Another Adventure

"God v. Science"

I received this email today, and it could not have come at a more serendipitous time (though words fail me to describe such an event properly). As I prepare to take my flight halfway across the world, I feel a tremendous source of strength inside of me, knowing that there are forces of Good in this world more ultimate than any thing man can or will ever create.
Please read the whole thing.

Science

“Let me explain the problem science has with religion.”

The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
‘You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?’
‘Yes sir,’ the student says.
‘So you believe in God?’
‘Absolutely ‘
‘Is God good?’
‘Sure! God’s good.’
‘Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?’
‘Yes’
‘Are you good or evil?’
‘The Bible says I’m evil.’
The professor grins knowingly. ‘Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment. ‘Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it.. Would you help him? Would you try?’
‘Yes sir, I would.’
‘So you’re good…!’
‘I wouldn’t say that.’
‘But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.’
The student does not answer, so the professor continues. ‘He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?’
The student remains silent. ‘No, you can’t, can you?’ the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. ‘Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?’
‘Er..yes,’ the student says.
‘Is Satan good?’
The student doesn’t hesitate on this one.. ‘No.’
‘Then where does Satan come from?’
The student falters. ‘From God’
‘That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?’
‘Yes’
‘So who created evil?’ The professor continued, ‘If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.’
Again, the student has no answer. ‘Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?’
The student squirms on his feet. ‘Yes.’
‘So who created them ?’
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. ‘Who created them?’ There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. ‘Tell me,’ he continues onto another student. ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?’
The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. ‘Yes, professor, I do.’
The old man stops pacing. ‘Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?’
‘No sir. I’ve never seen Him.’
‘Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?’
‘No, sir, I have not.’
‘Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?’
‘No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.’
‘Yet you still believe in him?’
‘Yes’
‘According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist… What do you say to that, son?’
‘Nothing,’ the student replies.. ‘I only have my faith.’
‘Yes, faith,’ the professor repeats. ‘And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.’
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. ‘Professor, is there such thing as heat? ‘
‘ Yes.
‘And is there such a thing as cold?’
‘Yes, son, there’s cold too.’
‘No sir, there isn’t.’
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. ‘You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. 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 (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat.. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.’
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
‘What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?’
‘Yes,’ the professor replies without hesitation. ‘What is night if it isn’t darkness?’
‘You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it 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? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?’
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. ‘So what point are you making, young man?’
‘Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.’
The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. ‘Flawed? Can you explain how?’
‘You are working on the premise of duality,’ the student explains.. ‘You argue that there is life and then there’s 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?’
‘If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.’
‘Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?’
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.
‘Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?’
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. ‘To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.’ The student looks around the room. ‘Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?’ The class breaks out into laughter. ‘Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain? 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, with all due respect, sir.’ ‘So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?’
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. ‘I Guess you’ll have to take them on faith.’
‘Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,’ the student continues. ‘Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?’ Now uncertain, the professor responds, ‘Of course, there is. 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 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.

Turns out the student was Albert Einstein.
“Albert Einstein wrote a book titled ‘God vs. Science’ in 1921”

“Something cannot come from nothing, thus something as amazing as our universe is the evidence of an extreme intelligence. He is God.”

Unpacking a Wedding

The dogs see everything. They see how tired I am. They see the many trays of barbeque and bottles of wine in the refrigerator. They see how frequently their water dish depletes. They see squirrels of course, and they bark, and bark, and bark, until the neighbors complain because everyone is awake until one in the morning. This past week they saw and met two new puppies who came and went along with my frighteningly grown up siblings and their significant others. They see me, too, and I see them, but sometimes I think they’re the only ones who do. It’s very easy to feel sorry for myself right now, even though I have so much to be thankful for (when do I not)? Unhappiness, in the sense of depression, for me often slithers in the door when I neglect my needs. And nothing makes it harder to meet your own needs than planning a wedding!

On the other hand, it was a very humbling experience, to “come home from college” and not be the center of attention. I was the youngest in my family for a long time (I’m not anymore) so I know how to demand attention. But somewhere along the line I think I figured out that most of the time, demanding makes people feel annoyed, intimated, or uncomfortable. So I try not to do that so much! Of course when I got home the little voices in my head were crying “tell them everything! tell them everything!” but why disrupt a good thing? I discovered that I can enjoy myself in the company and immersed in the stories of others, and play a participant. Who knew! And for the first time I felt so proud of my family for absolutely no reason related to me.

