Keep the Faith!

Albert Einstein is someone who has inspired me endlessly. With his views on science, philosophy, religion and general life. I still read up anything that is related to him. I own a complete biography about him and 2-3 books related to his theories and related subjects. The biography is a revelation of who he was a person and how he lived his life.



One of the stories that proved to be ground breaking in my theological understanding was Einstein's discussion about faith with his professor. This discussion occasionally did the rounds in email circuits. I have read it countless times and read it today also when I received it. I am including it here for your reading pleasure.

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: (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?

Student : Yes

Prof : And God did make everything. Correct?

Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?

Student: (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: (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.

Student : 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 student was.......... "Albert Einstein"