This is a true story of something that happened
just a few years ago at USC. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply
committed atheist. His primary goal for one required calss was to spend the entire
semester attempting to prove that God couldn't exist. His students were always afraid to
argue with him because of his impecable logic.
For twenty years, he had taught this class and no
one had ener had the courage to go against him. Sure, some ahd argued in class at times,
but no one had ever "really gone against him" (you'll see what I mean later).
Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation.
At the end of semester, on the last day, he would
say to his class of THREE HUNDRED STUDENTS, "If there's anyone here who still
believes in Jesus, stand up!"
In twenty years of teaching, no one had ever stood
up. They knew what he would do next. He would say, "Because anyone who does believe
in God is a fool. If God existed, He could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the
ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God and yet He can't do
it." And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and
it would shatter into a hundred pieces.
All of the students would just stop and stare. Most
of them were convinced that God didn't exist. Certainly a number of Christians slipped
through, but for TWENTY YEARS they had been too afraid to stand up.
Well, a few years ago, there was a freshman who
happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian and had heard the stories about
this professor. He had to take the class because it was one fo the required classes for
his major.
He was afraid.
For three months, that semester, he prayed every
morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or
what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith... he hoped .
Finally the day came. The professor said, "if
there is anyone here who still believes in God, STAND UP!!" The professor and the
class of three hundred peopl looked at him, shocked as he stood at the back of the
classroom.
The professor shouted, "YOU FOOL!!!!
IF GOD EXISTED, HE COULD KEEP THIS PIECE OF CHALKFROM BREAKING WHEN IT
HITS THE GROUND!!"
He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it
slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg
and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away unbroken.
The professor's jaw dropped as he stared at the
chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall.
The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to
the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. THREE HUNDRED
STUDENTS stayed and listened as he told of God's love for them and of His power through
Jesus.
WOULD YOU HAVE STOOD UP?
"Yet to all who receive His Name, He gave the
right to become children of God - children not born of natural descent, nor of human
decision or a husband's will, but BORN OF GOD." "But He knows
the way that I take. When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold." -Job 23:13
