Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Strange are my ways!!!

Here is a all-too-familiar forward that seems to be interesting to many. However I don't find it to be that way! The first point being the student uses the hackneyed approach of telling God is not finite and blah blah. Second, his "Professor's Brain" quote just does not take this proof anywhere, except to find the support of students.
I have a whole list of observations on this conversation; but I hold them off for a later post.


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 fella.
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 why create 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.

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, megaheat, 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 it's 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, touched or smelt it?So, according to the established rules of empirical, testable,
demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures?? (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... a link between man and god is FAITH :)


Here is something that strikes me right away:
The student calls darkness to be the absence of light and death to be the absence of life.

But isn't something glaring out there?

"The presence of absence"!!! Is this not in itself a manifestation of duality? So unless absence is present, any sense in the student's proof is absent! (To all Tamizh movie lovers, this may look like the Munnadi Pinnadi Kannadi Panchatantiram comedy sequence!!)

Interestingly my opinions on this are only 2 lines long, in comparison to the conversation!!!

6 comments:

juhis3000 said...

wow man .. really nice 1 .. specially wen the teacher says .. u have to take it on faith son .. about his own brians :P anjoyed to hearts content .. every atheist shud read

MVS said...

That conversation was from a forward by our batchmate!! Only the non-italicized sections are mine!!

Valluvanai Pinpatruvon!!! said...

forgettin it all, if the theory is to be believed isnt absence the absence of presence which still beholds the theory stating that it isnt a paradox!!!

MVS said...

Vivek Sir..Can't get what theory you are referring to? The theory that the student bases his argument on, is that duality is not right. But then according to me, even his argument inherently is based on it. What say??

Valluvanai Pinpatruvon!!! said...

Ada annaen, perspective man!!! it is either the presence of absence or the absence of presence!!! eventhough absence of presence can be written as presence of absence of presence, it might tend to b illogical to go over round about it?! However again, duality exists while arguing over presence n absence while duality doesnt exist when a single can substitute 'de other!!! In a nutshell, rather trying to prove over those stuff which can neither b proved or disproved (presence of absence: duality n not a duality)- urupdiyana velaya paarunga :P

Unknown said...

irukku aana illa...