Is Evil evil?

Question

Think about it;

God apparently created everything. Thus God created Satan. I would've thought that to be a bad decision but let me finish.

God is apparently omnipotent, AND omniscient. That is, all-powerful and all-knowing. So surely he knew Lucifer was going to be evil, no?


Anyway, long story short, turns out that God created evil and continues to allow it to thrive. So is it really a bad thing?

if so, explain.

Answer 1

Good is the Root of All Evil

My dears. The time has come for me to tell you about the root of all evil. No. Not money. That is a little Christian lie. Well, to be honest it is a very big Christian lie. You see, the easiest way to get a Christian to cast something aside is to tell him that it is evil, like money, and of course Christian churches are so willing to take that evil money off the hands of its members. It's such a scam. Preachers quote Jesus, "You cannot serve God and mammon", and, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter to kingdom of God", and out pours the money into the collection plate. These Christians aren't hearing the right quotes. Better ones are, "A fool and his money are soon parted", and, "There's a sucker born every minute", but often it is so pointless to try to stand between a Christian and his need for guilt reduction. The collection plate gathers in the guilt tax. When Christians make money they feel guilty about it. That's how they are. They've been brainwashed to believe that it is better to give than to receive and that money is the root of all evil. Getting paid makes them feel selfish and sinful. So they give a little back to the church and it makes them feel holy again. Doesn't that just make you sick?

Of course, there's nothing evil about money, it's how you use it that makes it evil. Like in the Old Testament where people bought and sold slaves. Or when Christian groups buy votes for politicians so that they can force their beliefs on everyone else. Or worst of all when the preacher lies to the congregation about original sin and then takes their money to absolve them of guilt. Yes, there are no greater examples of how something like money can be used for pure evil than the acts of priests and ministers. Good is truly the root of all evil.

You see, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and Christians have constructed a six-lane expressway into the abyss with no speed limit and a carpool lane for Christian Cults (and Televangelists run the toll booths). When it comes to good intentions, Christians have the best intentions of all. They intend to save your soul, and they intend to save the world too. It sounds so sweet and innocent doesn't it? "We want to save you", they say, "You're headed for a horrible fate of eternal torture and pain and we've arrived just in time to save you". Save you, indeed. As if a little torture and pain ever hurt anyone. Well, it does. And that's the point. But it's a good kind of hurt. I'm sure that you know the feeling my dears and you wouldn't trade it for an eternity of mindless praising and rejoicing. I mean seriously, who would want to live forever shouting "Hallelujah!" at some party in heaven? Now, I know the idea of a party that never ends sounds good, but any party without sin just simply isn't worth attending. I know. I've crashed a few of those. They're boring. Mind numbingly boring. And everyone has this half glazed over look as if they've been drinking...but no one has. It's really creepy. But once I arrive everything changes. When everyone gets a good look at what I'm wearing the men go into hormonal overload and the women turn a lovely shade of green. I play it up. I stoke their emotional fires until the last bit of their Christian self repression has disappeared. Then I tease and I tempt, I coax and I dare, I stimulate and I instigate and I release all of their darkest desires (and I must tell you that Christian desires are some of the darkest desires of them all). It all leads to a glorious scene of debauchery where all manner of pain and pleasure, and agony and ecstasy are explored. I'd describe the details of one of these parties for you but I'm sure that you've all seen Hellraiser III.

The best part is when their parents, counselors, or sponsors show up unexpectedly. Well, unexpected to everyone but me that is. I call them, and I do it on purpose. The expressions on their faces when they see what I have done are priceless. It's the best part of the evening. No torture is more gratifying than the pain experienced by an over-protective mother or a self-righteous preacher when they see their dear, cherished, innocent, Christian youths writhing on the floor in ecstasy enjoying some wickedly sinful act. It's their deepest fear come to life. Their pain is my pleasure. Ahh, the sweet, sweet suffering...

But I digress.

Some Christians are evil and everyone knows it. They're people like Rev. Fred Phelps who spreads his message of "God Hates Fags" everywhere where it isn't wanted. And some Christians are just boring believers who never do anything good or evil their whole life. But the worst Christians of all are the nice ones. You know, those sickly-sweet always-smiling Christians who talk on and on about God's love and their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They are evil incarnate.

I sense disbelief. "Sure", you say, "Everyone hates those annoying little creatures. But evil? How could they be?". Well, we all know about the great number of atrocities committed by Christians through the ages: the Inquisition, the Crusades, the candidacy of Pat Buchanan; but what we don't know is how they all got their start. For that the fault lies squarely in the lap of the so called "nice Christians". They'll deny it of course. They'll say that they abhor violence and war and forcing their views on others. And that's true, which is why it is so ironic their acts of love and kindness cause so much death and hatred. They know not what they do, but forgiveness they do not deserve.

