"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."

Quite an interesting argument being e-forwarded around...

Evil is the absence of God... hmmm

Nope... not convinced.

For Evil to exist, it's opposite must exist, i.e. Good.

Good is a relative term but for arguments sake, let's say Good exists... and using Einstein's arguement, Evil is the absence of Good. Well, that leaves all the grey area as Evil. I don't agree with this... does God? Everything not done in his name is Evil? Atheists are Evil by nature? Or is it that they do have God in their hearts but simply don't believe it? Possible? Sure... Likely? No.

Is Evil a bad thing? Is Dexter's character bad by nature (A sociopath who kills the wicked)? Am I Evil because I don't believe an omni-benevolent god exists? Can my heart never be pure?

There are also the counter-arguments to consider...

Perhaps God is the absence of Evil... or Good is the absence of Evil.

This is where the argument get's complex, redundant, and begs for a proper definition.

Good = Not Evil, Evil = Not Good, God = Not Evil, Evil = Not God

Evil² = (Not Good)(Not God)... which we break down to:

Evil² = (Not² + 2GoodGod + GoodGod²)

√Evil² = √(Not² + 2GoodGod + GoodGod²)...

Evil = Good God! is this equation informative!

(i worked it out on my drafting calculater :))

Ok, I'm ridiculous... but my argument remains! Is the absence of Evil a by-product of God?

Some of the most evil people in the history of man have acted in the interest of God.

Hitler believed God wanted him to rid the world of Jews.

Charles Manson believed he killed in the name of God.

Numerous clergyman in the Middle Ages were corrupt and self-serving, yet acted as they were doing God's work. (Yes i've seen the Tudors, :))

Even in a casual discussion with a former coworker... she confided in me that some of the meanest people she knows are people who believe they are God's people.

Perhaps one can argue that these people... even though THEY believed they were acting in God's interest... are Evil.

But this brings about the objective viewpoint... which we all know is impossible.

People have subjective experiences and cannot fully relate this experience with another which means that no person can have an objective experience or be truly objective.

But that's a tangent that I don't want to explore right now...

"Evil is the absence of God in one's heart."

what a bunch of bull $hit...

the more i think about it, the less i believe in the validity of the email.

Evil is manifested by man... out of fear of God's Judgment. Before man existed, evil did not exist... neither did good. Animals just did what was necessary to maintain life.

Hungry? Eat. Hot? Shade. Horny? Fornicate.

I WISH life was lived this simply!

I'd probably have more hair on my head... and could see my feet over my gut =T

This reminds me why I hate email forwards... I want to believe in the message it brings, but I'm skeptical of the validity of stories like this.

It's possible that Einstein... during a philosophical discussion about the existence of God... stumped his teacher by defining Evil as an absence of God... Perhaps this took place.

But who is this message intended for? Atheists? Agnostics? Evil-doers?

If I allow God into my heart... Evil will no longer exist inside me?

I had no idea Evil was there in the first place! How did it get there?

Dammit to heck!

Well, it's too late for me... stay away everyone, lest you become infected, too.