What is evil?

[Megafyr]

Yeah, you read the title. What do think evil really is? Is evil things that harm society? Or has it something to do with moral? Has it something to do with both? How can we be sure our society or moral gives the right definition for evil? Yeah I know.. Kinda strange thread but please tell me what you think, and why you think it.

 

[BearMan]

Well, discussing what "evil" really is is nearly impossible. I would say that evil is set by rules or believes.

One man's evil is one man's holy work.

 

[Masiah]

Evil is something that makes you feel bad some ol' philosopher would say.

There is no clear definition of evil...

 

[M4stah]

Evil would be anything that shall bring serious harm to anybody except your allies

 

[Zombie]

Well, evil is pretty much self-explinary still, its true definition is a matter of perspective.

I personally believe that evil is an act that goes by any way against the teachings of God.

 

[Japut3h]

I'd say harming someone, not out of a material benefit, but out of pleasure.

 

[Mr. Bob]

Evil is nothing without fundamentals. In other words, without something to dictate between evil and good, there isn't evil or good. The only fundamental that can distinguish between good and evil is religion. The only reason people now adays hate on religion so much is because of human psychology. People will tell you it is because of evolution and all that, but in truth that can be worked around through religion. Generally, people shy away from religion because by nature, we are lazy. Whatever lifestyle we think is the most beneficial to our current life.

The irony of hating religion, is because atheism is in fact, a religion. No matter who you are, you always have a religion. Atheism is self contradictory in that way. Atheism is anti-God, yet "anti-God" is they're God.

The other irony, is when people say "Christianity is bad." because if there is nothing to dictate wether or not something is bad, how can you say it is bad? It is a load of self contradictory bogus.

The final irony is in the fact, that in the fight between Evolution, and creative design, creative design can include evolution. So, being as how science is no longer a weighing factor, we have to turn to philosophy.

I went to a philosophy professor, and he punch in some characteristics about God. He concluded that God does not exist. Then I asked, "did you put God in the 4th dimension?" he said yes. I said, "God is not bound by time" then he made me get out of his office.

I conclusion, if there is nothing to distinguish between right and wrong, how can you say it is wrong to distinguish between right and wrong?

PS: I know you will all flame me for this heavily. But, that is only because it is in your nature to defend what is easiest.

No offense was intended in this thought.

 

[Gilles]

We beat this to death. Ultimately, it comes down to moral truth, or natural-law. If you believe in a God, you're generally going to believe in natural-law, and if you don't believe in God, logically there is no natural-law.

Mr. Bob, atheism should not be considered a religion. By definition, it is an "organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth."

 

[leet.firefox]

Evil is what good isn't.

 

[PurplePoot]

Evil is nothing without fundamentals. In other words, without something to dictate between evil and good, there isn't evil or good. The only fundamental that can distinguish between good and evil is religion.

Nonexistent logic is nonexistent.

The only reason people now adays hate on religion so much is because of human psychology. People will tell you it is because of evolution and all that, but in truth that can be worked around through religion. Generally, people shy away from religion because by nature, we are lazy. Whatever lifestyle we think is the most beneficial to our current life.

What? That's what attracts people about religion - you don't need to understand, you can just 'have faith'.

And stop attacking evolution already, it's a fact and you'll have to live with it. Your straw men were first used and destroyed ages ago. There are plenty of things science has not yet adequately explained. Evolution is not one of them.

The irony of hating religion, is because atheism is in fact, a religion. No matter who you are, you always have a religion. Atheism is self contradictory in that way. Atheism is anti-God, yet "anti-God" is they're God.

No, it is not. Atheism is the lack of belief in a religion [in that sense]. Please, stop telling atheists what they are, because they know what they think better than you do (thank you, by the way, Gilles. You maintain my faith in the potential of religion with your statement).

The other irony, is when people say "Christianity is bad." because if there is nothing to dictate wether or not something is bad, how can you say it is bad? It is a load of self contradictory bogus.

Society? Survival as a species? Human rights?

The final irony is in the fact, that in the fight between Evolution, and creative design, creative design can include evolution. So, being as how science is no longer a weighing factor, we have to turn to philosophy.

Yes, it can. We never denied it. So stop attacking evolution.

I went to a philosophy professor, and he punch in some characteristics about God. He concluded that God does not exist. Then I asked, "did you put God in the 4th dimension?" he said yes. I said, "God is not bound by time" then he made me get out of his office.

Your god is bound by time, as time is change and your god changes. You are also giving properties to something that you are postulating the existence of - you are implying it exists before deciding whether it does.

