Are people actually "evil"

Interesting question...

Is there "evil" in the world... are people actually evil or have they experienced things in their life that made them hate?

Many people believe there are "spirits" and or demons that whisper and or infect... perhaps possess people... and make them do horrible things

I tend to believe those that do "evil" things have a predisposed experience inclining them to act out towards that which they hate... Though i could be wrong...

I've watched many videos of so called "evil" people... and theres always an explanation for their deeds... something happened in their life which made them act out...

Do we subconsciously program evil... or is it naturally occurring within the individual?

Personally i have issues with the idea that we can be born this way

what say you?

a reply to: Akragon
Christ said no man is good. We are all evil. God is good. Remove the light and all that is left is darkness.

a reply to: Zenchuck

Sure...

Im not talking Christianity here... i mean what would be considered Evil by anyone

Not just the tenets of your religion... IF i was looking for that i would have posted in the religion forum

a reply to: Akragon

So you want to believe that no one has personal agency of choice?

How many of the world's saints also had horrible things in their past that didn't make them similarly evil?

What's the difference? The person and their choices. We can all choose how we will be, and some of us choose to be evil.

a reply to: Akragon

Not 100% clear on your question, but if you are asking if transient 'spirits' are responsible for making people evil, then I would answer "No". I think first though we need to define "evil". By what yardstick is evil measured?

Personally, I think a person being evil is rooted in one of several areas:

a.) A person has a mental defect. Whether these defects are permanent or temporary is debatable.

b.) A person becomes so detached from reality, for whatever reason, that they no longer realize their thoughts and actions are far outside what is considered 'normal', in the extreme.

c.) A person becomes so indoctrinated in a certain way of thinking that they cease to consider any other way of thinking as valid (which is probably really more a combination of a.) and b.) above).

Again though, I also believe you have to establish baselines of what is considered 'normal', and what constitutes being 'evil'. For example, I believe 'evil' is someone who does or says something which appears one way when, in their minds, they intentionally hope the outcome is completely different, in a malicious or deceptive way.

Many politicians, for example, are 'evil' IMNSHO.

Then, of course, we quickly get into philosophical questions, like...

- Is hate evil?

- Is selfishness evil?

- Is propaganda evil?

And then there are even harder questions like...

- Is ideology evil?

- Is organized religion evil? If so, which ones?

- Is pride evil?

- Is competition evil?

Combine any of the first (3) with the latter (4), and then the paradoxical nature of the questions becomes more clear.

When people loose their disciplene (sp) in life, darkness seems to creep into their hearts. Just look at all the prison videos on youtube.

Yes they are. All one has to do is take a good look around the world.

a reply to: Akragon

It's much too complicated to be narrowed down to simply being either this or that.

You could have 2 people suffering through the exact same childhood traumas yet one of them decides NOT to take it out on others for the rest of his life, while the other consistently uses it as his excuse for ............ (whatever act he's done or does)


Or maybe some people are just funked up in the head.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

a reply to: Akragon

On a serious note.

Yes Akragon, evil very much exists in this world.

Think 9/11 and the Armenian holocaust.

a reply to: Akragon

Personally i have issues with the idea that we can be born this way

Agreed. Humans are not innately evil. That's complete rubbish.

Are there evil people? I can only give my opinion.

Some people have a conscience, and some don't. It is hard for anyone with a conscience to commit atrocities because they will either stop themselves, or they will be so grieved at what they have done, they want to die. Extreme fear / anger prompts people to do things they wish they hadn't.

If there is such a thing as an evil person, it is those who have no conscience. They feel no remorse or regret for anything. Other humans are only valuable if they are usable. We typically call them narcissists or psychopaths. These are evil people.

a reply to: Akragon

Probably the greatest christian country of its time or any, Germany pre WW2 and most of the population succumbed to Hitlers Nazi party
In Stalin’s USSR 1 in 3 people worked or gave up family members, pretty sure it’s documented

When the tide turns, people become evil
Are people evil, just reflect on history
Don’t need to be a genius

a reply to: Akragon

The concept of evil exists in all religions as well as secular philosophy. ‘Evil’ needn’t be exclusively considered a Christian concept. In this sense (very generally speaking), evil is a maliciousness that falls outside socially acceptable actions—what that society believes is normal. It is pervasive and extremely callous. Often the word ‘evil’ is simply the easiest way to understand a horrific action that seems inexplicable to everyone but the perpetrator(s).

