December 29, 2007

the never ending arguement---once again...

Well i got this in my mailbox...and thought of posting it on here...
wanted to share this simple fwded message to all the believers, atheists as well as agnostics who have visited 'nostalgic moments' in the past (referring to my prev posts:--- 'knock knock..anyone up there?' and 'something i want to share') who shared their opinions , expressed their beliefs and doubts and have either left or sometimes left me, unconvinced and fuming but at the same time pondering over the discussion....
This mail claims to be a true life conversation and probably will leave all of us smiling...
maybe a lil more confused than what we are right now...or maybe a little more confident...and then again maybe not...but definitely smiling :)...

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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 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? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
(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 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, brightlight, 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.
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 endeavor, 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.

this is a true story, and the
student was none other than.........

APJ Abdul Kalam , the former president of India.
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SMILING arnt u??

have a good day! :)

21 comments:

Amber Light said...

I loved this post! Yes it had me smiling...:) I really wonder why people seem to "like" arguments based on the existence and non-existence of God. One person's belief in something does not affect the other person. What would we gain or lose by letting another person keep his faith? I think faith is completely personal.

I think people argue only when they do not trust their own beliefs and want to find reasons and convince themselves. What say

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Yes indeed i am smiling & i like this post..the thing which surprised me even more is the fact that the student is none other than Abdul Kalaam:)

maverick said...

@pri...read this long bck..came as a fwd..its amazing..awesomely amazing...u shud see this movie "lions for lambs"..theres a conversatin between robert redford n his student...its awesome...loved it :)

ceedy said...

I wont argue here - yes am smiling :).....it the same - different way of looking at the same thing (like we were discussing):)....

Pri said...

@ my world
u may be right here...but i dont think it is wrong to argue...
also dont we all go through these phases in which we are angry at god...atleast i do :)
and then i crib, fume, rant...
but in the end , the belief is built up again...probably the faith in us is much stronger than we think it is...
i also agree that harping about his glory or cribbing about his non existence or insensitiveness dosent change anything...ultimately we all believe what we want to believe...
at the same time one person plays many roles...sometimes as a believer, at other times an atheist (though temporary maybe) and often as a agnostic...
faith falters depending on the situation we are in...probably sometimes we want to be convinced otherwise and so we argue...its just a way of expressing urself...as long as u dont expect to change some other persons faith or thinking...
because that ive realised is impossible...the arguement can go on forever...:)
the only person who can actually convince urself or question ur own beliefs or faith is you...:)
the others can just offer their opinion and maybe if they believe help/take help...

take care
and seeya around!

@ illusion
yes it had me smiling too...loved the way the conversation flows :)

@ maverick
havent watched that one yet...will try to catch it sometime soon :)

@ ceedy
guess we seem to agree on this one :)

IncorrigibleV said...

oh ya smiling no doubt :)
have read this before in my mailbox and it is absolutely amazing!
it always reminds me of the time i met A P J Abdul Kalam, we had gone representing our school and when he came in he asked all of us "how many orbits have u completed?"
all of us were blank ...
then he went on to explain that he was actually asking us how old we were, coz every year the earth completes one orbit...ie revolution around the sun.
and thats what i call thinking "out of the box" or "challenging the conventional".
lovely!

Unknown said...

:) Quite a brilliant piece of conversation there and yeh definitely brought a smile..

Anonymous said...

THATS GREAT :) WILL maIL YOU SOON!!!:P

WritingsForLife said...

good one... i have read it before :)

The Furobiker said...

hehe.. i remember some stupid movie scene..
"abe maine jo cheez dekhi nahi wo ho hi nahi sakti
abe tune paris dekha hai .. nahi.. to kya iska matlab hai paris hai hi nahi"
hehe..
and the debate goes on.. n on n on n on n on

Blog Boy said...

that was gr8...
I recommend you to read " The wings of fire" autobiography of Mr. Kalam truely stupndous piece of work he has done for his country inspite of all odds in life...

Pri said...

@ vandita
wow vands...thats cool..i wish i had a chance to meet him too :)

@ j
yeps..left me rather impressed too :)

@ kaylee
sure..anytime...

Pri said...

@ raaji
well ya ...im sure this fwd is circulated all over...thought il'l just put it up here for those who either dint receive it or dint bother to check :)

@ abhishek
lol...well that was a cheaper imitate of this brilliant conversation...tapori style :P

@ blogboy
ive already read it :)...

Anonymous said...

APJ Kalam sir is one true asset we can be proud of!!!!

kyamaloom said...

Nice one, I've read it before. Enjoyed it this time too. :)

Anonymous said...

Well to be honest that made me wince rather than smile...firstly it is a mangled mess of an earlier urban legend linked to Albert Einstiein that has now been attributed to our beloved APJ(Details at http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp)

secondly it always has been a nice way to win an argument: restate what the opponents of the arguments have to say(this has got nothing to do with what the opponent really is saying) and then disprove that restatement and claim victory.

Science has never had a problem with God...science just doesnt care about God...its not the business of science at all...so there is no 'loggerheads' business happening between the two.

and any 5 yr old can look through the cant see brain silly argument.

Pri said...

@ angryagnostic
thankyou for that piece of information...
einstein could sue these people for plagerism :D
anyhow it was a good conversation and einstein being a part of it only makes it more impressive...

Anonymous said...

@pri

no no no..even einstein being part of it is 'urban legend'(made up)...such a conversation never happened(not with anybody of note at least)..its made up..

Pri said...

@ angry agnostic
whoaa!!..sorry...i kinda forgot all about the 'urban legend' thing u mentioned by the time i reached the end of ur comment...lol!!
do u blog btw??

Known Stranger said...

i got this forward to mail long back since then i want to meet ABJ and ask him one question - is this forward true ? is the guy they refer in this forward is you or some one