What is "evil"?

[juvenissun]

Why is it "evil"? Note that I'm not looking for examples of "evil", but what "evil" is in and of itself.

I said that. Evil is the thing which stops you from going to the heaven.
YOU are the one who asked for an example.

 

[quatona]

What is "positive"? Good intentions?

Sure, when "positive"="good", good intentions are positive. Good results are also positive.

 

[ananda]

I killed a chicken for other purposes, you eat the chicken. Not evil.
I killed the chick for you (evil), you do not eat it. Evil.

I do not see the reason. The chicken was painful no matter it is killed for whatever purpose.

In the first example, you assumed the negative karma. As it would already be dead, it would simply be something to eat to me. Skillful.

For the second example: if I accepted the meat, you would then be my proxy or agent; it would be more than just food - I would also be assuming the negative karma from you. Not skillful.

 

[ananda]

YOU are the one who asked for an example.

You're right, I was thinking about my OP, my apologies.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Interesting - if death is inherently and unavoidably evil, then an evil is necessary for you to get to heaven...

Should the terminally ill be kept alive at all costs, no matter their suffering? Should life support never be switched off? (I'm put in mind of Arthur Hugh Clough's couplet on murder in 'The Latest Decalogue', "Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive officiously to keep alive").

How do believers here stand on the Euthyphro Dilemma - does God command us to do what is good, or is it good because God commands it?

[i.e. does God require that we follow an independent universal moral imperative, or is God's command arbitrarily and necessarily good by definition?]

 

[Winken]

The absence of God is evil. Godless living is sin-filled living. It can't be anything else. Godly living is only possible through the acceptance of the atonement of Jesus. All else is vanity.

 

[juvenissun]

In the first example, you assumed the negative karma. As it would already be dead, it would simply be something to eat to me. Skillful.

For the second example: if I accepted the meat, you would then be my proxy or agent; it would be more than just food - I would also be assuming the negative karma from you. Not skillful.

OK, make sense.

 

[Colter]

How do you define "evil"?

From my philosophy, cosmology, religious book:

"Evil is a relativity concept. It arises out of the observation of the imperfections which appear in the shadow cast by a finite universe of things and beings as such a cosmos obscures the living light of the universal expression of the eternal realities of the Infinite One."
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"Evolutionary man finds it difficult fully to comprehend the significance and to grasp the meanings of evil, error, sin, and iniquity. Man is slow to perceive that contrastive perfection and imperfection produce potential evil; that conflicting truth and falsehood create confusing error; that the divine endowment of freewill choice eventuates in the divergent realms of sin and righteousness; that the persistent pursuit of divinity leads to the kingdom of God as contrasted with its continuous rejection, which leads to the domains of iniquity.

The Gods neither create evil nor permit sin and rebellion. Potential evil is time-existent in a universe embracing differential levels of perfection meanings and values. Sin is potential in all realms where imperfect beings are endowed with the ability to choose between good and evil. The very conflicting presence of truth and untruth, fact and falsehood, constitutes the potentiality of error. The deliberate choice of evil constitutes sin; the willful rejection of truth is error; the persistent pursuit of sin and error is iniquity." Urantia Book 1955​

 

[Eudaimonist]

So, death (itself) may be a tragedy for one, but does that automatically make it an evil?

For oneself? Yes, at least a small evil.

For some it is more (or less) evil than others. If one dies as a child, it is more evil than dying as a ninety year old man due to all of the potential that has been lost. And, if one dies while in incurable physical pain, it may be a mercy, but a cure would still have been better.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Eudaimonist]

The absence of God is evil. Godless living is sin-filled living. It can't be anything else. Godly living is only possible through the acceptance of the atonement of Jesus. All else is vanity.

So Christians are sinless and all non-Christians are sinful?


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[ananda]

Interesting - if death is inherently and unavoidably evil, then an evil is necessary for you to get to heaven...

Good point.

