In Absentia

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 God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal 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?” The students snickered at the young man’s question.

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 susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or 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 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 not like faith, or love that exist 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.

However, right as the class thought that young Albert had thoroughly schooled the professor and was going to sit down, he continued:
"Of course, this means, as darkness is a concept created to describe the absence of light-causing light to be the reason why we see darkness-evil too is a concept that was only created because there is an absence of God in our lives."

The professor's eyes, previously downcast, were raised up to meet young Albert's yet again. "Yes, I understand," he replied, straightening his posture, "Well done, Mr. Einstein. Will you now resume being seated?"

"Yes, professor," Albert replied, "However, if I may, I have a larger point to make; I humbly ask you to let me continue for a moment longer."

The professor eyed the young student warily, but with a slight gleam of curiosity, respect, and concession in his eyes, relaxed, and spoke: "Alright, continue; I'm curious as to where you're going with this, and don't see the harm in it."

"Thank you kindly, professor," said young Einstein.

"I did say that evil does not exist, but I will say that God is still responsible for humanity's creation of the concept." The professor looked intrigued; the rest of the class seemed to shift in mild discomfort.



"God is omnipotent and omniscient, yes? Meaning we can also assume he is ubiquitous; that is, ever-present, or all-present?"

The professor thought for a moment. "I suppose that's correct, yes," he replied.


Seeing he was still on the same page with the professor, Albert spoke on: "So that means, the only way God can be absent is if He, in His omnipotence, has decided to remove Himself from a place. It would be as if He was a carrier of fire who refused to light, warm, and bring love to the dark places in our lives. This does not necessarily make Him evil; it simply means that He is not obligated to be present."

The professor looked confused, brows furrowed in contemplation. "Hm... so, what are you getting at?"


"I'm saying that God, while he didn't necessarily create evil, has built His absence into the design of His creation; that, while evil is just a man-made concept, God's absence is entirely foreseen, planned, and premeditated, by His own will. He is not only able to be absent, but, more importantly, is able to be present, and chooses not to. Where does he choose not to? Well, like you said, we see it every day. 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 God's absence. The God that is one of love, while not necessarily evil, is also one that inflicts wounds upon our reality, by the nature of His choosing where to be present with and where to forsake His creation. The very idea of evil itself exists in the negative spaces that God chooses to abandon. These pockets of His divine absence can only exist because He wills it, because He allows there to be contrast between Him and all things that are not-Him; there is no other alternative explanation.
As the Bible said, ". . . Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
So, God is not evil; however, he is an affliction, but one that is to be inflicted on all, as per reversibility of merits. Further along the path, this savage interrogation for the presence of God imposes an odd hope – one of Him truly existing in nothingness. Every supplication is met with silence and dejection. Where He should lie is a telling emptiness and the hints of Him in moments just before, where hope, expectation and most importantly, desperation for His appearance are at its peak are perhaps where He manifests as something closest to our perception. To protract this moment for as long as possible becomes the only means forward – as if the blazing Logos demanded the exercise of a fragile power just above annihilation, the one of a harmony in ruins. Even if it were possible, to progress beyond means to be enveloped entirely and to lose sight of Him. This is perhaps the most crucial moment in the journey so far — the one where the seeds of a coming, terrifying conclusion start flowering: The journey itself may just be closest thing to a destination.

This silence that among all man has charged with sacred horror, it becomes sovereign, in repugnant nativity, and detaches itself from the bonds which paralyse a vertiginous movement towards the void. Breathless ecstatic experience, it opens the horizon a bit more, this wound of God; it is the assassination of the abyss of possibilities, the depths of being left to holy vultures.

Therefore, the absence of God becomes more important than God’s presence. The idea of God is pale next to that of perdition . . . perdition is precisely where His precious absence can flourish freely and expand for eternity, but this is a future matter. For now there is only the conclusion that to be devoted to truth so entirely yet be denied any concrete answer inevitably places nothingness as the seat of God’s totality.