We usually give little thought to the value of water, but when it’s scarce, we treasure every drop. After all, without water, we cannot live. Likewise, Habakkuk suggests that without faith we cannot live either. Like water, faith is colorless, tasteless, and odorless, but still quite refreshing.
“Increase our faith,” the apostles pleaded. Jesus responded with a lesson that suggests what matters in life is not the quantity but the quality of one’s faith. Simply put, he told them that faith is animated by our way of living; a point one student endeavored to explain to his skeptical teacher.
Being an atheist, his philosophy professor began class by asking him, “You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?” “Yes sir,” the student said. “So you believe in God?” “Absolutely,” the student replied.
“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, sir,” the student replied. “Well, according to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?” “Nothing,” he answered. “I only have my faith.” “Ah, faith,” the Professor repeated. “And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.”
The student stood quietly for a moment, before asking a question of his own. “Professor, is there such thing as heat?” “Yes,” the Professor replied. “And is there such a thing as cold?” “Yes, son, there’s cold too.”
“No sir, there isn’t. You can have lots of heat, even super-heat, mega-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 be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.
“Absolute zero 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. We can measure heat in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
“What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?” “Yes,” the Professor replied. “What is night if it isn’t darkness?” “You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of light. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light you have darkness, but in reality, darkness isn’t. Otherwise, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?”
“So what point are you making, young man?” “My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.”
The Professor’s face could not hide his surprise this time. “Flawed? Can you explain how?” “Sir, you are working on the premise of duality,” the student explained. “You view 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.”
“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 shook his head. “Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution 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? Let me give you an example of what I mean.”
The student looked around the room. “Has anyone in the class ever seen the Professor’s brain?” The class broke out into laughter. “Is there anyone here who has ever heard or felt the Professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so. So, with all due respect, sir, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, so if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures?”
Now the room is silent. The Professor just stared at the student. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the old man answered, “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 continued. “Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?” The Professor responded, “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.”
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.”
Sitting down, perhaps the professor finally got the picture that faith, like any glass of refreshing water and life itself, is a priceless gift from God to be valued, appreciated and lived from the womb to the tomb. A little faith can go a long way, just as a tiny seed will spring up into a great tree.