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 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 room.
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.
I'm sure many of you have seen this story. I will start off by saying, its not true. I have researched this story many times over the years, and the story actually began circulation in the early 1960's (or a variation thereof). There have been many searches for the origin of this story and one was finally discovered, which I will discuss soon.
This story was so problematic for some people, possibly since it spread like wildfire in a book in the 1960's, a newspaper in 1977, by email in 1996 and finally in a You-tube video in the early 2000's, that a hoax virus e-mail was sent in response to this email. The text of the hoax e-mail is below:
Very Urgent!!!!!!!
PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR.
If you receive an email titled: "It Takes Guts to Say Jesus" DO NOT OPEN IT. It will erase everything on your hard drive. This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM; AOL states that this is a very dangerous virus, much worse, than "Melissa," and that there is NO Remedy for it at this time. Some very sick individual has succeeded in using the reformat function from Norton Utilities causing it to completely erase all documents on the hard drive. It has been designed to work with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. It destroys Macintosh and IBM compatible computers.
This is a new, very malicious and not many people know about it. Pass this warning along to EVERYONE in your address book and please share it with all your online friends ASAP so that this threat maybe stopped. Please practice cautionary measures and tell anyone that may have access to your computer. Forward this warning to everyone that you know that might access the Internet.
Joyce L. Bober
IBM Information Systems
Pittsburgh Mailing Systems
412 - 922-8744
This e-mail was researched in detail and proven to be a hoax. The reality was, someone was trying to squelch this story. Was the reason because it was untrue? Or because they did not want this message of hope to come out.
So I told you this story was untrue. But it is actually, believe it or not, inspired by a true story. The teacher was not an atheist, he was a deist. He wasn't anti God, just didn't believe in the power of prayer.
The story is told by author Richard H. Harvey, author of the book 70 Years of Miracles.
This first-hand account is of Harvey's experience in a chemistry class at Allegheny College, in Meadville Pennsylvania in the 1920's (not just a few years ago at USC). Harvey had this professor, Dr. Lee, who was a self-professed deist, who believed God created the world, and then left it to its own devices. He therefore did not believe in the power of prayer.
Apparently Dr. Lee began each year with a series of three lectures, the third culminating in a challenge for any student to stop the glass beaker he was about to stop from breaking through prayer. Dr. Lee asked for a volunteer to pray before he dropped the beaker. Apparently Harvey volunteered and prayed, and Dr. Lee dropped the glass beaker, which hit his shoe, not the floor, and did not shatter. The class cheered. And while the teacher did not run from the room, he did stop his annual lecture against prayer.
In my research I was able to verify that Dr. Lee did teach at Allegheny College during this time period, that Richard H. Harvey did attend during this time period, and that Harvey did attend one of Dr. Lee's lecture classes. Richard Harvey's son also has verified that Harvey told this story personally, and it was not one he researched purely for his book.
Frankly, with a little faith, I want to believe this one.
So I finally get to my point. There are hundreds, thousands, of true miracles out there. There was even a true version deep down under this story. Why do we want so badly to post and share and create a lie, when the truth is so beautiful?
John 8:32 (ESV) says "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
I just wanted to say that, maybe instead of passing on the next inspirational e-mail you have, and checking "evangelize" off your list, maybe tell one of your stories, send a message to a friend with a miracle which happened to you, or even tell a miracle you experienced to someone in person. Maybe there is someone out there who needs to hear your story, and your truth.
Luke 8:17 (NIV) says " For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open."
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