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Forums - General - Where does evil come from?

Scoobes on 24 May 2010
Slimebeast said:
Scoobes said:
Slimebeast said:
Scoobes said:
Slimebeast said:
NKAJ said:
Slimebeast said:
The_vagabond7 said:

Good and evil aren't real tangible objective things, they are entirely decided by the cultural zeitgeist of the day.

Really? So can think of a scenario where it's a good act to torture a baby?

Or rather, do you mean it is irrelevant to ever describe the act of torturing a child good/right or evil/wrong?


These kind of things dont work because we can make infinately complex situations.For exmple with the baby thing i could say:We are in a situation where if we dont torture this baby then the entire human race will be wiped out .I could make a whole list of situtions when its good to do something horrible,mainly due to it being the lesser of two evils.
Scoobes said:
Slimebeast said:
The_vagabond7 said:

Good and evil aren't real tangible objective things, they are entirely decided by the cultural zeitgeist of the day.

Really? So can think of a scenario where it's a good act to torture a baby?

Or rather, do you mean it is irrelevant to ever describe the act of torturing a child good/right or evil/wrong?

Good and evil can be matters of perspective. Everyone has a biological instinct to feel empathy for those around us and for our fellow humans, but these can be overwritten by culture, upbringing, religion etc.

Is it OK to torture a baby? The vast majority of people would say no because it's an instinctial and biological response to be disgusted at the torture of a child that requires our protection. However, as has happened and continues to happen, what if the parents believed the child to be possesed? They may torture the child in an attempt to "exorcise" the demon from the child. From the parents perspective they are morally correct to torture that child as they firmly believe they are doing so for good of the child and the good of humanity. In the past this would be the most common view so in this context it becomes morally "good".

No no. No such bullshit. No other consequences. This act won't save the world (LOL! if that was the case the majority of humans would torture the baby without second thoughts) and it won't drive out any imaginary demons.

It's an easy scenario. You got three guys and a hammer or one guy with a hammer and a baby. No consequences for anyone else, no saving the world or such BS.

When is it okay to torture an innocent being when there's absolutely no gain (except for the pleasure to the torturer) ?

My point is that such scenarios rarely exist, except perhaps in the case of paedophiles and sociopaths and they're a niche of current society. But if a society was run by sociopaths or peadophiles, it would be seen as morally acceptable and correct because everyone would have these instincts or culturally dehumanised attitudes that overide our currently evolved instict of empathy. Fortunately, our society and ourselves have evolved so that such acts are seen as morally wrong.

As it turns out, such a society as I've painted above has never truly existed and if they have then they would self-destruct.

So if society was like that, society was run by sociopaths and pedophiles, then yes it would be okay to torture children.

The question is would it actually be right just because they thought so?

Yes, it would be right because for that particular culture, they wouldn't know any better. As I said though, a society of that nature would self-destruct, almost a form of natural selection.

I know u wrote a lengthy reply above which was pretty good, but I wanna comment this one now.

Your statement "they wouldn't know any better" implies that you think there are good and bad morals. But I suppose u mean for their survival.

Pretend they live on psycho island, they have a surplus of infants and they like torturing kids and their society don't need compassionate individuals to survive. Would you then agree that it's morally right to torture babies in that society?

 

In that society, yes. Coming from our own society, no. The two society's would be so alien to each other, that one society's morals would be completely different and unfathomable to the other.

I personally couldn't accept or respect a society with those sort of morals, and I would try to show my morals to such a society.




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famousringo on 24 May 2010

I would say that the main source of evil is ignorance, either accidental or willful.



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lostintheodyssey on 24 May 2010
RockSmith372 said:

Pretty self explanatory. I asked my friend a few days ago who is a Christian where does evil come from. He claimed the devil made sin, but I had to ask does that mean that Satan can do something God can't and wouldn't that limit his omnipotent. I am just curious because I think he gave a poor answer so I am going to ask this community. Where does evil come from?

God created Satan so yes I think God is capable of creating sin himself.  Don't quote me on this since I'm not an expert on the bible or christianity but I believe the story goes that humans were God's favorite creation.  Lucifer became jealous because he considered himself to be superior to humans and saw no reason why he should acknowledge or serve us in any capacity.

Lucifer was a very powerful angel and he was different from other angels because he was created from fire while the other angels were made from light.  He eventually wanted to overthrow God and rule his kingdom which caused God to banish him from heaven.  When he fell from heaven a third of the angels went with him because he was well respected by others.  Those fallen angels that went with him became known as "demons" and he became a ruler in hell.

With Adam and Eve the snake symbolizes Satan or maybe it was literally the devil since he can take on many forms.  So when the snake got adam and eve to commit a sin by eating the apple it was considered a victory over God by Satan.  The Devils goal is to cause the fall of man and to show God that his faith and love in us is misplaced.  His goal is also to destroy anything that God loves.  So in Christianity white represents purity but Lucifer uses red or black to represent sin.  Three 7's is considered a holy number so Lucifer uses three 6's to represent the mark of evil.  There is a detailed explanation as to why those colors and numbers are used by satan but like I said I'm no expert so I don't know.

So I think for Christians evil is anything that disobeys God's will as outlined in the ten commandments and the teachings in the bible.