Illustration: Absence of God

[Sandy Pines]

This was a recent Illustration that I have posted on my forum. I decided that I would share it with you guys as well.

There was a man (believed to be Einstein) who got into a conversation about God with his school teacher. During the beginning of the conversation, the unbelieving teacher asked:

Teacher: "If God is real then why does he allow evil in this world?"

Einstein:"Does cold exist?"

Teacher: "Yes..."

Einstein: "No, it does not. Cold is the absence of heat. Does Evil exist?"

Teacher: "Absolutely."

Einstein: "No, it does not. Evil is the absence of God."

(Note: Of course he meant the Absence of God in people's lives, not the total absence of God in a certain geographic place (Because God is omnipresent.))

[Josh]

I have serious doubts that this should be attributed to Einstein, but I think the illustration introduces the concept of evil as dependant variable, which I agree with.

Does evil exist? Well, the more nuanced answer is not that it doesn't exist, but that it doesn't exist on it's own, that is, independent from good (or God).

A problem I see with this analogy is that in it's attempt to demonstrate that evil does not exist autonomously, it seems to be arguing that evil doesn't exist at all, which is not the position of Christianity but rather eastern philosophy and mind-science cults.

Also, one could reply, "what is heat?" and the answer would then, circularly, be "the absence of cold" followed by the conclusion that "heat doesn't exist".

The problem with using heat and cold is that neither are independent variables, unlike good and evil, where good is independent and evil is dependent.

Anyway, sorry for the quibbling. Good thought provoker. Keep it up! I'm curious if others have thoughts.

[tim]

Oct 6, 2009 16:07:47 GMT -8 Sandy Pines said:

Teacher: "If God is real then why does he allow evil in this world?"

Einstein:"Does cold exist?"

Teacher: "Yes..."

Einstein: "No, it does not. Cold is the absence of heat. Does Evil exist?"

Teacher: "Absolutely."

Einstein: "No, it does not. Evil is the absence of God."

@sandy: Thank you for posting this! This was the first "eye-opener" to me about thinking deeper about the nature of evil. I sometimes try to read it like it's the 1st time I've seen it to see if I can come up with anything other than what I've now read on the subject. I always enjoy this quote!

[robin]

I don't think that the analogy exonerates God. The atheist could easily reply that an all powerful, all loving God would not allow his absence and therefore could easily snuff out all evil.