Should the terminally ill be kept alive at all costs, no matter their suffering? Should life support never be switched off? (I'm put in mind of Arthur Hugh Clough's couplet on murder in 'The Latest Decalogue', "Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive officiously to keep alive").

How do believers here stand on the Euthyphro Dilemma - does God command us to do what is good, or is it good because God commands it?

[i.e. does God require that we follow an independent universal moral imperative, or is God's command arbitrarily and necessarily good by definition?]

What if we are fragments of God? Does that change what is "good" or "evil"?

 

[ananda]

The absence of God is evil. Godless living is sin-filled living. It can't be anything else. Godly living is only possible through the acceptance of the atonement of Jesus. All else is vanity.

Is your God limited? If he is unlimited, then there wouldn't be such a thing as an "absence of God", right?

 

[ananda]

From my philosophy, cosmology, religious book:

"Evil is a relativity concept. It arises out of the observation of the imperfections which appear in the shadow cast by a finite universe of things and beings as such a cosmos obscures the living light of the universal expression of the eternal realities of the Infinite One."
=
=
=
"Evolutionary man finds it difficult fully to comprehend the significance and to grasp the meanings of evil, error, sin, and iniquity. Man is slow to perceive that contrastive perfection and imperfection produce potential evil; that conflicting truth and falsehood create confusing error; that the divine endowment of freewill choice eventuates in the divergent realms of sin and righteousness; that the persistent pursuit of divinity leads to the kingdom of God as contrasted with its continuous rejection, which leads to the domains of iniquity.

The Gods neither create evil nor permit sin and rebellion. Potential evil is time-existent in a universe embracing differential levels of perfection meanings and values. Sin is potential in all realms where imperfect beings are endowed with the ability to choose between good and evil. The very conflicting presence of truth and untruth, fact and falsehood, constitutes the potentiality of error. The deliberate choice of evil constitutes sin; the willful rejection of truth is error; the persistent pursuit of sin and error is iniquity." Urantia Book 1955​

If evil is relative, then there is no such thing as anything purely "evil" or "good", right?

 

[ananda]

For oneself? Yes, at least a small evil.

For some it is more (or less) evil than others. If one dies as a child, it is more evil than dying as a ninety year old man due to all of the potential that has been lost. And, if one dies while in incurable physical pain, it may be a mercy, but a cure would still have been better.


eudaimonia,

Mark

So would you say that "evil" is all relative, then, dependent on the perceiver?

 

[Colter]

In the U.S privately owned guns are used to stop crimes 2.5 million times annually, 1.9 million of those are hand guns. These statistics are not considered when media outlets sensationalize random gun violence. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...s-found-dead-oklahoma-house-article-1.2301476

If evil is relative, then there is no such thing as anything purely "evil" or "good", right?

No, I don't understand why you would say that. Evil would be relative the perfection of the I AM. God is good.

 

[Steeno7]

How do you define "evil"?

Whatever is contrary to the character of God.

 

[ananda]

No, I don't understand why you would say that. Evil would be relative the perfection of the I AM. God is good.

The text you quoted stated "Evil is a relativity concept." If "evil" isn't absolute, then it is relative to the degree one is closer to or further away from the Highest.

 

[Winken]

So Christians are sinless and all non-Christians are sinful?


eudaimonia,

Mark

Christians are those who have been forgiven and who followed up with confession of Jesus as Savior. That does not mean that they never engage in sinful acts. It does mean that their status before God is not sinner, but saved for eternity, therefore declared the Righteouness of God in Christ. All non-Christians dwell in the status of sinner. They've been forgiven, but have never acknowledged Jesus as the One who did that for them. In Christian terminolgy, the saved are "found," the unsaved are "lost."

 

[Winken]

Is your God limited? If he is unlimited, then there wouldn't be such a thing as an "absence of God", right?

God IS. He IS before creation. The human concept of "God limited" or "God absent" is an oxymoron. It is a Spiritual impossibility.

 

[Crowns&Laurels]

How do you define "evil"?

An act within an insidious agenda, meant to cause harm or distress.