ChuckWise

A professor at the university asked his students the following question: Everything that exists was created by God? One student bravely answered: Yes, created by God. Did God create everything? - the professor asked. “Yes, sir,” replied the student. The professor asked: If God created everything, then God created evil, since it exists. And according to the principle that our deeds define ourselves, then God is evil. The student became silent after hearing such an answer. The professor was very pleased with himself. He boasted to students for proving once again that faith in God is a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said: Can I ask you a question, professor? “Of course,” replied the professor. The student got up and asked: Professor, is cold a thing? What kind of question? Of course it exists. Have you ever been cold? Students laughed at the young man’s question. The young man answered: Actually, sir, cold doesn’t exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is actually the absence of heat. A person or object can be studied on whether it has or transmits energy. Absolute zero (-460 degrees Fahrenheit) is a complete absence of heat. All matter becomes inert and unable to react at this temperature. Cold does not exist. We created this word to describe what we feel in the absence of heat.

The student continued: Professor, does darkness exist? — Of course it exists. You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness also does not exist. Darkness is actually the absence of light. We can study the light but not the darkness. We can use Newton’s prism to spread white light across multiple colors and explore the different wavelengths of each color. You can’t measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into the world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you tell how dark a certain space is? You measure how much light is presented. Isn’t it so? Darkness is a term man uses to describe what happens in the absence of light.

In the end, the young man asked the professor: Sir. does evil exist? –Of course, as I said before. We see him every day. Cruelty, numerous crimes and violence throughout the world. These examples are nothing but a manifestation of evil. To this, the student answered: Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist for itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is like darkness and cold—a man-made word to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not faith or love, which exist as light and warmth. Evil is the result of the absence of Divine love in the human heart. It’s the kind of cold that comes when there is no heat, or the kind of darkness that comes when there’s no light.

The student’s name was Albert Einstein.

Carl Sandburg’s “Abraham Lincoln” is a monumental six-volume biography that presents Lincoln as both mythic figure and flesh-and-blood human being. Originally published in two parts - “Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years” (1926) and “Abraham Lincoln: The War Years” (1939) - Sandburg’s work combines meticulous historical research with poetic sensibility to create an intimate portrait of America’s sixteenth president. The biography traces Lincoln’s journey from his humble beginnings in Kentucky and Illinois through his rise as a lawyer and politician to his presidency during the nation’s greatest crisis.

Sandburg emphasizes Lincoln’s connection to the common people and his embodiment of American democratic ideals. The work portrays Lincoln as a self-made man who retained his humanity despite wielding enormous power during the Civil War. Through extensive use of primary sources, letters, and contemporary accounts, Sandburg reveals Lincoln’s evolution from prairie lawyer to wartime leader who preserved the Union and ended slavery.

The biography stands as both historical scholarship and literary achievement, capturing Lincoln’s complexity - his melancholy and humor, his political pragmatism and moral conviction. Sandburg’s Lincoln emerges as a tragic hero who saved the nation at the ultimate personal cost, martyred just as victory was achieved. The work significantly shaped popular understanding of Lincoln and remains influential in Lincoln scholarship despite later historians questioning some of Sandburg’s romantic interpretations.