If you were to remove mankind from the face of the Earth would there still be evil here?

Question

Explain your views please. Thanks in advance.

What is with the thumbs down tonight? Gee, lets play nice!

Richard, evil as in how you define it, the Q. is really to give me a clue as to how you define evil. Man is gone, but there aer still earthqukes, hurricanes, etc. So, if man is gone is there still evil?

I see the thumbs down demon strikes again, God, you just got to love this place?

Answer 1

Evil is purely a humanistic trait.

As far as we know no animal kills for fun or personal pleasure. No animal deceives millions of other animals, keeps masses of other animals in poverty, steals from the poor, encourages others to kill or steal.

Animals were on earth before humans. So, by removing humans you will be removing evil.

When an animal does kill it is either to provide food for themselves or their offspring or to protect themselves or their offspring. There would still be the violence of survival that instincts require of animals but if would be without evil intent.

Edit: To correct two stated misconceptions in other replies:

Lions don't kill baby hyenas to prevent them from becoming grown hyenas. Lions kill baby hyenas to eat them and they go after the younger ones because they're easier to catch. Lions kill mammals for food because they are meat-eaters.

Chimps who team up to kill a weaker chimp also do so for food. If their natural food sources are scarce they will kill a weaker one of their own for food. This is pure instinctive survival. There is no malicious intent. They are not, like the lion, naturally meat-eaters. If they kill another mammal it is because they are close to starving.

Answer 2

Not anymore. Evil was put amidst mankind so the process of purification towards salvation could be achieved. This was God's way and plan so He would be able to find out the faithful who could stand and pass the test of temptation.
God is not forcing eternity to us. He wants us to make our choice and find out for ourselves what awaits us as we do good in this life. He wouldn't need evil if He didn't create man...for what service would evil do if there were no human He could save and love back... so that He would be glorified as The Creator of all.

Answer 3

Evil is a social concept, a hypothetical construct of mankind.

Evil exists only as defined by mankind. There is no "evil" in nature, just survival.

Thus, as evil is a concept defined by the social consensus of man, without man to define evil, there would be no evil; just life.

It's all subjective: how much more evil is child rape compared dumping heavy metal waste into water leaving those downstream to deal with it and all the genetic disorders? Global warming vs. genocide? How about killing a man for getting away with murder?

This is all very reminiscent of the anthropic principle

Interesting stuff.

Answer 4

Evil is a concept and also a reality ...this whole world could be though of as evil...everywhere sentient beings eating and being eaten...Evil exists outside (independent of) humans...Good exists outside of(independent of) humans...Nature itself is evil and not dependent on our views. Since this world is an illusion in some thinking and this all is Maya which we believe to be real the veil itself is corrupt ion covering the truth. If humans were not here then who would be to make such philosophical distinctions?

Answer 5

We are good and we are evil. We define according to our own prejudices. Nature is more respected now than it was a couple of hundred years ago. Wolves were the epitome of evil back then, but now we see them as a part of the beauty of nature. Absolutist can say what they want but good and evil are relative. Consider Adam hiding from God when he knew he was naked, God knew it before Adam and wasn't concerned. Adam condemned himself as unfit to be in the presence of God, we do the same by all manner of evaluation of self worth and judgment of both ourselves and others. Any Christian no matter how unenlightened should be able to tell others that Christ died for sinners while we were still in sin. The evidence given us by God says that we judge the children of man including ourselves to harshly.

Answer 6

I don't think so. No other animal has the imagination for evil. Cats may tease mice and seem cruel but there's no malice in that. Cruelty, and evil, are surely human artifacts. Although the God of the Old Testament etc seemed to have some talent for it. He or It could be remarkably jealous, vengeful, narcissistic and cruel. So human! However, I suspect that if humanity was removed, He would go too. After all ..... human imagination ...... and Gods, like the priests who purport to speak for them, by their nature require a congregation. Curious, isn't it!

Answer 7

If I were to succumb to the dark side of the Force, and open fire from the Planet Destroyer, to remove mankind from the face of the Earth, as you say, then I and the Dark Side, still remain, wouldn't I?

However, thank God, (and the Good Side of the Force) Skywalker and the Jedis stopped us!

Answer 8

Evil is, essentially, a matter of perspective. Please do not think that i supported this action in anyway, but have a thought about this...
in the matters of september 11, the terrorists were ellimiating the evils by purging themselves of this earth and sending themselves to allah as well as the people they killed,
in some form of thinking, they thought that they were doing right,
certainly by our standards, that is evil, but in some's perspective, it was just

for those who believe in the existance of god {i am, myself, unsure of my beleifs at this point, although i have been raise catholic}, if people were removed from the earth, then i should certainly think that evils would exist, for wasnt the first fallen angel, lucifer {the devil, satan, etc.}, the first sign of evil?
the creator of peril and destruction?
would he not find some other being to impregnate with evil?
this is highly likely, for as they say, misery loves company, as does evil

"bad" things would still happen if mankind had never existed, fires, hurricanes, destruction would still happen, but are these things considered evils?

can mankinds mere existance be considered evil? do we, being the needy beings that we are, corrupt this world? using it to our advantage without taking care for what we do?

Answer 9

There is no evil except in the minds of man. Since there is only one Creator, anything that is labeled evil has been created by the same entity that creates the good.

Answer 10

Evil is a human concept. It basically refers to "morally bad." Even within that rigid context, there are disparate judgments (& myths) of what is or is not morally bad.
Evil is not an "entity" of substance or reality. It exists only in the "minds" of humans.

Edit: Thanks to Doc Watson, & Shahbarack for correcting the bizarre, uninformed responses about animals.