that darkness is a state and not a thing."
"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 is what I said, you idiot. I said that darkness is not a thing just as being hungry, being small, being rich, being poor, being dark, being light is not a thing. Well darkness can be the state of relative presence of something."professed the professor.
"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 and give me a jar of it. Can you...give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?"
"Of course, only idiot like you would come up with the question of misleading somebody into acknowledging that darkness is a thing. Can you give me a jar of "small", "hungry". How about your God which claims to be omnipotent?"
Despite getting the upper hand, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him. "This will indeed be a good semester. Would you mind telling us what
more you have got in your magic box, young man?"
"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."
The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!"
"Sir, may I explain what I mean?"
The class is all ears.
"Explain... oh, explain..." The professor makes an admirable effort to help the Christian regain control because he is suffering from an unstable state of mind after being overwhelmed by the professor's show of intelligence. As usual, he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.
"You are working on the premise of duality," the Christian explains."That for example there is life and then here'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 cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. 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, merely the absence of it."
"Did I say life is the opposite of death? Did I say that I am viewing things in duality? There is no such state as being in the opposite. Just as there is no such thing as baby being the opposite of old man or healthy new-born baby girl being the opposite of old woman with cancer. All things only exist in a state along a line of continuum. Human is a continuation of four-legged animal and plants. This is evolution, the science of the respect for growth. You never witness the folks compling the Bible, can we say that Bible can be written by aliens from outer space?"
The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbor
who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"
"Of course there isn't, experience and facts are only as good as the meaning we attach to them. Nothing is immoral just as nothing is moral."
"Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality. Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Christian pauses. "Isn't evil the absence of good?"
"No, immorality is not the abscence of morality. Immorality is morality in the eyes of the beholder."
The Christian continues. "If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil."
"Evilness and righteousness is a zero-sum game. They cancel out each other in principle. One's act can be considered as evil and righteous at the same time. They co-exist and can not be mutually exclusive. What makes you think that God is accompishing something even if he exists? This is just your assumption that God can not stand doing nothing and sitting around. If evilness is the agency then its purpose is to combat the so-called righteousness because it is again a zero-sum game. "
The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I don't vie this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable."
"I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going," the Christian replies.
"What makes you think that there is no moral code in this world just because it is not coming from the Bible?"
"Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week!"
"How about newspaper reporting Christians acting in voilence? We read news like that all the time.Those are people mind-controlled by God's will."
"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 makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.
"Professor. 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 priest?"
"Well, can you prove that your stomach really absorbs your breakfast today. How about the breakfast 50 years ago? Can you prove that the world is round with your naked eyes without any scientific instruments? If you eye-witness someone fires a gun at a victim, can you prove that the victim is really killed by the bullet because you can never see the bullet after its entrance in the victim's body. If you testify in court that you witness A firing a gun at B ,are you not just offering an opinion only. Furthermore,the bullet sweeps across the air so fast that you will never even see it as an object after it is propelled from the barrel of the gun. If we cannot even trust our observation, what makes your spiritual connection with your God any more trustworthy. I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor hisses.
"So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?"
"If anyone can belive in any sets of moral code, he can just be easily swayed into believing in any other moral codes - I choose science!"
"Ahh! SCIENCE!" the student's face spits into a grin.
"Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed..."
"SCIENCE IS NOT FLAWED,ONLY OUR CURRENT STATE OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE IS. Science exists long before man roamed the world. All answers are already out there, they are just awaiting discovery and the right piece of invention to dig them out." the professor splutters.
The class is in uproar in reaction to the professor's insights. The Christian remains standing until the commotion has subsided.
"To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?"
The professor wisely keeps silent.
The Christian looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?"
The class breaks out in laughter.
The Christian points towards his elderly, crumbling tutor.
"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."
The Christian shakes his head sadly."It appears no-one here has had any sensory perception of the professor's brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says the professor has no brain."
The professor replied:" Well, let me rectify your flaw. Let's say a blind person never sees you as an entity, can you say that you never exist. The world can see but can be blinded by their obesession over some sugar-coated misleading propaganda released by some unscrupulous politicans or religious leaders."
The class is in chaos and cheers for the professor in ecstasy.
The Christian sits in shame... Because that is the state in which he is originally to be there for.
