DOES EVIL EXIST?
The 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 again. "Yes, sir," the students replied.
The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil, too, since evil exists; and according to the principle that 'our works define who we are'... then God is evil."
The students became quiet before such an answer. The professor was pleased with himself and told his students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
Another student then raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question, professor?"
"Of course," replied the professor. This second student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?" "What kind of question is this?" asked the professor, "of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The other 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. Every body and every object is susceptible to study when it has, or transmits, energy; and heat is what makes a body or matter have, or transmit, energy."
He continued, "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 too little heat."
The student then asked, "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. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths 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 have to measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? So '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 it does - as I have already said. We see it every day. 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 light and heat do. 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 in silence.
And that young man's name was . . .
Albert Einstein!
Author Unknown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A PARABLE OF {T}ERROR
Satan (ego) called a worldwide convention. In the opening address to its evil angels, it said, "We can't keep the humans from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship with God. If they gain that connection with God, our power over them is broken."
"So let them go to their churches; let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that relationship with God."
"This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their God and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," it answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."
"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice within. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive. To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays nonessential crap constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with God."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."
"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Ha! That will fragment those families quickly!"
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders."
"Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy!"
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."
"Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning; but crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from God."
"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!"
It was quite a convention. The evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing people everywhere to get more busy and more rushed, going here and there.
I guess the question is: Has the devil/ego been successful at its scheme?
You be the judge! Does "busy" mean:
B-eing
U-nder
S-atan's
Y-oke
?????
Author Unknown
How very happily we live,
free from busyness
among those who are busy.
Among busy people,
free from busyness we dwell.
-Dhammapada, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Glitch in Time
A long time ago, in a Universe far, far away lived a Master of The Force, a Jet-eye Master named Yucca. As he was meditating, he received an impression, more of a feeling really, that he was being summoned to an obscure planet thousands of light years distant. He felt the pressure of fear, dominance and persecution drawing him as the scent of a flower draws a bee, and it was irresistible, absolutely overwhelming!
He was very well versed in the art of astral travel and out-of-body experiences, so he decided to look in on this tiny, blue obscure planet in an out-of-the-way solar system with very little of significance to attract any travelers from distant realms.
As he was soaring between the clouds and the pastures dotted with sheep, he was drawn into a cave in the side of a mountain close to where the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks. He was unable to escape the pull of that overpowering Force and shot right into that cave, where everything went black for a moment. Then, he thought he saw a distant light, but was unable to focus his eyes properly. What a strange feeling this is, he thought within his-Self!
The pressure was unlike anything he could remember, except in the recesses of his memory. What’s happening to me, he thought! Suddenly he felt himself struggling for breath and immediately a loud cry escaped his lips. That can’t be me, he considered!
At once, he felt his body being lifted and wrapped in some type of soft material and was placed on a spongy surface that smelled like . . . hay? Could this be happening to me, he mused? How by the power of The Force did I manage to get caught in a different Life Stream?
Years later, following an intense session of meditation and trials for his initiation within the Halls at Heliopolis, did he recall a name that seemed familiar, yet unseeingly strange for his dialect. This name, Yucca, kept fleeting through the recesses of his mind, bobbing and weaving like an antelope being chased across the plain, running for its life in fear of being lost forever. Yucca, he thought. What is a Yucca? Perhaps I am a Yucca, whatever that is, he mulled over wearily, mentally exhausted by the last seven weeks of rituals he had endured, following his oath into The Secret Brotherhood.
Finally the hierophant, whose name is unimportant, laid hands on the head before him and said: “Before you stands the Logos of The Holy One, the circle of the Human race, the Seven of Time. On his brow will I place the title CHRIST, and by his triumph over the trials administered by us, the Council of the Seven Sages, has he earned the name Yucca ben Jesus, and by this name shall he show our people where salvation and Truth resides.”
. . . and the rest is pseduo-history!
Bob Alexander (1988)