Is Anything Evil? Does Evil Exist?

Tusko:That would have been true had Christ not come. So your argument might have been better BC. The Jews had more faith than we in that sense. We have no excuse.Edited by Rob, : No reason given.

You didn't answer the questions.I asked you how a person can premeditate without using reason. I'm suggesting that an act is either premeditiated or unreasonable - but not both.And I asked how you can conclude premeditation if you can't understand the reasoning behind it. I'm suggesting that your judgement of "premeditation" and "reasonableness" is based on your subjective notions and have nothing to do with the person you are judging.Edited by Ringo, : Spelling.

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PD:So what is your comment? Is it good, right, wrong, nothing?Is everything neutral?If so, why the suspensions?

Ringo:They simply decide to reject reason because they can!It is a person who perceives themself as powerless, overcompensating by takling control and projecting power. It is pride.You do it, and I do it.It is playing God. And it matters not whter it is a minor little thing, or a big and historical thing.

By this thinking, you are evil due to your unreasonable belief in a God.You may "think" that your beliefs are reasonable, but since you out of hand discarded the potential reasoning of your alleged child molestor, you must be willing to accept the same treatment.

How can a person "decide" to reject reason without using reason? Isn't decision-making a reasoning process?And you still still haven't answered the other question: How can you determine somebody else's motivations if you don't understand the reasoning behind them? And especially if you claim there is no reasoning behind them?

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Ringo:The fact that there is no reason is itself the proof of ill motive. Good motives have good reasoning or 'sound' reasoning.Ringo:Jesus said, 'the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak'.No, not all descisions are based upon reason. Reason is by definition sound and good. A lack of it is not reaosn at all. Some descisions are simply motivated by natural impulses. The urge to lust over a beautiful woman for example. Reason tells us not to go there. But we can choose to reject that voice and instead let our natural mind have it's fantasy. It is indulgence at the expense of reason. It is purely animal and material lust. It can be sexual, economic, power seeking, etc.And this is one distinction between nauralism and Christianity. We are very complex. We are not only a material mind (DNA). We also have a conscious (spirit), that is in conflict with the other. the two combined are the soul (heart). Our hearts are desperately wicked because we are not in control of our flesh. You might say, 'we are our flesh'. No, our flesh is only one part. We are the composite of our soul. They are meant to be in balance.The Bible says we are slaves to our flesh. We must have our Spirits filled with God's Spirit. Then and only then, do we begin to recover. And it is not an easy recovery.Now, most of you will likely write all of that off. Fine!but if it was at all interesting, Dallas Willard covers the subject well in his book, 'Renovation of the heart'.

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So what is your comment?

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What part of my Message 66 or your own STR quote in Message 63 didn't you understand?You quoted my comment: So there are things that can be described as good or evil, but good and evil are not things that exist.And Message 66 contained my reasoning.

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Is it good, right, wrong, nothing?

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What is "it"?

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz

PD:Then what are you?PD:I was reffering to your comment.What is 'your comment', if not good or evil?Edited by Rob, : No reason given.Edited by Rob, : No reason given.

What I'm asking is: How can there be "motive" at all if there is no reason? What is motive if not reason? It doesn't follow from that that "bad" motives have no reasoning. It seems more reasonable to conclude that "bad" motives have "bad" reasoning. Not by any reasonable definition. The "motivation" for a decision is not the issue here. You haven't shown yet that you can know anything about somebody else's motivations.You claimed that "evil" results from a "decision" to reject reason. You haven't shown that that kind of decision comes from a "natural impulse".

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So you refuse to answer and retreat from your original assertion?Way to debate Rob.Why don't you give some evidence instead of circular easoning?Rob asserts that we need a saviour because if are evil.Rob asserts we are evil.Rob asserts we need a saviour.Bullshit.

Again your whole idea rests on the foundation of your religion. This is a science fora for fuck sake.

Yet another pointless assertion.

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Then what are you?

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I'm a human being with good and bad inclinations. I'm not a good and I'm not an evil.
As I said in Message 66, evil is a descriptive word, not a living thing or an object.In literature and speech we tend to personify such words.Whether my comment is good, bad, or neutral is in the eye of the beholder.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz

There is no such thing as non-reason. Just as there is no such thing as darkness. It is the absense of reason / light.Ringo:But you have.Your motive is purely 'feeling' rather than thought.