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Registered: February 22, 2004
Posts: 13981
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quote: Does evil exist?
The university professor 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", the student replied.
The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are then God is evil". The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, "Can 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 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 (-273º Celsius or -460º Fahrenheit) is the total absence of heat; 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 every day. It is in the daily example 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 not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. 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.
I think this passage is a rather intresting look at the nature of evil and the nature of our perception. What do you lot think?
"The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done"."
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Registered: August 23, 2007
Posts: 7
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H. L. Mencken:
It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
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Registered: January 22, 2005
Posts: 716
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The arguement that 'cold' or 'darkness' don't exist doesn't convince me. We have created those words to describe the state whereby the temperature outside our bodies causes reactions inside our bodies. They are just the same as 'hot' or 'light'. Also, I'm not sure that the light and evil were comparable. A ray of good doesn't just undo evil. Inaccuracy of parallel.
Only simple and quiet words will ripen of themselves. For a whirlwind does not last a whole morning, nor does a sudden shower last the entire day.
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Registered: February 05, 2005
Posts: 929
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First of all, Albert Einstein never attended a university, and never recieved any form of superior education. He took a course to become a mechanics teacher in some austrian school and he was so bad at it he ended up working in the library, where he learned everything he knew on physics by reading the library's books. Knowing that whoever wrote that stamped Einsteins name on it just to give it some credibility makes me think that anything said in it is utter bullshit. Evil and good are cultural, there is no absolute, canibalism could be viewed as good in some cultural contexts, whilst it is considered evil in others.
If god existed he'd be right winged
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Registered: March 08, 2004
Posts: 1686
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I get emails like this from my fundie relatives with some frequency. Sorry, but I just see all this as a bunch of pseudo-logical mumbo-jumbo followed by "you must accept God into your heart." I also don't understand why, if God did create everything, his presence would not be inescapable. Sure, you might have the free will to reject him, but he would be behind that, too. I also loathe what I see as an implication that God would only look down favorably upon those who choose to worship Him, but I suppose it could also be interpreted as just saying that God is with those who carry his philosophy of love and compassion with them. I admit, I've got a stick up my ass about this stuff because I know my relatives are trying to convert me. Also, the professor-hellbent-on-destroying-Christianity cliché makes me want to punch things.
And then, as the books were told, Fina replied: "A can of worms, my dear friend? What has this to do with reason?"
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Registered: August 17, 2001
Posts: 5811
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quote: What do you lot think?
It could be argued that, based on that logic, Evil is just the absence of Good, no religion needed.
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