What is evil?

spirited75
reply to post by Abavs

 

did you know anybody that was burned at the stake, thrown in a river to drown?
Are you a distant relative of someone who this happened to?

Can you, off the top of your head, give me the names of someone who this happened to?

Did not think that you could do this.
Neither can I.

Come down off your cross, take the wood, build a bridge and cross over it.
There are more than enough injustices in reality today, that bringing up some that happened centuries ago is an entire waste of your God given energies. LOL.

so do you think those people deserved to be tortured to death bythe catholic religion in the name of god to justify ridding the world of supossible evil was acceptable ? I wont get over the fact that Catholics are always the ones to point the finger and judge others for there beliefs and mistakes. Not to mention the amount of guilt trips they lay on you if you dont follow there way of thinking. But its perfectly ok for them do kill, judge, manipulate and take from the poor all in the name of god.

The difficulty in answering a question like this is because depending on who you are talking to, they may take this as a spiritual or objective query, and the layers in which one could delve dictates it is a bane for argument without even trying to evoke devils advocate. Having said that, I have given it some thought and came up to a satisfying (to me) answer...

Evil is obviously subjective but this does not mean it can not have parameters. Obviously we can not/never deal in absolutes but I think it is safe to say a majority rule on what is 'good' can be made with regards to humanity and/or human interaction. I believe it is safe to say that taking the time to feed and cloth a starving, homeless child is understood as 'good' by a large majority of human beings. Conversely, Taking that same starving & homeless child to a secluded part of the woods, only to brutally rape, torture, and finally eat would be considered so disgusting and inhuman to most that it could inherently be labeled as 'evil'.

To that end, I consider things that are 'evil', things that in a despicable way purposely defile what we as a population of human beings perceive as good, by and large. This in a nut shell is my feelings on the topic and obviously can not be quantified in a scientific structure because we are dealing in perceptions and opinions, but I think this definition would suffice for a large part of the human population, before even adding any religious undertones to it.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


In my conception, evil is intent to override the volition of others.

reply to post by Abavs


Um, that's not what I see in American jails. What I see of men without women at all is monsters. Repeatedly, sheer monsters.

reply to post by Abavs


you are whining about the Titanic hitting an iceberg,
while your little lifeboat is leaking???

LOL.

reply to post by Abavs


The definition of pride I am speaking of is an inflated sense of self, being hubris.

Because something is in our genetic make up doesn't make it right to do. And how do you even know that lust is in our genes?

reply to post by Krazysh0t


What is your point. A lot of things are being discussed around the world at the same time and in some instances things get repeated. Especially if they are true.

Very funny.

bitsforbytes
reply to post by Abavs

 

The definition of pride I am speaking of is an inflated sense of self, being hubris.

Because something is in our genetic make up doesn't make it right to do. And how do you even know that lust is in our genes?

May I ?

Testosterone . High production levels of this in a man can alter his behavior, given him a power and greedy hungry drive. With females im not sure what hormoan turns them into greedy power hungry biatchs. Probably permerdent mild case of pms

reply to post by Abavs


Right, so lust does exist you can call them hormones or what ever the bottom line is that bad actions result from this. You can explain and understand how this happens all day if you want, what is important in the end is your actions.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


The absence of righteousness is filled with evil.

Abavs

bitsforbytes
Very simple you can do harm through seven of these channels:

1) Wrath
2) Envy
3) Sloth
4) Prides
5) Gluttony
6) Greed
7) Lust

These seven behaviors combined with the love of money constitutes most of the evil in this world. Never mind where this comes from, look at the message and apply it to the world. Tell me this ain't true?

edit on 16-2-2014 by bitsforbytes because: (no reason given)

how can you justify that pride is evil ? To be proud of who you are and you achievements. There is a big difference between being proud and being a stuck up snob with you nose high in the air. And as for lust. Lust is not a sin as it is inthe genetic make up of human beings. It has to do with hormone levels.
One of the main univesal laws is ying and yang. Meaning for were is one positive there is one negative. Meaning were there is an emotional attraction there is a physical attraction. 9 times out of 10 the man is the physical and the female is the emotional. Unless you have had your hormones tampered with say ie prescription meds, or to much of certain gm foods.

Come now you think that the explanation for sin is in our hormones? Sure the body may have a hormonal response to your lust but really there is nothing good about selfish pride. Acting on it can bring you to a bad place. Not acting on it but still enduring it is still not a good experience. I've felt people get jealous around me or lust and it's not explicable that I'm simply feeling their hormones turn on. It's a real thing, it's stains your soul.