What IS Evil?

[Grungekid]

Personally, I don't believe evil exists. I believe evil to be a point of view. Evil is something bad, cruel, unjust, morally reprehensible, etc. What you may see as bad, I may see as neutral or good. Some people think file sharing is bad, I do not. Some people think enjoying violent entertainment (video games, movies, books, etc) is bad. I do not. It's all a matter of perception. Therefor, good and evil don't exist. There no black and white in this world, everything is grey.

This is such a barrel of tripe. I don't know how many times I have had to go over it. Are you not fallible? You can have wrong ideas about morallity; it doesn't change the fact that there can be such a thing as ethical truth. If you really don't believe in right or wrong at all, then you should really just stop complaining about anything you consider to be wrongdoing, since it has no substance at all.

[jc49]

Just found another def. of evil...The lack of God.

AMEN AMEN

[Sion]

Evil is not a "thing," it is simply the absence of good.

Exactly, and God is all good...So why would God create something that He is absent from? People use Isaiah 45:7 to say that God created evil...which I think is a bunch of bogus...Some translations say darkness instead of evil. Is God talking about the "thick darkness" that God used to camp with the Isrialites out in the desert so that they wouldn't fall over dead from His Glory? Anyone study this out?

Walking in Victory,

J

Deuteronomy 32

39 'Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.

Isaiah 45

7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.'

Jeremiah 25

33 And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.

[Artemus Prime]

The only oversight I have with the above post is that one must keep Scripture in its proper context in order for those particular verses to make proper sense...

[jehovah Nissi]

The only oversight I have with the above post is that one must keep Scripture in its proper context in order for those particular verses to make proper sense...

Amen to that...rightly dividing God's word is always good

[Guest man]

This is such a barrel of tripe. I don't know how many times I have had to go over it. Are you not fallible? You can have wrong ideas about morallity; it doesn't change the fact that there can be such a thing as ethical truth. If you really don't believe in right or wrong at all, then you should really just stop complaining about anything you consider to be wrongdoing, since it has no substance at all.

What is your problem? I also do not believe in evil or good. I don't proclaim to be right however, it is just my own personal belief, like your believe that they do exist. And this sentence "If you really don't believe in right or wrong at all, then you should really just stop complaining about anything you consider to be wrongdoing, since it has no substance at all." is just ignorant (please don't take offense to that word, too many people do. It just means lacking knowledge or comprehension). One like myself can complain about what they believe to be wrong doing because it is their belief that it is wrong. Why? Because it is their belief. I don't believe that there is any clear cut good and bad, but I do have my beliefs of what is good and bad to me.

Do you believe in God?

Don't worry...I'm not gonna jump down your throat if you don't...It kinda sounds like you don't.

I'm just curious is all.

If you do you do....if you don't you don't.

[Guest man]

No I don't. I don't disbelieve in the possibility of a deity or deities, but I really really don't believe in the particular deity of which you speak.

Why not?

I don't want to get into anything deep here.

If you feel it's none of my business....I'll accept that.

[Grungekid]

What is your problem? I also do not believe in evil or good. I don't proclaim to be right however, it is just my own personal belief, like your believe that they do exist. And this sentence "If you really don't believe in right or wrong at all, then you should really just stop complaining about anything you consider to be wrongdoing, since it has no substance at all." is just ignorant (please don't take offense to that word, too many people do. It just means lacking knowledge or comprehension). One like myself can complain about what they believe to be wrong doing because it is their belief that it is wrong. Why? Because it is their belief. I don't believe that there is any clear cut good and bad, but I do have my beliefs of what is good and bad to me.

Your beliefs mean little if they contradict eachother. On the one hand, you say that you don't think there is any such action that is wrong or right, but then you want to turn around and personally start to take convictions that presuppose those same quallities.

[Grungekid]

I say there is no universal black and white. You may think one thing good while I think it bad or vica versa. For that reason, the reason that not 100% of all people can agree on one definition of good or evil, is why I say it doesn't really exist. However, we each have our own definitions of good and evil. There need not be a universal definition for us to have our own. Even though I don't believe in the common good and evil really exist, I still like or agree, or dislike or disagree somethings. I don't think killing someone who is a threat to your life is bad, some people do. I believe interacting with people is a good thing, some people don't. These are my own belief's based on my own feelings, not what people say is good or bad. We each have our own concepts of good and evil, that I do not deny. That is why we judge, because of our own definitions of good and evil and what is defined as such. Is there a definition for good and evil and what counts as such that we will all accept? No, which is why I say there really is no good and evil, only the illusion that we create.

People don't have to agree on something to make it an extant principle. Many of the specifics of modern physics are still hotly debated. All you're really saying is that you like or don't like a certain behavior, as per moral subjectivism, but that really doesn't make much of a difference now, does it? No one has to give your feelings towards certain things any weight, because they're just feelings.

Both of the arguments you have given are very common, and are ultimately fallacious. If good and bad are an illusion (which makes sense if you're an atheist/logical positivist/metaphysical naturalist/LeVeyan Satanist, etc.) then there can be no factual morals, and we lapse into nihilism. Again, you can expect lots of things you don't like to happen to you, and you can't put forth any compelling reasoning to try to prevent it, because objective morals don't exist.

Truthfully, moral relativists just lack the courage to try to correct an ethically mistaken person's assumptions. There CAN be, and currently is, quite a bit of commonality between ethical codes from nation to nation, and even if there weren't, there is no reason to assume that it means absolutes do not exist. We just have to work to find them, and then to promulgate them.

Look at this statement carefully: there are no absolutes. See anything? If you do, then you should be able to understand why moral relativism is just a popular joke.

[Rick-Parker]

Life is black and white when it comes to God. There are no gray areas. It doesn't matter if we believe it or not. You either follow Christ (white) or the flesh (black).