God and science ... humanity's eternal conflict

🌐 🇵🇱 Polski · 🇬🇧 EN

An atheist philosophy professor stands before a lecture hall filled with students and asks one of them:
- You are a Christian, son, aren't you?
- Yes, professor.
- So you believe in God.
- Of course.
- Is God good?
- Naturally, He is good.
- And is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?
- Yes.
- And you - are you good or evil?
- According to the Bible, I am evil.
A superior smile appeared on the professor's face.
- Ah, the Bible!
And after a moment of reflection, he adds:
- I have an example for you. Let's say you know a sick and suffering person whom you can heal. You have the ability. Would you help that person? Or would you at least try?
- Of course, professor.
- So you are good...!
- I don't think it can be put that way.
- But why not? After all, you would help a sick person in need if you only had the ability. Most of us would do that. But God does not.
Faced with the student's silence, the professor continues:
- He doesn't help, does He? My brother was a Christian and died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus for healing. So, is Jesus good? Can you answer that question for me?
The student remains silent, so the professor adds:
- You cannot answer, can you?
To give the student a moment to think, the professor reaches for a glass on his desk and takes a sip of water.
- Let's start from the beginning, boy. Is God good?
- Well, yes... He is good.
- And is Satan good?
Without a moment's hesitation, the student answers:
- No.
- And where does Satan come from?
The student flinched:
- From God.
- Exactly. So God created Satan. And now tell me, son - does evil exist in the world?
- It exists, professor...
- So evil is present in the Universe. And yet God created the Universe, right?
- Right.
- So who created evil? Since God created everything, then God also created evil. And since evil exists, according to the rules of logic, God is also evil.
The student is again unable to find an answer..
- And do diseases, immorality, hatred, and ugliness exist? All those horrors that appear in the world around us?
The student answers in a trembling voice:
- They occur.
- And who created them?
Silence fell in the room, so the professor repeats the question:
- Who created them?
Faced with no answer, the professor stops pacing and starts looking around the auditorium. All the students froze.
- Tell me - the lecturer turns to another person
- Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?
The firm tone of the answer catches the professor's attention:
- Yes, professor, I believe.
The older man turns to the student:
- In the light of science, you possess five senses that you use to evaluate the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?
- No, professor. I have never seen Him.
- Tell us then, have you ever heard your Jesus?
- No, professor..
- And have you ever touched your Jesus, tasted Him, or perhaps smelled Him? Have you ever had any physical contact with Jesus Christ, or God in any form?
- No, professor.. Unfortunately, I have not had such contact.
- And you still believe in Him?
- Yes.
- Yet, according to all the rules of conducting an experiment, science claims that your God does not exist... What do you say to that, son?
- Nothing - comes the reply - I only have my faith.
- Yes, faith... - the professor repeats - and this is exactly where science encounters a problem with God. There is no evidence, only faith.
The student is silent for a moment, then asks a question himself:
- Professor - does such a thing as heat exist?
- Yes.
- And does such a phenomenon as cold exist?
- Yes, son, cold also exists.
- No, professor, cold does not exist.
Clearly interested, the professor turned toward the student.
Everyone in the room froze. The student begins to explain:
- You can have a lot of heat, more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, infinite heat, white heat, little heat, or no heat, but we don't have anything we could call cold. You can cool substances down to minus 273.15 degrees Celsius (absolute zero), which just means the absence of heat - we cannot reach a lower temperature. There is no such phenomenon as cold; otherwise, we would be able to cool substances to temperatures below 273.15°C. Every substance or object is subject to study when it possesses energy or is a source of it. Absolute zero is the total absence of heat. As you can see, professor, cold is merely a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. We measure heat in units of energy because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat; cold is its absence.
A deep silence fell in the lecture hall. In a distant corner, someone dropped a pen, making a sound like a hammer strike.
- And what about darkness, professor? Does such a phenomenon as darkness exist?
- Yes - the professor answers without hesitation - what is night if not darkness?
- You are wrong again. Darkness is not something; darkness is the absence of something. You can have little light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if that light is missing, there is nothing, and that is what we call darkness, isn't it? That is exactly what the word darkness means. In reality, darkness does not exist. If it did, you would be able to make it even darker, wouldn't you?
The professor smiles slightly, looking at the student. It promises to be a good semester.
- What are you trying to tell me, young man?
- My point is, professor, that the premises of your reasoning are false from the very beginning, so the conclusion drawn is also false.
This time, astonishment appears on the professor's face:
- False? How do you intend to explain that to me?
- The premises of your considerations are based on dualism - the student explains
- you claim that there is life and there is death, that there is a good God and an evil God. You consider God as someone finite whom we can measure. Professor, science is not even able to explain a phenomenon like thought. It uses concepts from the field of electricity and magnetism without having fully understood the essence of either of these phenomena. Claiming that death is the opposite of life shows an ignorance of the fact that death does not exist as a measurable phenomenon. Death is not the opposite of life, only its absence. And now, professor, please answer me: do you teach students who come from monkeys?
- If you mean the process of evolution, young man, then that is exactly how it is.
- And have you ever observed this process with your own eyes?
The professor shakes his head, still smiling, having realized the direction of the student's argument. A very good semester, indeed.
- Since none of us has ever witnessed evolutionary processes and is unable to trace them by performing any experiment, then in this situation, according to your previous argument, you are no longer teaching us scientific opinions, are you? Aren't you more of a preacher than a scientist?
The room buzzed. The student waits for the tension to subside.
- To make you realize the way you manipulated my predecessor, let me give you one more example - the student looks around the room
- Has any of you ever seen the professor's brain?
The auditorium bursts into laughter.
- Has any of you ever heard, touched, tasted, or smelled the professor's brain? It seems no one has. And so, according to the scientific research method you cited earlier, one could say, with all due respect, that you do not have a brain, professor. Since science says you don't have a brain, how can we trust your lectures, professor?
Dead silence falls in the room. The professor looks at the student with eyes wide in disbelief. After a moment of silence that seems to last an eternity for everyone, the professor manages to get out:
- It looks like you have to take them on faith.
- So you admit that faith exists, and what's more - it is an essential element of our everyday life. And now, professor, please tell me, does such a thing as evil exist?
Not very sure of the answer, the professor says:
- Of course it exists. We perceive it every day. Even in the daily occurrence of man against man. In the whole vastness of crime and violence present in the world. After all, these phenomena are nothing but evil.
To this, the student replies:
- Evil does not exist, professor, or rather, it does not occur as a phenomenon in itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is like darkness and cold; it exists as a word created by man to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil appears at the moment when a person does not have God in their heart. Evil is like cold, which is the result of the absence of heat, and like darkness, which is the result of the absence of light.
The professor slumped helplessly into his chair.


The second student was Albert Einstein. Einstein wrote a book titled "God and Science" in 1921.