I conclusion, if there is nothing to distinguish between right and wrong, how can you say it is wrong to distinguish between right and wrong?

I conclude that if redundancy is redundant, then redundancy is redundant. While I'm at it I would like to conclude that if black is white, then black is white, and if Hellenic faith was correct, then Hellenic faith was correct.

PS: I know you will all flame me for this heavily. But, that is only because it is in your nature to defend what is easiest.

No offense was intended in this thought.

What? We will flame you heavily for doing it wrong because you admit to be doing it wrong? Well, in that case, ...

It is not in our nature to defend what is easiest. It is in our nature to respond to what you ask us, and what you have asked we have responded to.

 

[LiOneSS]

Your mom is.




also, get MT membership, leave OT for the silly shit.

 

[Elenai]

The perversion of good. The absence of good.

 

[PurplePoot]

But then you need to define good. We all know what good is relative to evil (they are mutually exclusive, being defined that way), but that doesn't clarify what they are absolutely.

 

[Zombie]

You can't define it 100% accurately. Laws and Dogmas have already given some definition on this subject, the only problem is that they differ. Still, the core is the same in the vast majority of cases: Harming anyone (including yourself) is an evil thing to do.

 

[PurplePoot]

You can't define it 100% accurately. Laws and Dogmas have already given some definition on this subject, the only problem is that they differ. Still, the core is the same in the vast majority of cases: Harming anyone (including yourself) is an evil thing to do.

But the definition of "harming" and "others" differs.

Additionally, suicide is not universally condemned. Many people are fine with it.

 

[Elenai]

Lets try to avoid strawmen Mr. Bob.

 

[Linaze]

To define "evil" is near impossible, the way I see it.
I consider Hitler as evil, whilst some consider him good, it's a matter of personality, beliefs etc.

 

[Devalut]

Well, evil is pretty much self-explinary
I personally believe that evil is an act that goes by any way against the teachings of God.

Well That Can be reversal as well many acts of (EDIT:YOUR) "god" were truly Cruel and Disturbingly inhuman, such as sacrifice But i could go on and off topic.
any way my idea is that Evil comes from a perspective You see zombie2279 thinks that Going against his "god" is evil ( lets say Worshiping a toaster)
and evil to someone from a Toaster Religion Could believe that not worshiping there "Toaster god" is evil. So from a Observer view there are both evil thus they must brutally Kill each other in the name of "god" (And/or Toaster)

p.s. Btw Zombie2279 correction on your statement:I personally believe that evil is an act that goes by any way against the teachings of (EDIT:My) God.

 

[The_wand_mirror]

I was going to give a normal answer at first but then i pressed the button add reply like 5 times and the network connection timed out because for some reason it is CRAP!

So i would actually the thing that is RUINING MY INTERNET is PURE EVIL. But that's not really a serious response and i got so angry a while back ago i hurt the thing in my wrist which hurts VERY MUCH when i don't follow the doctors advice of being carefull with it but OK!....

Serious reply.. comes... about... now...

There is no good and evil, the only reason those two things exist is because humans are intelligent beings and have to make up things like this just to make others able to start useless discussions about it with no outcome like everything else ever created.

Woohoo, ok euhm... well, what is good for another person might be evil for another, you've already heard that.

Evil is, a human word made up i believe just to clarify things like ''The Devil'' etc. So... it's probably very old and probably has to do with something utterly useless... (Heh? Do i see the word GOD somewhere NOOOOOOOO! you didn't ....)

Btw, MT sucks!

Ha!

Bye!1 *Runs*

 

[Kwah]

It's all perspective.

ABORT. CANNOT QUANTIFY.

 

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

The OT forums really isn't the right place for existantial questions like this.

 

[Elenai]

I suppose, I could elaborate on my point:

Evil being the perversion of good.

To disturb someone out of their homeostatic existence with malicious purpose, is to do evil, and to 'be' evil, for the sum of your actions defining you as evil.

My two cents.

 

[Mr. Bob]

Nonexistent logic is nonexistent.

What? That's what attracts people about religion - you don't need to understand, you can just 'have faith'.

And stop attacking evolution already, it's a fact and you'll have to live with it. Your straw men were first used and destroyed ages ago. There are plenty of things science has not yet adequately explained. Evolution is not one of them.

No, it is not. Atheism is the lack of belief in a religion [in that sense]. Please, stop telling atheists what they are, because they know what they think better than you do (thank you, by the way, Gilles. You maintain my faith in the potential of religion with your statement).

Society? Survival as a species? Human rights?

Yes, it can. We never denied it. So stop attacking evolution.

Your god is bound by time, as time is change and your god changes. You are also giving properties to something that you are postulating the existence of - you are implying it exists before deciding whether it does.

