The old man shows the scholar God's existence
There was a very nice man who thought of himself as something of a scholar. He used to give talks here, there and everywhere. Since he was very, very rich, he was able to buy whatever he wanted. Because of this, pride entered into him. He said, “Whatever I want, I can get. Why do I need God then? Everything is at my command.”Gradually, gradually he stopped believing in God because he felt he could manage without God. One evening he was giving a talk, and he wanted to prove the non-existence of God. He announced from the speaker’s dais, “Previously I used to have absolute faith in God. Now that I am very, very rich and I have acquired so much wisdom, I have come to realise that there is no God.”
People in the audience were simply shocked by this dramatic statement. Then the speaker said, “I can prove it. I am telling you that God does not exist. If God exists, I will give Him five minutes. In five minutes, He has to take my life away. I have openly declared that I am an atheist. I do not believe in God. Now let us see what kind of punishment God has in store for me if, in fact, He exists. I do not believe that He does. I am giving Him five minutes. Whether He comes here personally or not, He has to find a way to kill me. If He cannot kill me within the time limit, definitely it proves that there is no God.”
Five minutes passed. Then it became ten minutes and fifteen minutes, but God did not appear to kill the speaker. He said, “See, here is the proof. I even gave God extra time. God does not exist, so we do not have to pray to Him any longer.”
A very old man was in the audience. He stood up and said, “O scholar, your stupidity beggars description. You have declared that there is no God. Now I can prove to you that there is a God.”
The scholar said, “Prove it, prove it! I do not think you will be successful.”
The old man said, “Do you by any chance have a son?”
The scholar said, “Yes, I have three sons.”
The old man continued, “Now suppose one of your sons speaks ill of you and insults you mercilessly in public, and another son is very kind to you, very devoted to you and full of love for you. He is so disappointed and disgusted that his brother is misbehaving so badly. What if that good son brings you a gun and asks you to shoot his brother? Will you do it?”
The scholar said, “Shoot my own son? No matter how bad he may be, he is my son. He has the authority to speak ill of me. After all, he is my son, so who will take him seriously? If he speaks ill of me, even if he denies our connection, I will always be for him, and when I die, I will leave a great deal of money for him just because he is my son.”
The old man said, “Do you not know that we are all God’s children? Now you are speaking ill of God in an attempt to prove that there is no God. Poor God! He has so much compassion for you, for all His children. If He wants to kill you, He can do so in the twinkling of an eye. He does not need a gun. You, as an ordinary human being, have so much affection and compassion for your son. You would not kill him even if he spoke ill of you and insulted you in public. Here also, how can God kill you? God has so much love for you. There are so many people in this hall who will be eager to give God a gun at this moment to kill you, but God will never be able to kill you because of His love for you. God’s Love for us is infinitely greater than a father’s love for his son.”
Immediately the great scholar started shedding tears. He withdrew from his pocket a large amount of money. He said, “I am going from one person to another. I am distributing all my money. How could I say that God does not exist? Forgive me. Take this money.”
He gave all the money that he had with him and then he cried and cried in front of the audience. He said, “I beg all of you, please forgive me. I will never, never speak ill of God again. God does exist. I am a father. I know how much affection I have for my son. God’s affection for me is infinitely greater than my affection for my son, so all of you have to forgive me.”