The *god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
* P/S: god of this age refers to Satan
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Actually I heard these stories a long time before, though that time I was not really a christian, but they really give me some deep inspirations. Some people might ask, "What is faith?" Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
Many people demand to that they will only believe God if only God will appear in front of them. But I tell you the truth, even if do appear in front of them, they will still not believe. Why? The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, and appeared in front of them. Yet they still disobeyed Him. During the time of Old Testament, God sent so many prophets to tell His messages, yet people didn't believe in them and disobeyed God. Finally Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbles himself, came in the form of human flesh to the earth. When he was in the age of 30, he started to preach to the people, he done miracles, he healed many. Many times he claimed to be the Son of God, yet many still do not believe. The Jew leaders and Pharisees didn't believe in him and they even crucified him, nailed him on the cross.
Actually, why should be bother so much about seeing God before believe Him? Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, doesn't believe that Christ risen from dead although everyone is telling him and even Jesus himself prophesies it before he was crucified.
So the other disciples told him (Thomas), "We have seen the Lord!" But he (Thomas) said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." (John 20:25)
Only after Jesus appeared in front of him, and let him touch his scares, Thomas believed the resurrection of Jesus. Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29)
Nowadays we might heard many people say, "Have faith in yourself" or "Have faith in the thing that you do" etc. Many people mix up 'faith' and 'general believe'. It is important to know that faith ≠ general believe. To put faith on something that is vain is just nonsense. Faith should put on truth, like Jesus Christ, and not just on sincere or enthusiasm . Faith is blind unless it is put on content that is true. It is important to know that this faith doesn't come from ourselves, it is God that gives us this faith to believe in him, after we are born again by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Some people might ask, "Why do you choose God, why go you love Him?"
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10) It is God the one who created us, made us and love us, so that we can experience that love, and know how to love Him and our neighbour.
The title of this post came from the inspiration of a book entitled "A Matter of Honour" by Jeffery Archer. The reason I write this post is because recently a friend of mine just asked me about my faith, and why as a medic student I still can believe in God since science can't prove the existence of God or spirits. Well, I can't really answer that question, what I can say is, it is a matter of faith. I found some interesting stories too share, but the second story is kind of long, you can skip it if you wish.
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Story 1
Source: From an e-mail
One day, a professor of a university decided to defy his pupils.
Prof. : Did God create everything that exists?
Stud. B : Yes, He did. (answered bravely)
Prof. : Everything?
Stud. B : Yes, everything.
Prof. : In this case, God also created evil, correct? Because evil exists.
To that, the student had no answer and remained in silence. The teacher was delighted at the opportunity to prove one more time that faith was only a myth. To that, the student had no answer and remained in silence. The teacher was delighted at the opportunity to prove one more time that faith was only a myth. Suddenly, another student raised his hand and asked a question.
Stud. A : May I ask you a question , professor?
Prof. : Of course.
Stud. A : Does cold exist?
Prof. : Of course. Did you never feel cold?
Stud. A : Actually, sir, cold does not exist. According to studies in Physics, cold is the total and complete absence of heat. An object can only be studied if it has and transmits energy and it is the heat of an object that transmits it’s energy. Without heat, the objects are inert, incapable to react. But cold does not exist. We created the term cold to explain the lack of heat. And darkness?
Prof. : It exists.
Stud.A : Again, you’re wrong sir, darkness is the total absence of light.
You can study light and brightness, but not darkness. The prism of Nichols shows the variety of different colors in which the light can be decomposed according to the longitude of the waves. Darkness is the term we created to explain the total absence of light. And evil, sir, does evil exist?
Prof. :Of course it exists, as I mentioned at the beginning, we see violations, crimes and violence anywhere in the world, and those things are evil.
Stud. A : God did not create evil. Evil is the absence of God in people’s hearts, it is the absence of love, humanity and faith. Love and faith are like heat and light. They exist. Their absence lead to evil”
Now it was the professor’s turn to remain silent..
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Story 2
Source: http://groups.google.com/group/hk.talk.feelings/msg/80ba1918f0c58fe4?hl=en&pli=1
"LET ME EXPLAIN the problem science has with Jesus Christ." 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."
"So you believe in God?"
"Absolutely."
"Is God good?"
"Sure! God's good."
"Yes."
"Are you good or evil?"
"The Bible says I'm evil."
The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh! 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 them? Would you try?"
"Yes sir, I would."
"So you're good...!"
"I wouldn't say that."
"Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could...... in fact most of us would if we could...... God doesn't."
No answer.
"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? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"
No answer.
The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. "Let's start again, young man."
"Er... Yes."
