"LET ME EXPLAIN"
             UNKOWN AUTHOR
        
            Professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22)


            "LET ME EXPLAIN THE problem science has with Jesus Christ." The
            atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then
            asks one of his new students to stand. "You're a Christian, aren't
            you, son?"

            "Yes, sir."
            "So you believe in God?"
            "Absolutely."
            "Is God good?"
            "Sure! God's good."
            "Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"
            "Yes."
            "Are you good or evil?"
            "The Bible says I'm evil."

            The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh! THE BIBLE!" He considers for a
            moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over
            here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them?
            "Would you try?"

            "Yes sir, I would."
            "So you're good...!"
            "I wouldn't say that."

            "Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you
            could...in fact most of us would if we could... God doesn't."

            No answer.

            "He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer
            even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good?
            Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"

            No answer

            The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a
            sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to
            relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones.

            "Let's start again young fella. Is God good?"
            "Er... Yes."
            "Is Satan good?"
            "No."
            "Where does Satan come from?"
            The student falters. "From... God..."
            "That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?"

            The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and
            turns to the smirking, student audience. "I think we're going to
            have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen." He turns
            back to the Christian.
            "Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"

            "Yes, sir."
            "Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"
            "Yes."
            "Who created evil?"
            No answer.

            "Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All
            the terrible things - do they exist in this world? "

            The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."
            "Who created them? "
            No answer.

            The professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM?
            TELL ME, PLEASE!" The professor closes in for the kill and climbs
            into the Christian's face. In a still small voice: "God created all
            evil, didn't He, son?"

            No answer.

            The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails.
            Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom
            like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he
            continues, "How is it that this God is good if He created all evil
            throughout all time?"

            The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of
            the world. "All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the
            torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by
            this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?"

            No answer.

            "Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?" Pause. "Don't you?" The
            professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God
            good?"

            No answer.

            "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"

            The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."

            The old man shakes his head sadly. "Science says you have five
            senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have
            you? "

            "No, sir. I've never seen Him."
            "Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"
            "No, sir. I have not."

            "Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your
            Jesus...in fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God
            whatsoever?"

            No answer.
            "Answer me, please."
            "No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."
            "You're AFRAID... you haven't ?"
            "No, sir."
            "Yet you still believe in him?"
            "...yes..."

            "That takes FAITH!" The professor smiles sagely at the underling.
            "According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable
            protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to
            that, son? Where is your God now?"

            The student doesn't answer.
            "Sit down, please."
            The Christian sits...Defeated.
            Another Christian raises his hand.
            "Professor, may I address the class?"

            The professor turns and smiles.

            "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak
            some proper wisdom to the gathering."

            The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting points you
            are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such
            thing as heat?"

            "Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."
            "Is there such a thing as cold?"
            "Yes, son, there's cold too."
            "No, sir, there isn't."
            The professor's grin freezes.
            The room suddenly goes very cold.

            The second Christian continues.

            "You 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 no heat,
            but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as
            cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458. You see,
            sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We
            cannot measure cold. Heat we can
            measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the
            opposite of heat,
            sir, just the absence of it."

            Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom. "Is there such a
            thing as darkness, professor?"

            "That's a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn't darkness?
            What are you getting at...?"

            "So you say there is such a thing as darkness?"
            "Yes..."

            "You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something, it 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's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we
            use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you
            would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can
            you...give me a jar of darker darkness,
            professor?"

            Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before
            him.

            This will indeed be a good semester. "Would you mind telling us what
            your point is, young man?"

            "Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed
            to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."

            The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!"
            "Sir, may I explain what I mean?"
            The class is all ears.
            "Explain... oh, explain..."

            The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly
            he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for
            the student to continue.

            "You are working on the premise of duality," the Christian explains.
            "That for example there is life and then there's death; a good God
            and a bad
            God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite,
            something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a
            thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much
            less fully understood them. 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, merely the absence of it."

            The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a
            neighbor who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most
            disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a
            thing as immorality?"

            "Of course there is, now look..."

            "Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of
            morality. Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the
            absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Christian
            pauses. "Isn't evil the absence of good?"

            The professor's face has turned an alarming color. He is so angry he
            is temporarily speechless.

            The Christian continues. "If there is evil in the world, professor,
            and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be
            accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work,
            God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of
            us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil."

            The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I don't view
            this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist,
            I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other
            theological factor as being part of the world equation because God
            is not observable."

            "I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this
            world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going," the
            Christian replies. "Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it
            every week! Tell me, professor, Do you teach your students that they
            evolved from a monkey?"

            "If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young
            man, yes, of course I do."

            "Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?" The
            professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student
            a silent, stony stare.

            "Professor. Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution
            at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going
            endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a
            scientist, but a priest?"

            "I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical
            discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor hisses.

            "So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?"

            "I believe in what is - that's science!"

            "Ah! SCIENCE!" the student's face splits into a grin. "Sir, you
            rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena.
            Science too is a premise which is flawed..."

            "SCIENCE IS FLAWED..?" the professor splutters.

            The class is in uproar. The Christian remains standing until the
            commotion has subsided. "To continue the point you were making
            earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I
            mean?"

            The professor wisely keeps silent. The Christian looks around the
            room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the
            professor's brain?"

            The class breaks out in laughter. The Christian points towards his
            elderly, crumbling tutor. "Is there anyone here who has ever heard
            the professor's brain... felt the professor's brain, touched or
            smelt the professor's brain?"

            No one appears to have done so. The Christian shakes his head sadly.
            "It appears no one has."
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