I conclude that if redundancy is redundant, then redundancy is redundant. While I'm at it I would like to conclude that if black is white, then black is white, and if Hellenic faith was correct, then Hellenic faith was correct.

What? We will flame you heavily for doing it wrong because you admit to be doing it wrong? Well, in that case, ...

It is not in our nature to defend what is easiest. It is in our nature to respond to what you ask us, and what you have asked we have responded to.

I'm not attacking anything. I am just giving it strait. You seem so hostile lol. It may just be me though.

Anyway, God is not bound by time. You misunderstood. I mean that the biggest mistake you can make is to put God into a system, when in fact, He created the system. I should bring up the Spacial dimension points. It works the same way.

I mean, evolution can be set up. If God wanted there to be layers in the earth, he could have just said it. Or if he wanted to make fossils, he could have just said it. And yes, it is bound by faith. I am just saying that we can't dismiss religion because of evolution. I was never attacking it. In fact, it exists. Humans are now taller then they once were. See? I do not deny it. I am just integrating it.

If there is no black and white, there is nothing to dictate between right or wrong. Making life pointless. If you want to live a pointless life, that's fine with me. Go for it. But then again? What does it matter what I like? Of wait. Nothing matters. See my point? But oh wait, there is no point. etc

I don't know if you mean to sound hostile or not. But it sounds like it. No offense. "Your god" You keep using that statement. Not sure if you mean offense or not. Just curious.

I admitted to saying it wrong? If you say so....

Why do you defend pointlessness? What is the point of defending no point? This is not rhetorical. I actually want to know.

"Society? Survival as a species? Human rights?" I am curious as to why you say this. If there is no point, why does any of this matter to you? Again, this is not rhetorical. I actually want to know.

Anyway, I believe, and you don't. In your case, it makes no difference. In my case, I believe in point.

You say, "quit attacking evolution" and I am not. I say "quit attacking God."

 

[Hoernchen]

Mr. Bob

We aren't attacking god, for that statement to be true he would have to exist in the first place, and anyone with a higher intellectual level than that of a caveman, and anyone who's brain does not think in circles can tell you that.

To your other point, WHY THE FUCK WOULD GOD PUT SHIT ON HERE TO TEST OUR FAITH? ARE YOU FUCKING DUMB?! I think god put you here to test my faith!

My definition of evil is as follows:
People who believe a Jewish carpenter, who fathered himself, died for their sins 2000 years ago, and they symbolically eat his flesh and drink his blood. They also believe that they are made of dirt (I believe THEY are made of dirt too) and that women are the ribs of dirt. To top it all of they believe that life is a way of scoring points to get into an imaginary after-life world that rewards them for living a crappy life because of a set of idiotic rules they forced upon themselves.
As if this wasn't enough, they brain wash children into this mental sickness and wipe out millions because an invisible man in the sky told them to.

If you apply to that description, then you are the worst scum to walk the planet and I ask you to take your life, then you can go to 'Heaven' and you'll do us all a favor.




Yes, this was meant to be taken offensively

 

[Gilles]

Mr. Bob

We aren't attacking god, for that statement to be true he would have to exist in the first place, and anyone with a higher intellectual level than that of a caveman, and anyone who's brain does not think in circles can tell you that.

To your other point, WHY THE FUCK WOULD GOD PUT SHIT ON HERE TO TEST OUR FAITH? ARE YOU FUCKING DUMB?! I think god put you here to test my faith!

My definition of evil is as follows:
People who believe a Jewish carpenter, who fathered himself, died for their sins 2000 years ago, and they symbolically eat his flesh and drink his blood. They also believe that they are made of dirt (I believe THEY are made of dirt too) and that women are the ribs of dirt. To top it all of they believe that life is a way of scoring points to get into an imaginary after-life world that rewards them for living a crappy life because of a set of idiotic rules they forced upon themselves.
As if this wasn't enough, they brain wash children into this mental sickness and wipe out millions because an invisible man in the sky told them to.

If you apply to that description, then you are the worst scum to walk the planet and I ask you to take your life, then you can go to 'Heaven' and you'll do us all a favor.




Yes, this was meant to be taken offensively

This is the reason we shouldn't have these in OT. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Mr. Bob]

Mr. Bob

We aren't attacking god, for that statement to be true he would have to exist in the first place, and anyone with a higher intellectual level than that of a caveman, and anyone who's brain does not think in circles can tell you that.

To your other point, WHY THE FUCK WOULD GOD PUT SHIT ON HERE TO TEST OUR FAITH? ARE YOU FUCKING DUMB?! I think god put you here to test my faith!