"Is Satan good?"
"No."
"Where does Satan come from?"
The student falters. "From...God..."
"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?" The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience. "I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen." He turns back to the Christian.
"Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"
"Yes, sir."
"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"
"Who created evil?"
No answer.
"Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All the terrible things - do they exist in this world?"
The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."
"Who created them?"
No answer.
The professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!" The professor closes in for the kill and climb into the
Christian's face.
In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't He, son?"
No answer. The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues, "How is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?" The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. "All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?"
No answer.
"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?" Pause. "Don't you?"
The professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?"
No answer.
"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"
The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."
The old man shakes his head sadly. "Science says you have five senses
you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever
seen your 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... In fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?"
No answer.
"Answer me, please."
"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."
"You're AFRAID... you haven't?"
"No, sir."
"Yet you still believe in him?"
"...yes..."
"That takes FAITH!"
The professor smiles sagely at the underling. "According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?"
The student doesn't answer.
"Sit down, please."
The Christian sits...Defeated.
Another Christian raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?"
The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering."
The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?"
"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."
"Is there such a thing as cold?"
"Yes, son, there's cold too."
"No, sir, there isn't."
The professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold. The second Christian continues. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, 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, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458 - 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.
The professor replied,"First . I have never said that cold is the opposite of heat. By your implying that that I did, you are putting words in my mouth. Cold is a relative measurement of heat especially below zero. Any temperature of heat under zero can be described by the definition of cold. As I said that cold is not the opposite of heat, it is merely a description of heat in relation to its relative state to absolute zero. Furthermore, I can extend the premise of your arguement and apply it to the description of size. There is no such thing as shrinkage because being small is just the absence of being big or absence of positive growth in size. The smallest particle in this universe is electron that resides in an atom, Since anything that shrinks will eventually end up not going any smaller, can we say that the process of shrinkage never exists?"
The Christian is perplexed and confused. This Christian is really ready to give up knowing otherwise that he would make a scene out of himself and be the laughing stock of others for the rest of the semester. Silence sweeps through the room. After a brief pause, the crowd is thrilled and thrown to the edges of their seats between this exchange of words.
A piece of paper drops from the Christian's hand. On the paper is a list of questions that the Christian has prepared previously which he perceives now to be too ridiculous to bring up. As the Christian is almost ready to make his way back to his seat, he is asked to stay further more to challenge the professor. He reluctantly obliges.
"Is there such a thing as darkness, professor? I know it is now a
stupid question."
"That's a dumb question,right on, son. What is night if it isn't a state of darkness? What are you getting at...? Didnt God say in your Bible,' let there be dark' Are you getting at denying this so-called act of God?"
"So you say there IS such a thing as darkness?"
"Yes..., speaking in your own term as according to your Bible...... and...... No in the sense that darkness is a state and not a thing."
"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 is what I said, you idiot. I said that darkness is not a thing just as being hungry, being small, being rich, being poor, being dark, being light is not a thing. Well darkness can be the state of relative presence of something."professed the professor.
"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 and give me a jar of it. Can you...give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?"
"Of course, only idiot like you would come up with the question of misleading somebody into acknowledging that darkness is a thing. Can you give me a jar of "small", "hungry". How about your God which claims to be omnipotent?"
Despite getting the upper hand, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him. "This will indeed be a good semester. Would you mind telling us what
more you have got in your magic box, young man?"
"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."
The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!"
"Sir, may I explain what I mean?"
The class is all ears.
"Explain... oh, explain..." The professor makes an admirable effort to help the Christian regain control because he is suffering from an unstable state of mind after being overwhelmed by the professor's show of intelligence. As usual, he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.
"You are working on the premise of duality," the Christian explains."That for example there is life and then here'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 cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. 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, merely the absence of it."
"Did I say life is the opposite of death? Did I say that I am viewing things in duality? There is no such state as being in the opposite. Just as there is no such thing as baby being the opposite of old man or healthy new-born baby girl being the opposite of old woman with cancer. All things only exist in a state along a line of continuum. Human is a continuation of four-legged animal and plants. This is evolution, the science of the respect for growth. You never witness the folks compling the Bible, can we say that Bible can be written by aliens from outer space?"
The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbor
who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"
"Of course there isn't, experience and facts are only as good as the meaning we attach to them. Nothing is immoral just as nothing is moral."
"Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality. Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Christian pauses. "Isn't evil the absence of good?"
