A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question: "Did God create everything that exists? And a student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!"

"God created everything? The professor asked. "Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied. The professor next asked, "If God created everything, then God created evil. And since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, we can assume that God is evil."

The student became quiet and did not respond to the professor's hypothetical statement. So the professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the class that he had proven once more that the Christian¹ faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "May I ask you a question, professor?" "Of course," replied the professor. The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?" "What kind of question is that? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The other students snickered at the young man's question.

Then 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 or object is susceptible² to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460°F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert³ and incapable⁴ of reacting at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?" And the professor responded, "Of course it does." The student replied, "Once again you're 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 wavelengths⁵ of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate⁶ it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by humans 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, as I've already said. We see it every day. It's in the daily examples of man's inhumanity to man. It's in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations⁷ 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's 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 humans do not have God's love present in their hearts. It's like the cold that comes when there's no heat, or the darkness that comes when there's no light.?

Finally, the professor sat down and asked, "Young man, who are you?" "Sir, my name is Einstein, Albert Einstein."