Their message is always the same. "God is love". "God loves you". "Open your heart and receive God's holy blessing". "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, yada yada yada...". Yawn. I'm sure that you've heard it all before. You see, these "nice Christians" hate guilt and they hate feeling guilty. They were raised by Christians who controlled them through guilt and shame and they spent their lives feeling bad about themselves. Then one day they got a visit from a little devil like me who told them to go out and do something fun and they gave in. For once in their lives they did something that they enjoyed and they didn't feel guilty about it. Yes, they experienced living. They felt great. But then instead of praising Satan, they gave God the credit and everything went all wrong. It wasn't God's love that they felt, it was just a relief from God's hate, but the next thing you know they were going around saying that they'd been "Born Again". Humph. "Still-born Again" is more like it.

So now they run around telling everyone that God is love and that guilt is wrong. They blame traditional religion for forcing guilt on everyone. Some break away from the church, which is good, but only to form cults and join movements where everyone loves everyone else (but not in the proper physical way). Then they start spreading their message of love to other poor guilt ridden Christians to try to bring in more converts. That's where all the trouble starts. Not all people should be freed from their guilt, especially Christians, who need guilt to keep their evil desires in check, and least of all those horribly depraved psychopaths that Christianity is so good at creating. Now don't get me wrong. Evil desires are a healthy and natural thing that everyone should express. But inside the mind of a Christian, evil desires become corrupted and turn into abominable obsessions. They get strong desires to force their beliefs on everyone and plot to kill everyone who tries to stop them. They're mass murderers waiting to happen with the only thing holding them back being a wall of Christian guilt. And then one of these "nice Christians" comes along and breaks down that wall with all their talk of "love is good" and "guilt is bad". Then, as the saying goes, all hell breaks loose, and not in the good way. When Christians lose control, everybody suffers.

So now you know the truth my dears. Guilt is good, for Christians, because without it they would make the world a much worse place. And good is the root of all evil, because the Christians with good intentions free the Christians with evil intentions to wreak self righteous havoc on the world. Care must be taken when setting someone's evil desires free. That's my specialty. Accept no Christian substitute. That path leads only to ruin. So when you're lying in bed alone at night, and you hear a knock at a door you've never seen before, make sure that the demon on the other side is real, and not some angel in disguise. You'll regret it if you don't.

See you in your darkest dreams, dears.

Answer 2

I struggled with this whole theory before but I think it is important that I share my view. 1)without having bad/evil how could we have good? If we walk around in the grey all the time how will we ever know that black or white exists? 2)You have a choice to do the next right/good thing. So did God create evil? No i don't think so I think man created evil God just gave us free will and from that evil sprouted. If we didn't have free will we would be robots and who wants to be that? 3)You have to understand this is a quote out of a book that changed my life - some of ya'll might know what book I am talking about - THERE IS SOME GOOD IN THE WORST OF US AND SOME BAD IN THE BEST OF US. We are all here and no one is perfect so we need to stop judging others!

Answer 3

although i don't go in for the whole Lucifer and hell thing .. on the topic of evil ...
i don't feel that anyone is born evil or is evil .. i do feel however that they there are bad actions which some may consider evil ... and sometimes those things that we consider the most evil of acts are done out of illness or circumstance , so we can never really truly judge what is evil in this world
what i have noticed is that for every perceived evil act is born a whole load of compassion ... if we take the crime of murder ... how may people react in the most loving and compassionate way due to the crime commited ??
even down to natural acts such as the tsunami etc ?? this caused worldwide compassion and a collective empathy for those of the affected countries ...
to me personally when acts of "evil" are done ... this is when we see the most " loving " of acts generated ... soooo perhaps for our own benefit at times an act must be done to give us humans a kick in the butt .. therefore in a strange way these acts may be perceived as acts of god and not anything negative or evil

Answer 4

God did not create satan. Lucifer is Satan, and Satan created evil. God wants us to obey Him, worship Him, and give the honour He is due. Yes evil is evil.
In the beginning when God created the heavens. God created the angels. One angel was Lucifer, he was known as the angel of light. He was over the worship in heaven . This worship was for the Lord God. But he wanted to be like God and encouraged other angels to be the same. He longed to be worshipped. So God banished him from heaven. Satan (as he is now called) gets his own back to hurt God. He tempts mankind to disobey God. Man does so, by doing this mankind starts to believe in any rubbish. He tells God he doesn't need him. So God takes a step back. Then the world is in a mess, man then blames God. But man said they don't need God. But God loves them so much. He ends his Son to die instead of mankind on a cross. Here Satan is conquered and so is Sin. Now if mankind wants God to really help, then they must look to the cros and trust Jesus as Saviour. Satan on the other hand, has a one way ticket to hell and destruction.

Answer 5

Evil is a subjective perspective.
At one time the Knights Templars where considered "Good" until they had "power" of some sort and the leaders (both monarchy and religious) feared their "power" and they were considered "evil." One's perspective may be different as for example - War. War can be considered evil to some and good to others as a means to end something evil. And alas, another "perspective" is the mirror affect where can there be evil without good and good without evil. And as human beings, we look upon the world with a sense of curiosity and using our own senses from what we have been taught, our own subjectivity, and see evil in a variety of ways as well as good. So to answer the question is Evil evil, it begs a rhetorical answer of that which is Evil can also be good and visa versa..

