FAITH

After the advent of Internet and emails, we receive a spate of mails enclosing a whole lot of material – most of them that you can trash after a desultory glance. However, a few of them are worth preserving and reading time and again. I am reproducing one such material – a conversation purported to be between a Professor (Pro) and a Student (Stu). It unfolds as follows:

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with GOD, The Almighty. He asks one of his students to stand and asks him:

Pro    : So you believe in God?

Stu    : Absolutely, Sir.

Pro    : Is God good?

Stu    : Sure

Pro    : Is God all powerful?

Stu    : Yes

Pro   : My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is God good then?

Stu    : Student is silent

Pro    : You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again young fella. Is God good?

Stu    : Yes

Pro    : Is Satan good?

Stu    : No

Pro    : Where does Satan come from?

Stu    : From… God

Pro    : That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Stu    : Yes

Pro    : Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?

Stu    : Yes sir

Pro    : So who created evil?

Stu    : No Answer

Pro   : Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Stu    : Yes sir

Pro    : So who created them?

Stu    : No Answer

Pro   : Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me son, have you ever seen God?

Stu    : No, sir

Pro    : Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Stu    : No, sir

Pro   : Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of your God for that matter?

Stu    : No, sir I am afraid I haven’t.

Pro    : Yet you believe in him.

Stu    : Yes, sir.

Pro   : According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that son?

Stu    : Nothing sir. I only have my faith.

Pro    : Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

And the fun really starts now.

Stu    : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Pro    : Yes

Stu    : And is there such a thing as cold?

Pro    : Yes

Stu    : No sir. There isn’t

The entire class becomes quiet at this turn of events.

Stu    : Sir, we 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 not heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. It is a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat sir, but the absence of it.

There is pin drop silence in the class.

Stu    : What about darkness Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Pro    : Yes, what is night if there isn’t darkness?

Stu    : You are wrong again sir. Darkness 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 is called darkness, isn’t it? In reality darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Pro    : So, what is the point you are making young man?

Stu    : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Pro    : Flawed? Can you explain how?

Stu   : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue that there is life and there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing God as something finite that we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. 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, just the absence of life. Now, tell me Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Pro    : If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Stu    : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes sir?

Pro    : The professor shakes his head with a smile realizing where the argument is going.

Stu    : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an ongoing endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist, but a preacher?

Pro    : Silence

Stu    : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?

The class is in an uproar now!

Stu    : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt it, touched it or smelt it? … No one appears to have done so. So according to the established empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

Pro   : (The room is silent. The Professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable). I guess you will have to take them on faith, son.

Stu   : That is it sir. The link between man and GOD is faith. That is all that keeps things   moving and alive.

This may be an imaginary conversation, hilarious at times, but certainly has some profound messages that need a deeper contemplation and discussion. It is a good exposition of dualistic thinking, a malady which all of us are afflicted with. A closer scrutiny is warranted!