God vs Science

 There is a provocative urban legend that is afloat today. It concerns a professor and an astute student. The basic issue is between God versus Science.

 The professor is arrogant and condescending toward the timid yet knowledgeable student. The only negative thing about the article is the conclusion. The author identifies the student as a young Albert Einstein. That is a pure fabrication of the facts. Otherwise the story is worth considering.

 The legend begins with a confrontation between the two antagonists. The professor begins by questioning the student about his faith. Is he a Christian? Is God good and all powerful? Are you good or evil? Would you help a sick person? `The answer to all of them is “yes.” Why then doesn’t God? Is there a Satan? Where does he come from? God. Is God evil? Is there evil in the world? Yes.

 Do you believe in Jesus? Have you seen Him? Have you heard Him, felt Him? Yes and no. The student affirms his faith. But science says there is no evidence for God or Jesus.

 Then the student takes the offensive. Is there such a thing as cold? Yes is the professor’s answer. Is there heat? Yes he says. The student responds, “No sir, there isn’t.”

 Explanation. You can have all kinds of heat: super-heat, unlimited heat, white heat or no heat. But there is not anything called “cold.” It is impossible to go lower than minus 458 F degrees.

 Studies can only measure energy and that comes from heat. “Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. Cold cannot be measured because heat is energy.”

 What about darkness? It is not something; it is the absence of something, and that something is light. The problem with the professor is that his premise is flawed and this predicts a flawed conclusion. 

 The student then challenges the professor about the nature of God and the nature of life.

 The basic issue between the two is the student’s affirmation of faith. The scientist mocks him but the student challenges the scientist’s affirmation of the rule of science. Which according to the rules of “empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol says God does not exist.”

 “Science,” says the student must rely upon faith. Science cannot even explain a thought. “It’s common knowledge that scientists use electricity and magnetism, “but has never see, much less fully understood either one.”

 The student accuses the professor of trying to use the processes to prove the existence of God, but it can’t be done any more than he can thoughts, gravity or electricity.

 “Professor,” says the student, “It takes faith to affirm the continuity of the laws of Nature.” Regarding death, the student declares that it is not the opposite of life. “It is the absence of life.”

 The student then jumps into a subject where angels fear to go-evolution. In characteristic good humor, he asks the professor if he teaches his students that they are evolved from monkeys?

 He does endorse what he calls the natural evolutionary process. The student then confronts the professor with a penetrating question. “Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes? “No,” is his answer.

 The answer from the student is riveting. “Sir,” he says. “Since no one has ever observed the evolutionary process and cannot prove it is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your own opinions?

 Then he further challenges the professor with an unusual comment. “Sir,” with all due respect and seriousness, YOU ARE ENTITLED TO YOUR OWN OPINIONS, BUT NOT TO YOUR OWN SET OF FACTS.”

 Pressed into a corner, the professor acknowledges his dependence on faith for the accidental creation of the universe and its continuation on gravity and thermodynamics.

 The student concludes the discussion by asserting his own faith in God as the Intelligent Designer of all things.

Amen. Selah. So be it.

 

 

WORDS TO THINK ABOUT:
G. W. Abersold Ph.D