Is evil a consequence of sin rather than specifically a sin itself?

Question

in other words, evil came into the world and manifest itself in various ways because we, those given free will, freely chose to ignore gods laws?

from an atheist perspective, evil exists because people have gone against the laws of nature?

matthew t, excellent attempt.

duckphup,

since dualism governs your thinking, can I suggest that without arrogance and condescension we wouldnt know the virtues of humility and respect. you have illustrated exactly why religion exists: so that the confused and lost may be humbled at the fact that though they are rational, thinking, educated and think they are smarter than they are, they are still dependent on their creator for their gifts.

Answer 1

Evil is our free choice to be independent of our Creator. It is not just ignoring God's laws, it is rejecting God. We reject God because we want to be our own god, e.g. "I am the captain of my fate and the master of my soul" (Invictus). We no more want God to be with us than we want our parents with us when we go off to college.

From an atheist viewpoint, evil is all relative to current society and circumstances. Slavery is evil now but not in the south in 1850. Fascism is evil now but not in fascist Germany.

email if you like.

Answer 2

Well, the words sin and evil is misinterpreted in many occasions. In the Christian faith, sin is an act against God's words, and evil is what we are when we think that we know better than God. The origin of sin is simply the point when man looked for our own resolve rather than take God's advice at heart, and evil what happens when we find our own way apart from God.

Answer 3

Ah... what a treat it is to see shallow thinking in action.

Many people seem to regard evil is a 'thing'... something that has some corporeal form of existence in the physical universe. Or, perhaps, a 'force'. What a load of nonsense. Evil does NOT 'exist' as a 'thing', or a 'force'... it exists only as an abstract 'concept'... one that is 'dualistic' in nature. 'Evil' cannot 'exist' without 'good'. They are the two sides of the same coin, in the Yin/Yang sense. One cannot 'exist' without the other; neither can be defined or described except in terms of the other.

Good/evil is further abstracted in the sense that it represents a 'judgement'... not a 'thing'. As a judgement, good/evil is wholly subjective, since it relies entirely upon the 'criteria' that is employed in making the judgement.

So, the real issue is not good/evil per se... rather it is the criteria that people use in making their judgements of good/evil.

Nothing in the universe is inherently 'good' or 'evil'... it just IS.

Since we all pretty much share the same hardware, and are all wired pretty much the same, and share pretty much the same cultural values in a larger sense, we usually find ourselves on common ground when we judge questions such as "Was Hitler evil?", since we can agree on the criteria. (Murdering 6 million innocents can hardly be regarded as 'good' by a sane person.) However, we should realize that if Hitler had been asked the question "Are you evil?", he most certainly would have been thoroughly offended by the very idea. According to HIS criteria, he would have seen his actions as 'good'... for his people and for 'The Fatherland'. He is known to have said something to the effect that he saw himself as doing the work that Christianity had started, but never finished... i.e., he was doing "God's work". (He was nuts, of course... as are ALL people who see themselves as doing "God's work".)

When we get down to subtler questions, where someone's 'criteria' might depend upon interpretation of a particular verse in the Wholly Babble, or the Koran, for example, these kinds of judgements can get a little stickier.

It's not really about good/evil, it's really about criteria.

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." ~ Steven Weinberg, Freethought Today, April, 2000

Answer 4

Sin does not exist, and evil is a subjective value judgment.

Answer 5

Sin is anything that is bad for your mind, body and/or soul. Evil is not the consequence, death is.