Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Does God Exist - An interesting conversation between a Science Student and a teacher


# POST 0040

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem
science has with God -The Almighty.

He asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.

Prof: 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 this God good then? Hmm? Student is silent.

Prof: You can't answer, can you?
Let's start again, young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this
world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make
everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?
Student does not answer.

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?
Student has no answer.

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe
the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science
says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

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

Now the student said can I ask something to you Professor.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn't. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet
with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, 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. Cold is
only 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, just the
absence of it. (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as
darkness? Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student: You're 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 its called
darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would
be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there
is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing
the concept of God as something finite, something 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 it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that
they evolved from a monkey?

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


Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where
the argument is going.)

Student: 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 not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's
brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)

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

(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face
unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH. That
is all that keeps things moving & alive. .

WANT TO KNOW WHO THAT STUDENT WAS? This is a true story, and the student
was none other than

DR. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India.

6 comments:

  1. It's a charming little piece of fiction. Searching the net for keywords in the story, I discovered that this little piece is reposted on over 600 pages. It has all the classic elements of an urban legend...

    (1) In many cases the poster swears this is a true story.

    (2) The pages either make no mention of what particular school this took place at, or what the name of the professor is or give different names of the school and professor that conflict with the other posts of this same story.

    (3) Many of the minor details change subtly with each retelling. Especially, there are several different endings to the story. In your version, the student sits down amidst pandemonium. In some versions the professor rushes out of the room in embarrassment. One version concludes "... The student got an A in the class." Another has the professor go crazy and rush the student, only to die of a stroke.

    (4) Every character in the story is a caricature, starkly contrasting "Good, persecuted student" and "Evil professor".

    Cute, but an obvious fictional urban legend.

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  2. Maybe it is a fiction but the logic is appreciable and quite profound.......

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  3. Profound how? Assumptions that can be measured in some form or fashion, but not easily is evidence of God? Or a funny story can debunk factual based observations? Pah-leeze

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  4. Well, the story may be fictitious and caricatures may have been drawn...But the underlying assumption is of Faith...You need to have faith in God. Not everything can be proven and not everything has a scientific explanation. If Science were the answer to everything, why couldnt science prove till now the mystery behind birth and death. Why with all the science available, we still cannot predict the actual time of death ; or how and by what method can twins be given birth to.

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  5. I like this type of logic-"Science don't have answers, therefore I choose to go with fairy tales". Religious logic will go something like that-

    Person 1: I have a baseball
    Person 2 : Okay prove it.
    Person 1 : shows the baseball, here it is.
    Person 2: agree.
    continue..........
    Person1: I say god exist.
    Person 2: okay prove it.
    Person 1: Prove to me that god doesn't exist or else accept all my fairy tales till you prove god doesn't exist.


    Adding more indian touch to above -
    Person 1: Be considerate till you prove or else you'll be punishable under new 'kapil sibbal's law' of hurting religious sentiments.
    Person 2: okay chill
    Person 1: No way. Non-believers have no rights in society. Die you infidel. You have any idea that the ipad and tablets you used were already predicted by our ancestors long time back ?
    Person 2: agree, everything is already predicted by your religion and faith, I can't take objection or else I'll be publishable under "new kapil sibbal anti-religion' law. Thanks for harassing me logically.

    More such hilarious stories with religious logic here:

    http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm


    I mean seriously, we'll add more 'moving targets' for science to prove and will never own up for anything related to faith. On the other hand, to answer some of your questions. Exact time of birth is pretty much possible to calculate under controlled environment, if only you'll allow doctors to monitor you 24x7 after intercourse, up for that ? theres not escape from that if you pose that type of question. As for death time, it is dependent on physical stress, emotional stress, environment and other variables which are either human controlled or nature controlled. That deviates any exact date from being formulated via equation. Can your faith answers that ? Damn sure it can't. Only answer faith can give you is -" Wait superman( or insert name of god) is coming to solve your problem, hang on, relax".

    As for twins birth, why do you think it is hard ? First scientist even came down to human cloning but people with faith objected to that and there is ban on that. What makes you sure that counting death time or reanimating dead cell will not trigger one more objection from people ?

    No wonder we've this anti-science outlook here in india and tradition to look down on non-believers. I wonder why non-believers were the one to excel in many science streams and believers have only APJ kalam or few handful of scientist with such stories to count on? tsk tsk.

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  6. For the believer, no proof is needed - Faith is indeed a quick answer to any question.

    Person1 - Something bad may happen to me
    Person2 - Did you pray to God? If not, do so now

    SCENARIO 1-
    Person1 -(after 2 days) I prayed to God and the problem went away.
    Person2 - See, that's God at work

    SCENARIO 2 -
    Person1 - (after 2 days) I prayed to God and the problem still happened.
    Person2 - YOu did not pray hard enough (OR) Your faith was not enough (OR) God works in mysterious ways.

    STRAWMAN ARGUMENTS IN ALL CASES.

    Keep your faith away from my science.
    If people get solace from their faith, good for them.

    ReplyDelete