Monday, December 19, 2005

Einstein - Good & Evil

Has anyone else ever read this?  I found it and I'm wondering if it's really true.... 

 

 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.

  

The young man's name -- Albert Einstein

12 comments:

Rach said...

You need to post more my wonderful beautiful blessed roommmate!!! DO IT! YOU NEED TO HELP ME WITH MY BLOG POSTING FIX!!!! do you want an insane roommate? I didn't think so. Do it or I'll lock you in the bathroom and all you'll have to entertain you is a roll of toilet paper, and perhaps you could take a dip in the bowl itself...i cleaned it just for you.

you fave vegetarian ;-)

Chris Shotwell said...

Haha, you're funny rachel...

Anyway, Einstein was a smart guy, but evil DOES exist and God DID create it. It's pretty explicit in the Bible. However, the argument that this makes God evil is absurd. God is God. He is above all things, and he created evil for the ultimate good. But at the same time, we are reassured that God is in control of everything--the good and the evil in the world, and that nothing can harm us unless he allows it.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
-Jesus (Matthew 10:29-31)

Have confidence in the sovereignty of God!

--Your neighbor :-)

Chris Shotwell said...

Okay, so I've given it more thought.

Einstein (presuming this story is true) made the mistake, in his physics metaphor, of considering good and evil to be scalar quantities. That is, quantities which have no direction, such as mass and temperature. If this is the case, using temperature (heat energy) as an example makes sense. Compared to the freezing point of water, which is about as cold as we want to get, -273 degrees C seems just plain evil!

But I contend that good and evil could more accurately be equated to "vector" quantities (those with direction, such as velocities and forces). We've all heard the term "the forces of evil" being used. I believe that evil is a force pulling anything it can away from God, who is the absolute good. As if it's working against the force of gravity between all matter and its creator (think the sun). It's as if the entire universe is rotating around a single, bright, massive center (God) and evil is the rogue force seeking to pull anything it can away. Think a black hole, a dead star that begins to suck away all it can, but is still subject to to the forces of nature and is somehow an integral part of the whole!

I know, it's just a metaphor, and it doesn't explain the idea of good and evil perfectly, but it's probably more accurate than Einstein's theory. Not to minimize his work, of course! Chances are, nobody's going to read this anyway ;-)

Chris Shotwell said...

I'm probably getting annoying, but the story is an urban legend, at least according to snopes.com. You can ignore me now!

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Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)

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Anonymous said...

I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing

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