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GOD vs. Science

A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students,
'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? Hmmm? 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.'

At the back of the room another student stands quietly for a moment before
asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?'


'Yes,' the professor replies. 'There's heat.'

'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 up 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 beable 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 abad 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.'

The professor sat down.

YES, AND GOD IS CERTAINLY DIFFERENT THAN RELIGION!

Free Ipod, and Getting the Most out of your Network

In response to the previous post about how to get a free iphone of $599, I am also going to post a link if you would rather receive a free ipod. The instructions on how to receive it are the same as the previous post. Get your ipod here!

So this is a follow up to the series on using linkedin to build your network. You can check out linkedin here.

So far I have 32 connections now on Linkedin.  In the previous post on linkedin below, you will learn how to gather connections by inviting your email contacts, and possibly finding people that you already know who are linkedin members?  So why is this beneficial?  For one, once you have joined linkedin, people can reccommend you or your work.  Let's say you are a photographer.  People that you have worked with can write reccommendations of what you do, and you can also request reccommendations from individuals also.  This is very powerful because if someone is looking in their network and finds you or your services, then your chances of getting a connection are exponentially increased with a reccommendation.

Now, once you have built up a connection base, you need to follow the rule of "the more, the more."  That rule states this, "The more you do for others, the more they will do for you."   So my question to my connections would be this:  "Is there a need in your life that I can help to meet right now?"  This is not a financial need, but maybe something along the lines of, "Yes there is.  I am looking for someone to build a website for our company or church."  And in turn you may be able to fill that need because of someone you know, or if you build websites, you may be able to do it yourself.

This rule is one of the founding principles in Jeffrey Gittomer's book that is linked to on the right.

And basically it is simply a restatement of Jesus' command, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  And we don't do things because we are expecting something in return, we simply do it because it is a principle of life.  But in turn, once we do that, then we will receive blessings because we have been a blessing to other people.

So here is your homework for today.  Join linkedin here, build up your network, and then start meeting people's needs by asking them what you can do for them.  As kind of an experiment, I would also ask that you leave a comment in response to this question: "What is the greatest need in your life right now?"

It's not what you know, it's who you know.

Or rather we could also state, it's who knows you. About a week ago, a friend introduced me to a professional networking site known as LinkedIn. The timing could not have been better, because for about the past two weeks, I have been reading an outstanding book by Jeffrey Gitomer entitled "The Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships." You can find a link to this book on the right column. He says that the most valuable asset that you have is not in your pocket book or bank account, but rather it is in your list. What he means by that is the list of people which you know, as either a friend or on a proffesional level. The more of the connections which you have available to you, the more likely you are to be successful, and the more likely you are to be able to find someone to help you if you are ever in a bind.

And the crazy thing is that powerful connections can come from anywhere. Let me tell a short story to demonstrate this. About two years ago, my wife and I were eating breakfast at a diner, and I was observing a man who was telling the folks he was with about a new product that you could put in your gas tank and it would give you better mileage. I noticed when he left and got in his truck, there was a phone number on his tailgate about the product. I was pretty interested so I gave him a call one day. We ended up grabbing a bite for breakfast, and come to find out, we shared many common interests. It basically turned into a friendship of which either of us would call the other to bounce ideas or get input. Needless to say, the Pastor at my current church also happened to know this fellow and called him one day and said, "Do you know any youth pastors?" My friend said, "I know one." That one happened to be me. So I am now serving at one of the most exciting churches in NC all because I called a number on a man's tailgate. Of course, God knew what was happening all along.

So for those of you who would be skeptic of something like LinedIn, or ask how is it any difference from Facebook, etc. I would answer, check out the picture at the top. Those are my actual statistics, showing that I have 25 direct connections on LinkedIn. Those 25 are connected to 190 are connected to 15,900!!! That is amazing. Now I just looked at my address book on my mac, and I have personally 1,083 contacts in my address book. But 15,900! I know of no other way of being able to connect with that many people. So basically, LinkedIn is a network for proffesionals, and what is cool about LinkedIn is that you can write references of people that you know and work with. So it is also like a floating and evolving online Resume, which can be viewed by thousands of employers potentially looking for someone like you. And during this economy. I think that would be a good thing. So I encourage you to check out linked in and give it a shot. LinkedIn. And once you do, be sure and check out my profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jessewatkins. In my next post, I will be talking about making the most out of your list of contacts.

A New Purpose in Blogging

I started blogging with the intention to give people an insight into what goes on in the life of a student pastor. Well I haven't done a good job at that because I think people might not really care. Probably the only person that would want to read that would be another student pastor. So today marks a day of expansion. And I also don't want to just sit here and blog about my life like it is a diary, because only 2 people would care to read it.

So what would I like to do? I would like to help people. In any way possible. I would like to blog about how to achieve your dreams, and be all that you can be, in God's army. I am thinking about changing the blog title to Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. It goes back to that old saying, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise." Don't we all want that? I sure do. I want health and vitality so I can do exciting things and have energy to serve God. I want wealth so that I can bless other people, take care of my family, and continue to travel the world and see amazing places. And most of all, I want wisdom, so that I can have what it takes to be a Christ follower in today's world. All people really have the same passions. We ultimately want the same thing out of life (though some don't realize that Christians will want what God wants). So what does God want you ask? He wants us to have life abundantly. He wants us to live with passion about what we do. So many Christians have "denied" themselves what they believe to be pleasures of the world, that they walk around like a dog with his tail between their legs because their passion has been taken away. When my wife Tyler and I were in Hawaii a few years ago, I thought to myself, "God really wants people to see this place." It was literally the closest thing to paradise that I could ever imagine. You might say, well not everyone wants to travel. Really? You show me a person that simply wants to stay home and sit in front of the boob-tube and I'll show you someone who is letting their life pass before their eyes.

I had the decision this morning (on my day off) to either turn on the television and listen to Regis and Kelly ramble about nothing, or participate in a mentally strengthening exercise such as blogging. And you know what, no one may ever read this post, but I am having a good time writing. The more you write, the better you become at writing, and I want to be a writer. I want to write books that inspire people to greatness, and because of that, I know I need to blog more. So today it starts. And what is my goal? My goal is to blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That should give you something to chew on. We'll be talking about health, wealth, and wisdom. And probably alot of other things that might just make life more enjoyable and more fun. I'll asign a challenge every day. A bit of spiritual homework. Todays challenge is to pick up a book that has been laying around your house for a long time. You know that book which you have been saying, "I will read that book as soon as I get the time." A few years ago, I was listening to a radio show (because I only listen to talk radio) and the lady was one of those people who help you get organized and what not. And she said one of her tips is that you can do anything for 15 minutes. She was referencing cleaning a room, or organizing papers. But today, I want you to pick that book up, and read for 15 minutes. You might be surprised that you won't have a desire to turn the television on, and before you know it, you will have read 10 chapters. I look forward to hearing about how this assignment works for you.