"No, immorality is not the abscence of morality. Immorality is morality in the eyes of the beholder."
The Christian continues. "If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil."
"Evilness and righteousness is a zero-sum game. They cancel out each other in principle. One's act can be considered as evil and righteous at the same time. They co-exist and can not be mutually exclusive. What makes you think that God is accompishing something even if he exists? This is just your assumption that God can not stand doing nothing and sitting around. If evilness is the agency then its purpose is to combat the so-called righteousness because it is again a zero-sum game. "
The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I don't vie this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable."
"I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going," the Christian replies.
"What makes you think that there is no moral code in this world just because it is not coming from the Bible?"
"Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week!"
"How about newspaper reporting Christians acting in voilence? We read news like that all the time.Those are people mind-controlled by God's will."
"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 makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.
"Professor. 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 priest?"
"Well, can you prove that your stomach really absorbs your breakfast today. How about the breakfast 50 years ago? Can you prove that the world is round with your naked eyes without any scientific instruments? If you eye-witness someone fires a gun at a victim, can you prove that the victim is really killed by the bullet because you can never see the bullet after its entrance in the victim's body. If you testify in court that you witness A firing a gun at B ,are you not just offering an opinion only. Furthermore,the bullet sweeps across the air so fast that you will never even see it as an object after it is propelled from the barrel of the gun. If we cannot even trust our observation, what makes your spiritual connection with your God any more trustworthy. I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor hisses.
"So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?"
"If anyone can belive in any sets of moral code, he can just be easily swayed into believing in any other moral codes - I choose science!"
"Ahh! SCIENCE!" the student's face spits into a grin.
"Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed..."
"SCIENCE IS NOT FLAWED,ONLY OUR CURRENT STATE OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE IS. Science exists long before man roamed the world. All answers are already out there, they are just awaiting discovery and the right piece of invention to dig them out." the professor splutters.
The class is in uproar in reaction to the professor's insights. The Christian remains standing until the commotion has subsided.
"To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?"
The professor wisely keeps silent.
The Christian looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?"
The class breaks out in laughter.
The Christian points towards his elderly, crumbling tutor.
"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."
The Christian shakes his head sadly."It appears no-one here has had any sensory perception of the professor's brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says the professor has no brain."
The professor replied:" Well, let me rectify your flaw. Let's say a blind person never sees you as an entity, can you say that you never exist. The world can see but can be blinded by their obesession over some sugar-coated misleading propaganda released by some unscrupulous politicans or religious leaders."
The class is in chaos and cheers for the professor in ecstasy.
The Christian sits in shame... Because that is the state in which he is originally to be there for.
The *god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
* P/S: god of this age refers to Satan
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Actually I heard these stories a long time before, though that time I was not really a christian, but they really give me some deep inspirations. Some people might ask, "What is faith?" Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
Many people demand to that they will only believe God if only God will appear in front of them. But I tell you the truth, even if do appear in front of them, they will still not believe. Why? The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, and appeared in front of them. Yet they still disobeyed Him. During the time of Old Testament, God sent so many prophets to tell His messages, yet people didn't believe in them and disobeyed God. Finally Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbles himself, came in the form of human flesh to the earth. When he was in the age of 30, he started to preach to the people, he done miracles, he healed many. Many times he claimed to be the Son of God, yet many still do not believe. The Jew leaders and Pharisees didn't believe in him and they even crucified him, nailed him on the cross.
Actually, why should be bother so much about seeing God before believe Him? Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, doesn't believe that Christ risen from dead although everyone is telling him and even Jesus himself prophesies it before he was crucified.
So the other disciples told him (Thomas), "We have seen the Lord!" But he (Thomas) said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." (John 20:25)
Only after Jesus appeared in front of him, and let him touch his scares, Thomas believed the resurrection of Jesus. Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29)
Nowadays we might heard many people say, "Have faith in yourself" or "Have faith in the thing that you do" etc. Many people mix up 'faith' and 'general believe'. It is important to know that faith ≠ general believe. To put faith on something that is vain is just nonsense. Faith should put on truth, like Jesus Christ, and not just on sincere or enthusiasm . Faith is blind unless it is put on content that is true. It is important to know that this faith doesn't come from ourselves, it is God that gives us this faith to believe in him, after we are born again by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Some people might ask, "Why do you choose God, why go you love Him?"
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10) It is God the one who created us, made us and love us, so that we can experience that love, and know how to love Him and our neighbour.
