Did god create evil?

[Simon Gnosis]

Evil is relative.
At best evil is simply the general term for the anti thesis of social unity.

All things that happen good or bad are simply learning experiences.

Hitler for example showed humanity what happens when we care more about ideology than human life..he earnestly believed he was doing the best for his people, and many germans and nazi sympathisers the world over agreed.
We only label him evil because the world consensus was (thankfully) that exterminating Jews and conquering peoples was baaad.
So we made war upon him to stop him.
But Hitler isnt going to hell....he was merely the catalyst for what was already there.
He opened up a festering wound in the psyche of nazi germany and of humanity in general.
Exposing the darkness in us all.
In effect he taught us about the darkside of our human natures.

Jesus taught us the complete opposite, brotherhood tolerance compassion sacrifice etc.. but both experiences (the hitler and jesus experiences) are both essential for the evolution of our pardigram psychology.
There is no light without darkness, no joy without pain, no understanding without lessons....

 

[Super Universe]

People compare good and evil as opposites, like light and darkness. But darkness is not a thing that exists, it is not a creation. Darkness is simply the absence of light.

Is it bad for a lion to kill and eat an antelope? The lion must survive.

Good is action that comes from sentient beings making evolved choice. Bad is an action that comes from sentient beings making an unevolved or devolved, a selfish choice.

Evil was not created by God, it was created by sentient beings.

 

[finalfrogo]

I disagree. That's dualistic thinking. One cannot have light without darkness? Darkness is the absence of light. Darkness cannot exist where there is light.

Yes, but if light did not have darkness to distinguish it, then it wouldn't be recognized as "light." Similarly, if there was only good and no bad, people wouldn't define anything as good, simply because everything is good.

 

[finalfrogo]

So killing an innocent child is just because the killers contains to little "good"?

Yes. Do you find that statement erroneous?

 

[Katzpur]

But I do "get it"
I used to use the same arguments. The sad thing is that they are irrefutable because they are based on personal beliefs and opinions. There is no way to argue against them.

Evil is a subjective term. The concept of evil dependant upon the values of the observer. To me evil is placing innocent, unwilling beings in a state of torment and suffering, dictating their value based upon actions that I may or may not agree with, favoring one group over another according to what I believe to be right and wrong, and punishing the others for eternity.

That does not fit into my concept of a benevolent being, and I choose not to believe it.

You're absolutely right; my ideas change nothing about the truth of the matter, which is that neither of us know the truth.

What kind of a world would a benevolent being have created? Would there be death, or would we all live forever? Would we be faced with any kind of challenges or trials, or would we live day after day in blissful ignorance of how good we actually had it? Would there be rules of any kind, or would we be free to do anything we wished without any consequences? I'm just trying to get a feel for what you believe a good alternative would be.

 

[retrorich]

Humans created God and evil.

 

[SoyLeche]

If [God has] the ability to do anything, lets call it [do an evil act], then in order for that ability to exist then [evil] must exist.

If [evil] did not exist then the ability to [do an evil act] would not exist.

By simply stating that the ability to [do an evil act] exists then one implies that [evil] exist.

This construct does not work. We can replace the variables with just about anything, but the construct completely negates originality or creative process.

1) Did the car exist before Ford built his first one? No, but he had the ability to build one.

2) Did the telephone exist before Bell? No, but he had the ability to build one.

I've got it!! Using this construct we can prove that God exists!

If [man has] the ability to do anything, lets call it [believe in God], then in order for that ability to exist then [God] must exist.

If [God] did not exist then the ability to [believe in God] would not exist.

By simply stating that the ability to [believe in God] exists then one implies that [God] exist.

 

[michel]

Who created evil......

Just my view, but I don't believe that God created Evil; he gave us the propensity to do evil acts.

I am not sure that I believe in evil in itself.

 

[Shtef]

Who created evil......

there is no such thing as evil. nothing is inherently evil/bad, only that which humans choose to see in that light.

what makes humans label a thing evil/bad? fear. Did God create fear? yes. why? so that we can experience it's opposite, love.

 

[sojourner]

Yes, but if light did not have darkness to distinguish it, then it wouldn't be recognized as "light." Similarly, if there was only good and no bad, people wouldn't define anything as good, simply because everything is good.

Why not? How do you know?

 

[BruceDLimber]

>Did god create evil?

No.

As explained in the Baha'i scriptures (as well as others), all of creation was created good.

Evil is simply the relative lack of good, just as darkness doesn't exist as an actual "thing" in its own right, but is simply the relative lack of light.

Piece of cake.

Bruce

 

[bnabernard]

In saying elsewhere about a bucket of hydrogen and oxegen being thrown on a fire I am of course refering to a bucket of water, hower we had the hydrogen bomb, should God not have created hydrogen,. On its own a very volatile substance and in the wrong hands absolute evil in destructive force, an atom, Therefore is the source of evil at Gods doorstep or is it somewhere else?

 

[Sonofason]

Who created evil......

I don't know who created evil, and I don't know who first contemplated the concept of evil, but in all truth, evil is not something that exists. It is the lack or absence of something that exists. Evil is the lack of good. Throughout the ages, human beings have associated evil with another similar concept. That concept is darkness. Darkness also does not exist. It is simply a concept to represent a state where light is not present or lacking. But the darkness itself isn't really anything at all. It is the absence of something. It is the absence of light. It's importance is relative only because it represents the lack of something good, which is light. If one were to take light out of an otherwise empty room, he would be left with the same thing had he removed a coffee cup from that same otherwise empty room. It's nothing.

God is good. And everything that is good is from God.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
(James 1:17)
"For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,"
(1 Timothy 4:4)
"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."
James 1:17)

No, God doesn't create evil. God only creates that which is good. God only does that which is good. And because God is good, He has created us with a freedom of will to do good, or to not do good. If we do not that which is good, then we lack the goodness that comes only from God, and are therefore by definition evil.

 

[Sonofason]

What Does "evil" Means To You?

Evil is the lack of God's goodness in us.

 

[Desert Snake]

Who created evil......

Satan.

 

[Desert Snake]

The "tree" was of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice that humanity did not know evil until they had disobeyed God. When they disobeyed, then they had knowledge of what evil was. Evil is a construct of humanity, not part of God's good creation.

They both ate of the fruit. In what way does this story imply that women are "weaker" than men? Had Adam been stronger, could he have resisted the temptation that Eve could not? I don't think one can divide and qualify the sexes based upon this account.

So eating a fruit gave eve the knowledge of evil? Seriously? How is that a 'construct of humanity', if the tree was in the garden? Have you asked about this in the Judaism DIR?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

It seems to me that man created all of it - good, evil, God and Satan.

 

[sojourner]

So eating a fruit gave eve the knowledge of evil? Seriously? How is that a 'construct of humanity', if the tree was in the garden? Have you asked about this in the Judaism DIR?

No, of course not. "Eating the fruit" is an allegory for "partaking in knowledge." They weren't to partake in knowledge of good and evil. When they disobeyed, they partook of that knowledge. IOW, when Wisdom (the serpent) goaded them into taking responsibility for their own actions, they became "like God -- knowing good and evil."

Don't need a Judaism DIR to understand Genesis. A published Genesis scholar is good enough.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am HaShem, that doeth all these things.
Isaiah 45:7

Hate to beat a dead horse, but that is a poor translation.