Forget about the problem of evil--how do you resolve the problem of ignorance?

Question

There is a debate going back a long way in many religions: If God is all-powerful and all-good, why is there evil in the world?

Belief in God seems to be a precursor for belief in the inherent goodness of the world, so it's important to resolve this conflict. How can the WORLD be good when it contains evil?

I wonder how anyone can resolve this conflict without belief in an all-good and all-powerful God. It seems that the world can only be an enemy if one doesn't believe that an all-good and all-powerful God created it.

However, I believe that nature follows NATURAL LAWS and can only be good. How can anyone argue with the rain and the sunset? It simply is--it is good by its nature of being.

What I cannot accept is man's inhumanity against man. I cannot accept deliberate evil (free will). Nor can I accept indeliberate evil (ignorance).

Why do people do evil, and how can we accept that as a non-negotiable fact of reality? How can we recognize the evil persons as innocents?

I apologize for this post being so rambling. I'm going to ramble some more, too.

The problem is that our "modern world" is mostly created by human beings. We don't live according to the cycles of nature anymore. Our homes and our food are made of artificial materials. Our sleep cycles and work habits are not natural either.

The fall of man came thousands of years ago, and it has gotten so much worse that we cannot comprehend a natural life.

Is there any alternative to dropping out of society? Is there any way to embrace this widespread ignorance?

Answer 1

The reason people do "evil" is because people are animalistic in nature, and nature is indifferent to human morality. The way you resolve the problem of ignorance is by accepting that life is a human endeavor, and realizing that everything we do is within the realm of human beings to affect, not supernatural gods and spirits.

What you see as good and evil would be considered "survival of the fittest" in the animal kingdom. When an alligator kills a duck, it's not seen as an evil act, it's just nature - "business as usual." When an alligator kills a human being, its still not seen as an evil act, but an "unfortunate tragedy", although some religions will claim it's some sort of punishment doled out by god!

When a human kills a human being, all of a sudden good and evil become issues, but are they really? If you strip away motivations and just look at the act itself, what you see are animals killing animals. We assign the morality because we are social animals, but we are still animals, and at the root of every despicable act are our base desires, only slightly removed from the desires that motivate our alligator cousins. The world doesn't contain evil. We label evil the aspects of ourselves we find most ugly and incomprehensible.

So how do we address this? The way Abraham Maslow advocated, by starting at the bottom of the pyramid and satisfying human desires in order...

Physiological - air, water, food, warmth
Safety - shelter, security
Belonging - love, friends, family, community
Self-esteem - achievement, recognition
Self-actualization - creativity, freedom, wisdom

Simply put, (barring insanity) fulfilled people have no reason to be evil, so the challenge is figuring out how to fulfill each and every person's needs.

So far, on planet earth, no individual, group, government, or religion has even figured out how to get clean water and food to all people, so we've got a long way to go before we eliminate "evil" behaviors.

Answer 2

As Jesus said on the cross "forgive them for they know not what they do". It is so very frustrating to live in a world that should be enjoyed by all and lived in by all with love for their neighbor. Maybe there is hope, I guess God thinks that there is. I will never see it in my lifetime. People must learn to look within their heart and follow the law of Love. So many don't and that is the problem. There was reason that Jesus was a teacher.

Answer 3

Ignorance cannot be resolved without the ignorant wanting to resolved,the only way ignorance is resolved is by learning but you can't learn unwillingly. as for inhumanity deliberate evil and the acceptance of evil as innocents the reason for this this is shown in (2Corinthians4:4).

Answer 4

You CAN NOT recognize evil persons as innocents. and as you said you cant argue with the rain or the sunset because God made it good(and it was good)but with the first man was the first sin to the first murder to all acts of perversion.There is evil because man understands evil and cant control themselves.

Answer 5

You are obviously a person of intelligence asking the right questions to understand "what it is all about" Please go to this new yahoo group site and ask for more if you like. You appear worthy to gain more understanding. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Jahosopher

Evil manifests when we choose to direct our energies in opposition to the "Universal Dynamic", which is constructive and orderely in it's expression. Much of humanity behaves this way because they are simply unenlightened and ignorant. Others because they are simply immature and selfish. We defeat ignorance by educating ourselves. The above site is dedicated to spiritual education of TRUTH.

Answer 6

The world is good... it has no evil.... only people have evil and people are the ones born into sin.

Answer 7

Go on to perfection, meaning maturity, I think.

Answer 8

Well....there is a saying - Ignorance is Bliss