Is There Such a Thing as Evil?

Does evil exist as a thing in itself?

Is Darkness a thing or is it just the absence of Light?

From my experience individuals do not decide to do acts because they are evil.  They decide upon a behavior that serves themselves in a particular situation.  These behavior can certainly be judged as evil by an observer.  However, the individual chooses the act with a mindset of something beneficial to him or her many times without regards to its consequences to others.  A rapist sees rape as a satisfactory means to an end possibly a violent eruption of his libido that results in some type of release which he finds pleasurable.  The victim sees this as evil whereas the rapist sees it as some type of perverted pleasure.  This reflects his lack of concern about another person but the act itself is considered of some positive benefit to him or else he would not act.  The point is the rapist decided upon an act that he judges as "good" for him even though it is at the expense of another human.    BTW, I am in no way excusing rape, I am simply explaining a thought.

I would suggest no individual ever does an act because he or she sees it as evil.  These individuals may know the act is evil but they are doing it for a greater good, their good.  There are times when killing another human is considered a good thing such as someone resisting a rapist by shooting him.   This would be a personal judgment that this act will be beneficial to them thus an act worth doing even at the expense of another person.

The point I am attempting to make is that evil does not exist in itself.  A person may complete an evil act but their intent is always for what they judge as good for them.  They may be delusional or psychotic but this does not change the nature of their intent.

My Christian friends tell me that Satan is the embodiment of  evil.  However, if evil does not exist as thing in itself then how can Satan exist?  How could an entity exist if his construct is compose of a lack of something? You can not construct anything using darkness, the lack of light.  I would conclude this is true of evil since evil is the lack of good rather than a thing in itself.

What did Jesus teach?

I choose to be a member of a United Methodist Church even though I feel there is some conflict in their understanding and my understanding of the teachings of Jesus.  However, in my area this church is about as close as I am going find to the way I view Jesus and his teachings.

There is some question as to what Jesus actually said but I feel there is enough correct information in the Gospels to obtain the spirit of his message of love.   While it sounds good, the message is a very difficult one.  It seems many who profess to follow these teachings seem to miss his teaching's core message.   Jesus focused on how one should live their life rather than splitting hairs on theological points.  Focusing on these split hairs results in missing the overall message.



Examples:

Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Luk 6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.

Luk 6:24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.

Luk 6:25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.

Luk 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

Luk 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Luk 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Luk 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:




These are some rather radical teachings. Jesus apparently feels God favors those who are poor over those who are rich. He also seems to hang around the "trashy" people in his society. He not only says you are suppose to be nice to others, he says you are suppose to love them even the ones you hate.




So how is one who professes to follow these teachings live his life in congruence with what Jesus says. I don't. I use rationalizations such as Jesus set the ultimate standard and he did not expect me to be as good as his example.




Example: Luke 10: 25-37. This is the Good Samaritan parable. You can read for yourself.

If I were to find a unacceptable looking stranger lying wounded on the street I would be hesitant to stop and help. What if this is a setup? I find being somewhat paranoid a good trait. If upon further examination it looked as if the person needed help, I would likely stop and give assistance. I would call an ambulance and wait until it arrived. I would watch as the ambulance drove off and then proceed on my way. I don't see myself doing more than this. I believe in most circles this would be an acceptable response to the situation. I certainly would not go to the hospital and offer to pay his medical bills. I would not assist in finding his family or helping find somewhere for him to go for his recovery. I would depend on the hospital and their social worker to provide this assistance. It would not be my problem.




What grade would I give myself using Jesus' parable as an example? I did stop, I gave some aid and then washed my hands of the situation. I guess a C, maybe C- would be a fair grade. In high school I was completely satisfied with a C grade.

I don't know but Jesus made not be so impressed and give me a D. The Good Samaritan not only paid for the person's medical care but provided for his residence during this recovery at a considerable cost. He even planned to return and make sure he was doing okay. Now if I were rich it might be different and the cost would not be an issue. Of course, if I were rich I would probably be more like the Priest and the Levite.

Of course, I do not profess to be a good Christian. I am sure there are people who would score an A+ just not many. If this country is a Christian nation (we could debate that issue) then why aren't people more helpful to those who are suffering.




Three Jesus Suggestions:

1) Appreciate what you have.

2) Let God be the judge, disagree but don't judge.

3) Give the other guy a break.




