Thought you might enjoy this as much as I did, especially in light of the disputes over a local school district's attempt to balance Evolutionary theory with a mention of Intelligent Design theory. But more on that later...
For now, "Evil, Cold & Darkness" (does anyone know who wrote this?)
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 asked.
"Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied.
The professor answered, "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 the Christian faith 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
3 comments:
Interesting metaphor. One could also say that evil is abstract, not material, like love, hate, fear, greed, etc . .
And God, being perfect having no deficiency in His attributes by the very act of creating sets forth creatures that are deficient, ie. contingent. So,God created all things good, morally and teleologically. Yet, because they were all contingent, they all had the potential of corruption. So Adam, being made in God's image, chose, by an act of a will that was free, to be a law unto himself. The result of autonomy (ruling my own life) over theonomy (God's perfect rule) is evil.
ALso, poignant is the fact that Christianity boasts the only God who becomes the creature, and endures the sum of evil with us, and for us, so that we would not have to bear the sum of wrath for our disobedience.
Those who criticise Christians and their God, for evil in the world tend to forget the cross. They forget they are talking about the same God who sent His only son for the purpose of torture and death. And while He was down here, lived a life of blessing, and overcame evil in all aspects. Casting out demons, healing, feeding, comforting, raising the dead, just to name a few.
That was a foretaste of heaven, where evil will be unnamed.
Interesting. That would also mean that God did not create rules of the universe, and that he is merely an extraterrestrian form of being submitted as we are to the rules of the universe.
Also, when he created humans that do evil, or refuse God, he must have known exactly what would happen with this creation (omni-science). Either he created them this way on purpose, either that was over his capacities, but that would contradict omnipotence of God.
Finally, God tolerated "evil" in his presence as long as Adam and Eve remained in ignorance of what is "good" and "bad". God created the snake. How could this snake have reasonning capabilities articulation, and knowledge of the concepts of good and evil? God created the fallen angels (satan), etc...
As for the cross, what would you do of all humans who lived before that?
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