Who are you to define evil?

Question

Should you leave it up to a book or society as a whole?

Or should you just pick a couple of people who think the same way as you do and define it together; forget everyone else...

Answer 1

It's been defined by society since the dawn of man...not that we've done a perfect job so far, but we're learning slowly.

Answer 2

Good and evil (like beauty) is in the eye of the beholder. Each of us defines his own reality, all by himself, each and every day - whether we think so or not.

I am an identical twin (7th straight generation of female identical twins, in fact) and i have found that as much as I search this existence for a truly kindred spirit, the more i realize that there is no such thing. There is likeness, similarity - but we are completely alone and isolated in our own thoughts here, and no one is truly the same in their beliefs or view of the world.

No book, no society, not even a married couple can really "define it together" because no to people can even see it the exact same way. Take your christians for example, that believe in the devil and hell - and heaven for that matter. If you could peer into their head - or they could paint their vision with picture perfect ability - you would see that each of them has a slightly different view of what it looks like and precisely what you must do to get in.

I have defined it for myself, and I think that evil (the enemy itself) is self doubt, fear, quilt, resentment and all the negative emotions that drive us to do ill unto another. I think the golden rule is the only rule any of us should need, really. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Peace!

Answer 3

We leave it up to God, who wrote the book thru the hands of humans. No one else defines evil, for society is based more on Christianity than most people realize.

Answer 4

The Bible defines evil, as does the collective conscience of mankind. For example, it's universally accepted that murder is wrong. Why? Because humans to an extent, are fitted with God's qualities, being made in His image. That's where our conscience originates.

Conscience literally means "with knowledge", For a human to line up his conscience with God's thinking, he must become familiar with God's ways as outlined in the Bible. Those who do this are found to be the most law abiding citizens in the world.

Answer 5

I look to God's instruction as to what evil is. It is nonexistent. Read on:


THE NONEXISTENCE OF EVIL

The true explanation of this subject is very difficult. Know that beings are of two kinds: material and spiritual, those perceptible to the senses and those intellectual.

Things which are sensible are those which are perceived by the five exterior senses; thus those outward existences which the eyes see are called sensible. Intellectual things are those which have no outward existence but are conceptions of the mind. For example, mind itself is an intellectual thing which has no outward existence. All man's characteristics and qualities form an intellectual existence and are not sensible.

Briefly, the intellectual realities, such as all the qualities and admirable perfections of man, are purely good, and exist. Evil is simply their nonexistence. So ignorance is the want of knowledge; error is the want of guidance; forgetfulness is the want of memory; stupidity is the want of good sense. All these things have no real existence.

In the same way, the sensible realities are absolutely good, and evil is due to their nonexistence -- that is to say, blindness is the want of sight, deafness is the want of hearing, poverty is the want of wealth, illness is the want of health, death is the want of life, and weakness is the want of strength.

Nevertheless a doubt occurs to the mind -- that is, scorpions and serpents are poisonous. Are they good or evil, for they are existing beings? Yes, a scorpion is evil in relation to man; a serpent is evil in relation to man; but in relation to themselves they are not evil, for their poison is their weapon, and by their sting they defend themselves. But as the elements of their poison do not agree with our elements -- that is to say, as there is antagonism between these different elements, therefore, this antagonism is evil; but in reality as regards themselves they are good.

The epitome of this discourse is that it is possible that one thing in relation to another may be evil, and at the same time within the limits of its proper being it may not be evil. Then it is proved that there is no evil in existence; all that God created He created good. This evil is nothingness; so death is the absence of life. When man no longer receives life, he dies. Darkness is the absence of light: when there is no light, there is darkness. Light is an existing thing, but darkness is nonexistent. Wealth is an existing thing, but poverty is nonexisting.

Then it is evident that all evils return to nonexistence. Good exists; evil is nonexistent.

(Abdu'l-Baha', Some Answered Questions, p. 261)

Answer 6

IU am me. I am not like anyone else. I have my own opinion, and there is not one person similar to me. I can be evil. I am good. I can be cruel. I am caring. I am what I am. Not one person can change it. I share some opinions with society, but, overall, I am my own person. I am not leaving it up to society tpo define opinions, i am will help. I respect other people's opinions. i believe in god, and I love him most. I am not religious, but he is the most real thing to me. He is there, and he listens. He might help, but usually not. We are in charge of ourselves.

Answer 7

Read Dark Nature by Lyall Watson

Answer 8

Most of know what right and wrong is, good and evil. It is common sense. Why should it be defined?

Answer 9

Evil is a christian concept which portrays there much be an advisory to God himself.......it is all mind control and if you haven't gotten that then you are very small minded...
Evil is a conceptual image, A friend put it very well for me, Sin isn't real...there for Evil isn't real either...-smiles-

Answer 10

Good and Evil

To know what is good or bad, we need to know the purpose for each object. The purpose of the radio for example is to give music. If it does, then it is good. If it doesn't, then it is bad.
The purpose of life is to be good and happy. If this were not the case, then we would not try to be good and happy. We would not do such a thing if there were no such thing as Perfect Goodness and Love.

As I have mentioned, there is no such thing as fraction if there were no whole. We are all predestined to be with Who is Perfect Love, Truth, and Life, meaning to say that we ought to be with Him.