My definition of evil is as follows:
People who believe a Jewish carpenter, who fathered himself, died for their sins 2000 years ago, and they symbolically eat his flesh and drink his blood. They also believe that they are made of dirt (I believe THEY are made of dirt too) and that women are the ribs of dirt. To top it all of they believe that life is a way of scoring points to get into an imaginary after-life world that rewards them for living a crappy life because of a set of idiotic rules they forced upon themselves.
As if this wasn't enough, they brain wash children into this mental sickness and wipe out millions because an invisible man in the sky told them to.

If you apply to that description, then you are the worst scum to walk the planet and I ask you to take your life, then you can go to 'Heaven' and you'll do us all a favor.




Yes, this was meant to be taken offensively

I am disapointed that you feel this way. Ah well, not my choice. Good luck with your life. However pointless it is.

You say "we". I don't know who the heck you are. Heck, I don't care. (No offense) But, making random assumptions isn't getting you anywhere.

And, why does God test our faith? lol funniest religion question of the year.

A. We are supposed to willingly choose.

B. Remember the garden of Eden? Yeah.

Hmmm..... So hostile....So pointless. Ask yourself, why do you care? Why should you care? I am afraid, as C.S.Lewis has depicted, you have given into a rather nasty weapon. Read "the Screwtape letters"

Please do not flame. This is a mature discussion. Summing random pieces of the Bible up, then shoving in my face, is not good for either of us.

I assume you are an atheist. Why are you here, if there is no point? How can you define evil based off of you seemingly immature approach to life, and expect people to believe you?

It seems as though Micheal plans to amuse me. If you plan on personally offending me, do it in private. You are free to PM me all you want.


AND TO ALL OF THE OTHERS: I am sorry for leading this conversation to this point. Let's all get back on topic. It seems as though these forums are rather pointless. No one gets anywhere. If anything, this has increased my faith. It reminds me of some rather important things.

TO THE MODS: Don't give Hoernchen neg rep please. He just doesn't understand. No need to punish him. If he want s to continue it, he can PM me.

I'll be back later. IF ANYONE WANTS TO CONTINUE THE RELIGION DISCUSSION, PM ME. DO NOT BOTHER THESE PEOPLE WITH YOUR MUSINGS. MY PM BOX IS OPEN. I LOVE A GOOD TALK. I WOULD CONSIDER ANY FURTHER COMMENTS DIRECTED TOWARDS ME, AN OFFENSIVE BACK STAB!

 

[Hakeem]

Admirable request. I will comply.


Evil is what you do when you do an action with the knowledge that what you are doing is wrong.


A not-worth-quoting aside: Theism is the belief in at least one deity. Atheism is therefore the belief that there are none.

 

[Silverfish423]

i believe in part what mr. bob was saying in his original post about how evil cannot be defined without good and evil coexisting. i bet in some ancient societies, there was no 'good' and 'evil'. there was only what there was to do. however, this is all up for discussion as well. to hoernchen, what you say about the bible is a load of bs. i am christian, but you must realize that there are extremists to everything in life. you are probably an extremist in certain aspects of your life. it is unavoidable. however, the fundamentals of christianity, what Jesus was trying to convey, are very obvious if you think about it, but much harder to apply to our lives. thus the reason why we have a distinction between good and evil. mr bob, i wanna have a religion discussion with you in PM. ill PM u maybe tomorrow or something =D
Ok, thanks and that is my opinion of the whole evil issue. btw, if your gonna respond to anything i said about religion, dont post it here, PM me, lets keep it strictly to the evil topic.

~Over and Out~

 

[shadow3]

Evil is what you do when you do an action with the knowledge that what you are doing is wrong.

That's pretty much my opinion aswell. I know 'wrong' is also something you can't define, but going deeper and deeper into the issue won't get us anywhere.

Because even if someone sees 'evil' as for example, someone killing another person, they might be right, if the person knew it was wrong.
However, there's also sometimes you kill others to be good, for example in wars, if someone is mortally wounded and will not survive, but they will die a painful and slow death, you might as well give them the relief of death.

Good and evil are both things we are taught or learn on our own, and are more like a state of mind.

I know 'wrong' is also something you can't define (from the quote), but going deeper and deeper into the issue won't get us anywhere, as you simply need to have your own opinion about some things in life.

 

[Ghan_04]

I think after a certain few posts above, we can safely assume that this thread has run its course.

Thanks for playing.

I imagine that it's rather obvious, but this kind of topic that is very opinionated increases the chance for flaming by an infinite amount as the number of posts approaches more than one.

Anyway,