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Many Christians have had their faith challenged
or even ridiculed in the setting of a college class room, an experience that
recalls Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (see 1
Kings 18). I have received
this email several times starting in 1996. It is in the Kerux database as
illustration #4080. Does anyone have a verifiable account of a
confrontation like this that has a miraculous conclusion?
Have You Stood Up Lately?
This is a true story of something that happened just a few
years ago at USC [University of Southern California]. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply
committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class 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 impeccable logic. For twenty
years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go
against him. Sure, some had 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 every semester, on the last day, he would say to
his class of 300 students, "If there anyone here who still believes in Jesus,
stand up!" In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was
going to 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 could
do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God
couldn’t exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for
20 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 of the required
classes for his major. And he was afraid. But for 3 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 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the
classroom. The professor shouted, "You FOOL!! If God existed, he could keep this
piece of chalk from breaking when it hit 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 walked 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. 300 students stayed and
listened as he told of God’s love for them and of his power through Jesus.
"Yet to all who received HIM, to those who believed in HIS
name, HE gave the right to become children of God–children born not 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 23:10
As someone who was challenged in a public
setting about his faith (for me it was a high school classroom) this story
resonates with me. But did this particular event actually happen, with the
miraculous preservation of dropped chalk? I dug a little deeper by
contacting the philosophy department at USC. Here is the email I got in
response:
Dear Rev. Holwick,
I do not believe that this story is true. In the first place,
we do not have any classes with 300 students in them. In the second place, there
isn’t anyone who has been on the faculty for 20 years who is also a "committed"
atheist. In the third place, I think we’re pretty good about keeping our
personal views out of our lectures, especially in large classes. In the fourth
place, the argument you suggested is fallacious.
Are you sure that you are thinking of USC? Perhaps this
incident occurred at another university or more likely, not at all.
John Dreher
Director, School of Philosophy
From dreher@almaak.usc.edu
May 15, 1997
I am not sure what "fallacious argument" he is
referring to, but at least he never heard of the episode. Others have
questioned it as well.
TruthorFiction.com
<http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/dt/V136/N04/04-philoso.04c.html>
provides this information:
The University of Southern California has officially denied
that this ever happened there. Dr. Dallas Willard, a philosophy professor at USC,
has told TruthOrFiction.com that he’s never heard of it happening in his more
than 30 years at the school.
There is a related story, however, told by author Richard H.
Harvey in his book 70 YEARS OF MIRACLES. It’s a first-hand account of his
experience in a Chemistry class at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania
in the 1920’s. Harvey says the professor, a Dr. Lee, was a deist who annually
lectured against prayer. In one of the class sessions, Dr. Lee said he was going
to drop a glass flask on the floor and asked if anyone would like to pray first
that the flask would not break, thereby demonstrating the reality of prayer.
Richard Harvey volunteered and prayed. The professor dropped the flask and it
rolled off his shoe to the floor without damage. The class cheered and the
professor stopped his annual lectures against prayer. TruthOrFiction.com has
confirmed with Allegheny college that Richard Harvey was a student there and
that Dr. Lee was a professor. Richard Harvey’s son, Rev. John Harvey, a minister
in Toccoa, Georgia, says this all happened before he was born, but confirms that
the story was told by his father.
Also see USC comment at <http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/dt/V136/N04/04-philoso.04c.html>
(Another treatment of the email can be found at: <http://www.snopes.com/religion/chalk.htm>)
In 2003 I received this email about a similar episode of
college confrontation, but without a miraculous conclusion:
"In the fall of 1965 when I was a freshman at the College of
the Sequoias in Visalia, California, I had signed up for a required political
science class. The instructor looked about the room and remarked, "I see too
many students have enrolled for this class. I think I know what to do. You all
need to know that I am an atheist and believe all Christians to be fools. If,
during the term of this course, I determine that you are a Christian, I will
immediately fail you from the course. If you are a Christian I would advise you
to get up and leave my class." At this I immediately got up and walked out of
the class. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard, but knew in my heart that I
would never make it through the semester without betraying my faith. The thing
that startled me most was that there were only six of us who walked that day. As
we were walking to the administration building to change classes I realized I
should have stood up and called for others who believed in Christ to follow us
out. Mine was an act of cowardice, but it could have been an act of glory to God
if I would have but stood my ground for Jesus, for I am certain there could
easily have been a mass exodus because I knew many in the class who believed in
Christ.
"The Lord has long since forgiven me for my lack of courage
that day. I pray others will be able to stand fast when they are confronted with
such a challenge to their faith.
In Christ,
Rev. Joe Gentzler
First Christian Church
Columbus, Kansas
May 17, 2003
In 2004 I
received another email on the topic. It has a pragmatic rather than
miraculous conclusion:
A college professor, an avowed Atheist, was teaching his
class. He shocked several of his students when he flatly stated he was going to
prove there was no God.
Addressing the ceiling he shouted: "God, if you are real, then
I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you 15 minutes!"
The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin fall.
Ten minutes went by. Again he taunted God, saying, "Here I am, God. I’m still
waiting."
His countdown got down to the last couple of minutes when a
Marine — just released from active duty and newly registered in the class —
walked up to the professor, hit him full force in the face, and sent him
tumbling from his lofty platform. The professor was out cold! At first, the
students were shocked and babbled in confusion.
The young Marine took a seat in the front row and sat
silently. The class fell silent… waiting.
Eventually, the professor came to, shaken. He looked at the
young Marine in the front row. When he regained his senses and could speak he
asked: "What’s the matter with you? Why did you do that?"
The Marine quietly replied, "God was busy. He sent me."
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