I find these to be sure ways to greatly reduce the stress and live a happier life when I follow them.

Wealth

If you are reading this, you are a wealthy person.

With a touch of a button I can control the temperature of this room where I sit.  With a touch of another button I have access to over 200 video channels on my cable TV.  I can walk a few steps and obtain frozen ice to cool my drink.  I have never known starvation and never worried where I would obtain my next meal.  In fact, I can go just a mile or so and have the choice of foods from all over the world.  I have lived a mostly healthy life with few major illnesses.  How lucky can one guy be?

I am sure most of this is true of the vast majority of people who live in the US and have access to the Internet.  Yet we, including myself, foolishly take these fantastic luxuries for granted.  In the past rulers of great kingdoms could not boast of such extravagances no matter how much gold and silver they owned. 

We could talk about the excesses of the very wealthy in this country (I will at some point) but that should not keep us from rejoicing at what we have right now.  I want to enjoy what I have,

Death

I find death to be a very interesting subject.  Although many do not share that view.  Most of the people with whom I associate tell me if you have the right theological belief system then at some point in the future you will be awarded a new perfect body and live again in a wonderful paradise.  Of course, if you choose wrong and in many cases the wrong choice can be of a relative minor theological point, then you perish in eternal damnation irregardless of how you lived your life.  You will be judged the same as child killers.  Some will say their punishment will be worst but what can be worst than eternal damnation.

Now that I am 60 I have watched numerous people die.  These include my parents, my first wife, and one of my best friends who sadly was a year younger than me.   Where are they?  That is the unanswered question.  Many have opinions but so far there is no empirical evidence to support any particular opinion.  Near death experiences are interesting but since their evidence is entirely subjective and as of now there is no experimental model to investigate this phenomena, these experiences give us no empirical information.

I wonder what would happen to religion if death no longer posed an issue.

My comfort in this issue relates to the fact that I do not remember existing before I was born.  Some say I did but I have no recollection of it.  The possibility I did not exist before I was born does not bother me.  So, if I will no longer exist after I die then it seems to be the same thing.

My Christian friends expect go to "heaven" and live a blissful life.  One major question I have concerns the question of free will.  Assuming we have some measure of free will now (yes, I realized that is an assumption) then would one have free will in heaven?   If so, what would stop individuals from making the same poor choices they make in their physical life.  If, indeed, God has some sort of plan to allow individuals to have both free will and make only good choices, it would be nice if he would implement that plan now.  The world would be a much nicer place.

My Thought Process

There is conflict within my mind.   This results from two main established patterns of contradicted thought processes that to this point have no satisfactory resolution.  It is my own personal yin and yang.

My rational empirical self operates by forming a hypothesis and then gathering empirical data to either support of refute the idea.   This usually results in some type of conclusion on whether or not the hypothesis has merit and should pursued or else discarded as a false premise.  I find this very utilitarian in daily life.

While this other pattern begins with some firm basic assumptions about the nature of reality.   These are not supported by empirical evidence although so far they have neither been refuted by empirical data.  This pattern of thoughts relate more to my apparent emotional needs.  The most basic assumption that fuels its philosophy is that this reality has an overall purpose and thus my life is meaningful in some significant way.

I have an emotional need for a purposeful universe.  This need results in further basic assumptions.  For there to be a purpose there must be some type of organizing intelligence to the universe.  My rational self says the odds appear to be 50/50, either there is or there is not.  My emotional self thus chooses to believe the intelligence exists.   This of course is a rationalization resulting from the premise it is unacceptable for me to believe there is no reason for things to exist.

Of course, my empirical nature says show me.  Most metaphysical explanations seem to only reflect our current ignorance.  These explanations had the same logic through out history.   We did not understand the destructive force of lightning so it must mean there is an angry god directing it.   It seems many beliefs today follow this same pattern of logic.   When we don't understand something we invent a theological explanation.

My conflict is that I have discovered no empirical evidence supporting actions that defy the basic laws of physics.    Even though you can't prove a negative it would be quite satisfying to have empirical evidence supporting my current theological beliefs.

Thus you have my conflict.

Everything

I often ponder various questions as I walk and so decided to post them.  This is more for my own narcissism  than for anyone else but if anyone is interested feel free to imbibe in my thought processes.   These thoughts may range from the meaning or meaningless of the universe to the huge disparity between the rich and the poor in the land of opportunity.  We will see if this self therapy is worth the effort.