Good therefore is a conformity of which is Perfect. If I said 1+1=2, or 1 yard equals 3 feet, it is because I am affirming that there is a standard to which I must conform. Anything moral or good is a conformity of the Law. Anything that is not moral or bad is not a conformity of the Law. Just as a pen is good if it writes, and it would be a bad pen if it doesn't. It is because a pen is meant to write.

How do we know?

To have faith, we must have reason. To have faith is to follow what is Perfect. By reason, we get to know what is Good and what is not. We have reason because we have a conscience. Just as Fulton Sheen once wrote,

"The practical reason that enables a human being to fit particular cases under the general principles touching his final destiny is conscience."

We should then know how conscience works. Fulton Sheen compared the conscience to the U.S. government. Conscience, like the government, is legislative, executive, and judicial. It is legislative because there is an interior voice that gives us a sense of responsibility that we ought to do certain things. It tells us what is good and bad. It is basically the Law that God scripted in our minds.

Conscience is also executive in a sense that it witnesses the fidelity of our actions to the Law. As Sheen has said,

"...it tells us the value of our actions; tells us if we were total masters of ourselves; whether our consequences were foreseen or unforeseen; shows us, as in a mirror, the footsteps of all our actions; points its fingers at the vestiges of our decisions; comes to us as a true witness and says: 'I was there; I saw you do it. You had such an intention' -- it summons me who know myself."

It is also judicial in a sense that it judges me accordingly. It tells me what I did right and what I did wrong. This is why we have a sense of guilt if we do something wrong.

Why is there evil?

When God made the world, He gave man free will. Our conscience directs us to conform to the Law. We however, have the free will to either obey it or not. Once we disobey the Law over and over, we become tired and we ignore the guilt. This is why we would hear the argument of "no moral absolutes." These people believe that right and wrong is a conformity to a person's feelings instead. Let us examine why they say this.

As I have written before, people ask "why be moral?" because they cannot keep up with the Law. So instead of adjusting themselves to the Law, they adjust the Law. For example, a person would say, "I don't have to study the multiplication table because I don't feel like it." They would not feel this if they can do what they ought to do.

All they are doing is picking and choosing from the objective standard what they want to keep. There can only be morality and ethics when there are ones who cannot keep it. The reason why there is bravery is because there are cowards. Sacrifice is possible when there is such a thing as selfishness.

I would love to hear the reason why skeptics "feel" what is right because this is an excuse for not being able to follow the Law. I have not heard a good reason why people believe in subjective standards. For example: the purpose of food is to fill one's body so he won't be hungry. If a person says an apple pie is not good because it "tastes bad," is it bad? Well, an apple pie is still food and it makes a person full.

The subjective standard therefore is derived from the objective standard. Anything beyond the Law is wrong and anything less is wrong. Just as less food would make a person still be hungry, and too much food would make the person sick. Just as less rain would not help the crops, and too much rain will destroy the crops as well. Everything needs to be perfect just as He is Perfect (Matt 5:48).

God is good

As we have discussed, God is perfect goodness. One might ask, "Why did God make this world?" It is because God, who is perfect goodness, wanted to bring forth His goodness. Just as the sun is good and gives off its light and heat. In Genesis, we read that when God was making the Earth, He "saw how good it was." It is not because He felt goodness, but because he brought forth part of Himself, which is goodness. It is something of the object which makes it good, not just the feeling.

While God was making the Earth, He also made each object very distinct from one another. For example, a tree is a tree because it is different from a monkey. The idea of a tree is true if it conforms to the material thing before me that my senses represents to be a tree. A tree is different because of its internal participation or reflection of the Archetypal Idea that makes it a tree. What makes a painting different from the others is the idea behind who made it.

We see that not every created thing reveals the depth and variety of His wisdom, but what one cannot reveal, the other does. Just as one man cannot sing a bass and a tenor at the same time, but a whole choir can make a harmony and make one great music. As we see the harmony of each created being, we see more of the fullness of God. We don't invent, but we discover. As Fulton Sheen said,

"Every material thing in the universe is made up of matter and form. Matter makes it individual; the form, which is the architect within, is the reflection of the divine idea."

Then we see that God also made something in His image. This is what we call man. He made man so that man could love God. How can man love God? Simply by giving him free will. One cannot say that he loves another if he cannot choose to love him. He wanted man to love Him with his whole will and above all things. And to do this, God made the forbidden tree. We all know if man ate the forbidden fruit or not. And we know he did. Everything man has done, we did. We always have the choice to eat the fruit or not and when we see this tree, we know that this is a symbol of the moral limit God made to prove our obedience and love.

God who is still Perfect Goodness, like the first creation, cannot keep His goodness. He cannot see man eat the fruit over and over. He cannot watch man be tested alone. He wanted to bring forth Perfect Goodness Himself to help man overcome the temptation. To do this, He would have to kill the forbidden tree. And so, He gave the world His only begotten Son, One who would die upon a tree to kill the tree. The tree is gone, but the fruits of the tree still exist.

We know for sure that there is a supreme Goodness that has overcome this tree and will help us to crush the fruit.

JMJ

Apolonio Latar