Does anyone know if this story is true?....



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 faith in God is 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. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy. Absolute zero (-460 degrees 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. We can study light, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wave lengths 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 everyday. 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."

The professor sat down. The young student's name -- Albert Einstein.

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"The significance of a fact is measured by the capacity of the observer."
Carroll Dunham

That's wonderful Lisa! Thanks!

One more way of describing that is: the ONLY power that evil has (and it is present) is the power that WE human beings give it - as a consequense of the reasons you mentioned above.
Hence we humans beings, created by God, are stronger than evil just by exercising our own choices - against evil in general or against evil in particular situations.

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http://www.homeopathy2health.com

God nor created evil nor good (virtue) rather God created human beings and given choice to that creature to do sin or blessing. Sin or Blessing are not materilistic thing. It is the behaviour of human beings and choice given to human beings by the God. I think comparing God with behaviour would not be appropriate when God already said, this is good and this is bad. Now choice is yours. If you do Good, I will be happy and if you do wrong. then you will call my desecrate. I think the point is now clear.

__________________
Moalij
is your close friend.

Both good and evil are subjective judgements. From one standpoint something may be evil , but move to another point of view and what seemed evil may in fact be beneficial. Our view of life and everything in the universe are not comprehensive enough to be other than subjective/emotional.

Very right.

One day a man dug the nail in the way of passengers route. Another man came and extracted the nail and throw it away.

Both started arguing with each other and went to a wise man for decission.

The first man said, dear wise man, I dug a long nail because i thought many people having horses with them are passing through this way. When they plan for rest here they can take benefit from that nail by wraping the rope of their horses with that nail so that their horses may not run away or escape.

The second man replied, I extracted the nail and thrown because I thought it is slighly inside the way and it could hurt to any padesterian in dark.

The wise man said, you both did right and you are both correct. Evil or blessing is depend upon your intentions and plans. What is in your mind. If your plan is in the right and positive direction then you will gain blessing otherwise ......

Thank you passkey for kind insight.

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Moalij
is your close friend.

Thank you Moalij - didnt really expect any one to agree with me.

So one man's evil is another man's good intention? Is that what you are saying Moalij and Passkey ?

So the perpetrators of 911 and all the other sick terrorists-how do you explain their good intention?

I'd like to point out that in my first post, I asked if anyone had heard if the story was true above (about Einstein).

Anyway, I agree that darkness is the absence of light. And it makes sense to me that what we perceive to be evil is the absence of love (God - however one likes to term things).

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Hi Hoppitt,
I don't think that's what they meant.
Not everything is always what it seems. Ya know - nothing is ever black or white (unless your Kate Hepburn) - more like many shades in between (subjectivity).
Subjectivity is influenced by intention, which is important; because intention also shapes or influences the perspective with/from which something is viewed. Well, those are some internal processes. The external processes can either be reactive or proactive...depending on how you look at things .

You brought up 9/11.
I think one has to stand back, or rise above the very human reactions [of anger, sadness, etc] to the event, and try to understand how this kind of thing could have come to fruition. Because without considering this, one kinda ends up steeped in judgement, anger, and all the negative emotions that we humans feel when something horrible has happened. And that does absolutely nothing toward healing the rifts between perceived enemies.

Blame is absolutely a fruitless tree to climb, other than satisfying the ego (or collective ego) that a finger was righteously pointed in the 'right' direction. Hey, it happens to all of us. I mean you're talking to a card-carrying reformed - well, I'm working on it still - finger pointer.

Anyway, nothing good comes from that; it only leads to deeper divisions between people; hatred, violence, more finger pointing, revenge, retaliation, and dare I say - more evil acts. This is because we aren't seeing each other as human anymore. At least, I believe when we hate someone, we reduce them to something less than human. And, that's when we attract hatred to ourselves. Humble lesson for anyone to learn (gulp).

Understanding motivations and intentions of others and events like 9/11 -- might just lead us [to look past some outer/surface horror] and see others as human again. Trying to build a bridge isn't easy when bad stuff has happened, but it's something we've all got to work at or we'll all end up blowing each other to bits.

Just when and where does the madness stop?

Hopefully, when we do hear others and try to understand where they are coming from, they will also remember we are human too or at least begin to see us a human again; bleeding the same colour blood, experiencing life experiences just as they do.

No big tree ever springs up overnight without a seed having been planted many years before.

Anyway, I just hope the cycle of violence and madness will stop soon.
Plant seeds of love.

Sounds ooey gooey - but basically that's the bottom line for a ticket outta this hell we (and those before us) have created.
Peace to ALL.

__________________
"The significance of a fact is measured by the capacity of the observer."
Carroll Dunham

Agree absolutely with Lisa.
When it is considered that the USA was instrumental - he may be a son of a bitch , but he's our son of a bitch- in putting Pinochet in power against the will of a democratically govt , is it any wonder that the USA is unpopular .
Further one point of view is that the twin towers were the temples of the evil money changers - not my view - I simply point it out.
Comes back to what is your point of view!!.
Catalans who are Spanish , but would not accept that description readily , speak a different language and keep a special day to remember when they were defeated .
The Scots consider the Ebglish "the old enemy " . It is in things like this that the seeds of terror are hatched.
I penned a short piece to try and describe this;-
The Seeds Of Terror
[11M . Do not waste these deaths ]
A while ago and hardly cause to celebrate defeat. A way possibly
Of keeping it in mind. That September bruise - the Catalan defeat.
The caps do not fly high. Only the free can break those links that tie
A past, with its maps to, a present day, and draw a line under history

Sept ’73, in a free and happy Chile a long arm from the north
Reached out and carefully, casually, throttled by decree and fear,
Democracy. Installing a friend who caused a machine which eats
Up many mothers sons , demanding always more to disappear.
But the pendulum swung and the long arm of the north defeats
justice, to let a tyrant run free. And why is war always so near? .

Another Sept the rage reaches out to destroy some golden towers
And it was a jealous god that took war to Mammon. There are many
Gods and all speak with forked tongues. Words persuade worshipers
Who wish to believe. Do we need an enemy to smite?. A foe to say
That our rage is only the banner of righteousness. Then you listen
To the Sicilian God, or the Blue Ridge Mountain God of vendettas
And let the slaughter commence. For so it was since time began.
What goes around comes around. Here is the irony which now has
To live in a man of Israel who can slay his Arab brother and not heed
A man of Israel who said,” forgive them, they know not what they do”.

Evil does not exist, it is only the man's thinking that whether he conceputalizes a thing or an object or an event in true spririt in the right direction or in wrong sense in false direction

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Hafeez
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