Of course, my role in this circus was very, very minimal. Other braver souls orchestrated the event; I was merely a player…but if I may boast, I think the entire day was nonstop fun. That’s okay by me.

Of course, mayhem ensued.

Since being in Memphis, I’ve been a bridesmaid, a baker, and a spredsheet maker. I’ve also been brushing up on my puns and rhymes. I put my life on hold to help make this special, life changing event possible for someone else, and I couldn’t be more happy about it. After all, that’s what we’re meant to do.

The clean up Crew

But now it’s time to unpack the wedding. The happy couple is somewhere in the southwest, and just this morning I put away my makeup and high heels. The extra barbeque is put on ice for the next party; I gained five pounds. Then I went for a run and looked up at the sky. I felt so small beneath the birds. That’s how I want to stay, small beneath the birds and grateful for the blue skies, soaking in sunshine and floating in music. But life has its responsibilities. In fact, life is mostly responsibilities, but it doesn’t do to dwell on them, because there exists inevitability and the rising of the sun to wake us up again. I’ve missed dancing and doing my own things so much, but this heat makes me a prisoner in my own house! It also makes me blame. 🙂 But I can do things in between, like write to-do lists and plan my next adventure, lie on the floor and practice my guitar. I should also call my mother. Always call your mother.

I know as soon as I leave I will miss home and will wish to be back in my room where nothing can touch me. But things can and do touch me, invisible things, all the time, no matter where I am. My control and my battle against invisible spirits takes place in my soul, which, God willing, will always be protected. With that knowledge, and with prayers, I can conquer anything, so why be scared?

Pen and Palette: The Spirit of Truth

Pen and Palette: The Spirit of Truth: The difference, I think, is that when we ask the Holy Spirit’s help, our own spirit quits warring with Him so much.

Beautiful words from someone I admire very much. If you’re not reading her blog regularly, you should. It’s good soul nourishment 🙂

Why I’m Not A Runner

Working in a gym has taught me quite a bit about individual confidence. You would think after all this time I’d have come to some personal consensus on the maintenance of my physical health, but, no, clearly, I’m still as bi-polar as an instant read thermometer. Like my moods, my belief systems have fluctuated extensively from season to season, year to year, and I find myself detesting books, foods, and dogmas that six months earlier I swore by.

Is this just another symptom of our information overloaded generation, or am I genetically predisposed to crazy juice? I think it’s both, but as I am trying to do what’s best for me, I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s a personal flaw. Universe: 1, Melanie: 0. You got me again, God.

Of course, I want to believe that I am wonderful. Don’t we all want to feel good about ourselves? Surely. But for me, feeling good about myself most commonly comes in the form of viewing myself through the skin of another, instead of seeing what is truly there: I am in a room that’s pitch black and all I can do is convince myself the hand in front of my face does not exist. But logically, and truthfully, I know that it does, whether I will it or no. That hand is there.
So it is with every appendage, every flaw, every mental state that exists in my person. It is there, whether I will it or no. It is there. Yet we are surprisingly different from the rocks in that, a rock is a rock is a rock. It cannot change. But a person is a person, and yet within that person is the remarkable capacity to stretch, flex, bend, and twist. We are pliable. We are clay, are we not? Water may freeze, become steam, and melt again, yet its very essence is still its own self. We have an incredible capacity for growth and extension.

“People grow, they don’t change” said Elisabeth Bard. I firmly believe that. Yet growth has all the potential in the world. And like the dirt, for us to grow, we require cultivation, nurturing, air, breath, and sunlight. Definitely not a cage or a box. We are not so different from the dirt. What grows from us can never be identical to another, because our very essences are individual, singular. Therefore, the next time I pass a runner, perspiring, determined, athletic, I will think “Good for you. I hope you get there.” And then I will probably gnaw at my gut and clench my teeth in momentary rage, but then immediately after that I will remember that I would much rather skip home and dance like a fool, because that is simply what I love to do. I think we would all be much better off if we never apologized for being the unique fools that we are. Of course, it takes practice, time, patience, and much skill to get to such a point.