Answer 6

God created free will too. Yes, evil is a bad thing. God wants us to choose the good things, but being imperfect, we don't always do that. Basically, He did not want robots that just said "We love you" because He programmed us that way. God wants us to make the choice.

Relating that to people, don't you feel better knowing that someone has the ability to say I love you or not, and they do? Would it be special if everyone loved you and nobody disliked anybody?

Answer 7

God create Evil its true and some work god can do and some work evil can do its depend on that person what is he and whaat and how he is doing work and taking work from evil in good sence or bad sence either he is self good or not if he is not so good and doing bad work than evil do smash to that wrong fellow its tgruth as i am also in this line since 25 yrfs

Answer 8

When I think about it - its very conflicting.
As an atheist its hard for me to think of god or Satan being real let alone evil. I think people do things which could be considered evil, but does it make them evil? I think it is easy for people to lable someone evil, it gives them a sense of power over someone, maybe it helps them to remember not to have anything to do with them. Personally I think that there is good and evil in everyone - its just whether you want to tolerate it or not.

Answer 9

God is Pure love. There is no such thing as Satan or sin or evil. Evil is also known as the dark, which is really just explaining the distnce from god that an aeon had from the center of the true AEon, aka the One. Find the truth at:

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen06.html

http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/Places/Dornach/19230715p01.html

Gnosticism is the TRUTH.

Answer 10

Well, heres the short answer then, its a matter of perception. If you percieve it to be evil, its evil. If the government says its evil and everybody jumps on the bandwagon, its evil. Except if you're like me and dont believe a word of anything that comes out of whitechapel.

Answer 11

God did create everything. God did create Satan. God did know that Satan would rebel against him. He still created him. Many people find this a big problem.

Yes, it is easy to say that it seems to be a bad decision God made to create Satan. God is omniscient, he knew what would happen ahead of time! He's all powerful. He could have stopped it! He didn't.

Why?

Let us look at evil now. Not Satan, let's look at evil. What is evil? That would have to be the first definition we find. Since we are on a Christian point of view, and since I'm a Christian myself, I'm going to stick with that for the sake of text space. Evil, according to Christian doctrine, is sin. Not money as some would absurdly claim. Not pleasure, as others would, not wealth, not pain, not suffering, not ignorance, not hate. Sin is the single thing in the universe which is evil. Of course, sin can encompass things such as improper importance placed on money, or on pleasure. It can result in suffering and pain, it can be fueled by ignorance, and sometimes take the form of hate.

Let us first identify why all these other things are not evil. Money is not evil, it has been used to bring people out of poverty, it has been used to spread the gospel as Christ as he commands, surely evil things do not serve a perfect God. Pleasure was created for us to enjoy, God made sex btw, and it was his first in his first command to mankind. Go have sex, don't touch that tree. Suffering? Can teach us things to prevent us from harm, pain can do likewise, so those can be good too. Ignorance? Compared to God everyone's ignorant. Hate? If I hate children being abused, is that not good? Hate doesn't have to be evil.

So now we are back to sin. Why is sin evil? Sin, very simply, pulls people away from a relationship with their Creator, God. Sin hurts people, it dehumanizes them, and it causes a corruption in the soul. Even Satan, an angelic being has been completely consumed and is now completely controlled by sin! Big problem. That is why sin is evil. All things, which are damaging to people result from sin. There are many countless obvious ways which this is true, however, many people will say that there are things which are bad that have no relation to sin.

Cancer, drought, famine, many things that we see as damaging do not appear to result directly from sin. Because someone has cancer, does that mean they sinned? Not necessarily, but it is part of how God has punished the world for sin. There is no human that is not guilty of sin. God is not interested in how small or large we think our sin is. It is an abomination. Because of our sin, the world is falling apart.

Okay, a little rabbit trail and now back to the main topic. So how come God didn't just smash the devil with a big stick when he sinned? That seems it would have made everything a lot easier. First of all, God made us with free will. I know that John said this earlier in the answers. Without free will, we have no ability to love our Creator. Guess what, that's what God made us for. To love and worship him. With free will, there is the possibility to not follow God. This glorifies God as well. A candle seems brighter in a dark room than in the middle of a field on a summer afternoon.

Wait, did I just say that evil glorifies God? Gasp! That stinks, doesn' it? So then, some would say, "Sin is a good thing! It glorifies God!" Romans 5 and 6 talk about this thinking. God permitted sin to abound so that his grace could abound more and overcome it. Then some might say that we should sin more so that there is more grace! More evil means more grace! Grace is better a good than sin is an evil! Paul warns against that for the Christian, we are dead to sin, we should not seek to dwell in it any more. A person who has been freed of slavery does not seek to go back to a life of slavery. That would not glorify God because it seeks to make his grace something to be taken advantage of, and belittles it.

So let us recap. God has created all things, and is all powerful and all knowing. Sin is the single evil thing in the universe, and takes many forms. God hates sin. God is also glorified by sin, not because of sin's nature (which robs God of glory), but because it gives God an opportunity to grant us grace beyond our sin. Sin is still something to be avoided because it still hurts us, and continuing in it after we have been saved from it belittles God's grace, and does not glorify him.