Does God Exist?

The following may be a true story, but until proven otherwise I will assume that it is useful only as a fictional anecdote. I like it none the less though.

A university professor challenged his students with this question. "Did
God create everything that exists?" A student bravely replied, "Yes, he
did!"

"God created everything? The professor asked.

"Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil
since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who
we are, then God is evil". The student became quiet before such an
answer. The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the
students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question
professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been
cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question. The young man
replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of
physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every
body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and
heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero
(-460degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and
incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have
created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist
either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study,
but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light
into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You
cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of
darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is?
You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a
term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?" Now
uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We
see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It
is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These
manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does
not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like
darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of
God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist
just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man
does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that
comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no
light." (A good explanation of evil/sin in he light of the Greek word rendered as
sin, Hamartia)

The professor sat down.

Who said this, which champion of the faith, which student of theology, or great preacher?

The young man from this story was none other than the incredible physicist, Albert Einstein.