here is a long simulated conversation i found on the net.... it was interesting... but i made my own ... ahem... contribution to it... and yes.. the last whole part was written by none other than.... Yours Truly..
An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new Christian students to stand and.....
Professor: You are a Christian, aren't you, son?
Student : Yes, sir.
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 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.
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 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 endeavour, 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.
**
The Omen stands up....
Omen : if i had hit you once when you came close to me, 2 years ago.... would you mind standing beside me?
Student : No.. it was long ago
Omen :if i hit you every time you come close to me and repeated this 40 times.... will you come close to me?
Student : No
Omen : Do you believe in evolution?
(Student looks uncomfortable)
Student : ....... No
Omen : then why does your behaviour evolve? why does it change with respect to the situation? is God guiding your behaviour or are my fists guiding it?
(Student is silent... the class is silent again)
Omen : Yes....i HAVE observed evolution with my own eyes... when a normal rat is put in pitch black darkness for 2 years and then taken out.. it is effectively blind... when a person eats antibiotics, many bacteria in his intestines die and he suffers from upset stomach... the body grew used to (evolved to) accomodate the bacteria and to use it... the same bacteria in another animal can make it ill.. or even kill it...
(Professor nods approvingly)
Omen : Does Darkness exist?.. hmm?
Student : No it does not.. i just proved that... it is the absence of light.
Omen : What is Vacuum?
Student : (falters) Nothingness.......
Omen : how about 'the absence of matter'?......would you mind if i exposed you to total Vacuum... since you obviously dont believe in things which dont exist?
(Student is silent... the class grins)
Omen : does the fact that vacuum is Nothing.... change the fact that it has intense physical properties?
Student : (quietly) No...
Omen : Does the fact that darkness 'not exist' (as you claim)... mean that it does not affect the eyesight of the rat?
Student : No.....
Omen : The Absence of something which DOES exist, lends to it a presence of its own... which means that it may not be anything tangible.. but if the 'presence' of the 'existing object' decreases or goes away.... it WILL be detected... YOU will be able to feel/hear/see/taste/smell this in SOME way or another... and can you feel something that doesnt exist?
Student : No......
Omen : ... which means that any absence of a body/property can be classified as something which can be detected and thus gives it the right to nomenclature... (i.e.- you can name such a state of absence)....such as your bold exclamations of super-heat, white-heat, low-heat........ and NO-heat.... The argument is limited by the language we speak in.... and English has just created a word for no-heat.... or low-heat... on a relative scale... just like the scale YOU used... degrees fahrenheit... is completely relative... cold could correspond to 30°F on your scale... colder could correspont to 0°F on your scale... so on.... do you have any argument against that??
(Student is silent... the class waits..)
Omen : But does your god have either presence OR absence??? Can you feel/hear/see/taste/smell when he turns away? when he decreases or goes away? or can you feel/../../../.. his presence in any tangble way that specifies that it is god that your sense organs percieve?
Student (boldly) : i can see God when i see spring... i smell him in the flowers... i hear him in the birds songs... i taste him in the fresh-water spring... i feel him when i touch the damp soil... and in the cold harsh winters... i can feel the absence of all those things... now tell me does God exist?
Omen (smiling simply) : Art thou a Pagan?
Student (aghast) : What!!? I am a Christian!!!
Omen (still smiling) : do you know that nature worship is a Pagan trait? an early form of the worship of Science in all its aspects... the chemicals that stimulate your sense organs of smell and taste... the subtle physics of waves - for sound and light... and the presence of Matter to touch.... it has nothing to do with Faith whatsoever... it is instead, the quest to reveal the workings of the most complex biomachineries that we can find... our own ecosystem... and our universe... not by pointing to beings that do not exist or have any effect whatsoever... but to physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology working together.
(the class breaks into applause)
Omen : God, my friend, is Your creation.... not the other way around.... you create him the way a lonely child makes up imaginary playmates.... and Your God is totally different from someone else's god... they are tailored to your own needs... and the reason God doesnt exist Even if EVERY man has Faith... is because your god can never be the same as someone else's god... and is true to you and you alone...
Professor : Faith is a matter of how seriously you take your 'imaginary friend'... when people start having visions of "god" talking to them in their dreams... i would say they are bordering schizophrenia where they cannot distingush the border between their 'imaginary' and 'real' worlds.
(Student walks out of class)
Professor : and so with Omen's help... we have established that Faith IS a problem for science.... as we could see from the young man there who doesnt really like the idea of worshipping nature and the physical world... but an imaginary "God" instead. Thank you my class... see you tomorrow at noon!
ah.. i should write literary flame-wars.... but then the church would burn all my books anyway....
"Religion is an archaic form of government and will always be a tool to control and govern....
and as in most governments... corruption is as common as bacteria.........
and it should be assumed as part of the deal" ~ discourses of
the Hellspawn