Stand Up!!
There was a
professor of philosophy 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 because of his
reputation. At the end of every semester on the last day, he would say to his
class of 300 students, "If there is 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 believes
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 do nothing but stop and stare. Most
of the students thought 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 enroll. He was a
Christian, and had heard the stories about his professor. He was required to
take the class for his major, and he was afraid. But 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
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
would 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 pleat 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,
proceeded to walk to the front of the room and shared 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.