Someone else mentioned Narcissists or psychopaths. IMHO, that comes closest to grasping the nature of evil. I recall a famous case in the 90’s involving a young boy (I think he was 8 y.o. then). He seemed the very definition of evil, the Bad Seed, so to speak. By all accounts he was born healthy and had a normal life in a smallish New England town with loving, attentive parents. He crushed a five year olds head in with a large rock, killing him, then sodomized the child with a nearby stick. When he was finally caught, the police asked him why he did it. He just shrugged. In later interviews [when he was in his 20’s], he expressed no remorse. To me, that demonstrates evil.

a reply to: Akragon

Evil and wicked are not the same thing. Evil means a judgment of other-sacrifice / other-destruction while wicked means someone who is unjust in spirit.

Everyone has evil in them (in their spirit). You can see it when we criticize others, when we lash out, or when we try to punish others or other things. Really, any time that someone gets angry then they're making a judgment call of other-sacrifice / of evil.

If you mean to ask whether there are wicked people then yes to that too but that is determined by God in the end.

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Those who will not be saved / turn to God will be counted as wicked. God created them so they can be judged (the day of evil is judgment day). It would be unjust to judge them before they turned from God so he has to create them and let them be unjust in order to judge them - it's the only way he can be just.

a reply to: Akragon


Ummm... first you have to define..."evil"...

Evil

e·vil (ē′vəl)
adj. e·vil·er, e·vil·est
1. Morally bad or wrong; wicked: an evil tyrant.
2. Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful: the evil effects of a poor diet.
3. Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous: evil omens.
4. Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous: an evil reputation.
5. Characterized by anger or spite; malicious: an evil temper.
n.
1. The quality of being morally bad or wrong; wickedness.
2. That which causes harm, misfortune, or destruction: a leader's power to do both good and evil.
3. An evil force, power, or personification.
4. Something that is a cause or source of suffering, injury, or destruction: the social evils of poverty and injustice.
adv. Archaic
In an evil manner.

Then you have to ascribe said definitions to various behavior patterns...

There are other descriptors that have a more appropriate usage than..."evil"...and fully define the above behavior and actions in a territorial...dominant apex predator species...

My personal opinion...is that such apex predators can fully ascribe such behaviors as natural...within the framework of what is specific to the natural world...and therefore does not require or need any outside force or spiritual impulse or coercion to behave exactly as one might expect an apex predator species to behave...











YouSir

I think some people are born with the capability to do substantial amounts of evil or good in their lives. These people are the extreme regardless of which end of the spectrum they end up on.

I think the majority of people are born with the capability to do a small amount of both evil and good in their lives. These people are the average , every day person.

I think it is that first group, the extremes, that are most mailiable when it comes to being shaped by their life stories.

If you spell Evil backwards, it says Live, so Im leaning to a Nature versus Nuture, with an Apollonian-Dionyisan dynamic.

Who needs who more, the strong or the weak.

Whatever makes someone “evil” is beyond me.
I understand the science and religious aspects to a large degree but I can say, I have met 3 truly evil people during my life.
Truly Evil People do exist, avoid them at all costs when you discover the depths of their darkness.
I’ve heard stories of evil being dumped 200+ miles out in a 1000 fathoms of water (6,000 ft.), chain wrapped.

Yes, people can be evil imo. And they can be born with the propensity to be evil, shrinking frontal lobes and all that.

Most people are evil in the sense of apathy and ignorance- accidentally evil, like they're mostly neutral, like when they see a stranger suffering on the side of the street most people would turn a blind eye to it because addressing somebody elses suffering is an inconvenience. That type of neutral lazy evil. And some people are intentionally harmful, and some are intentionally good and it turns into evil, lol. Yeah, people are evil af.

a reply to: geezlouise

I was going to say the display of apathy or empathy or lack thereof determines relative good and evil in most people.