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.

"Yes, Sir," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then He also created
evil since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works
define who we are, then God is evil."

The student became quiet before such an answer.

The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students
that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can 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 this? Of course it exists. Have you never
been cold?" remarked the professor.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to
the law of physics what we consider cold is in reality the absence of
heat. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or
transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter transmit
energy. 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 no heat.

The student continued. "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 measure the amount of light present.
Isn't this correct? 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 as I have already
said. We see it every day. It is in the daily examples 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 exists just as does light and heat. 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.

The young man's name - - - - - - - - - Albert Einstein