Is Anything Evil? Does Evil Exist?

Good is not a thing either. So good doesn't exist; it is just the absence of evil.In literature and speech people personify objects, abstract concepts, and human emotions, opinions, and personalities to name just a few. Evil is an descriptive word that has been personified.What is deemed evil or good, as has been mentioned already, is relative to the person or group using the word.So there are things that can be described as good or evil, but good and evil are not things that exist.

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

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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

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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

Please address my arguments concerning evil.This is the science forum, please give some support if you disagree with what I've said concerning evil, which BTW is supported by your STR quote in Message 63.Are you saying that evil does exist in its own right as an entity or an object? If yes, then please provide support. A picture would be even better and not pictures of people doing evil actions.

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

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That is not what I am suggesting. I am suggesting that as evil is void of good, darkness is void of light, and nonsense is void of reason, and that in 'Light' of that, you have said nothing.

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Actually nonsense would be void of sense. So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood! (Job 21:34)The Bible is replete with personifications. Numbers 16:32 (and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their...)Wisdom in Proverbs 8.The Adversary in JobWe aren't talking about voids, we are talking about the existence of evil.

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

Your response has nothing to do with observing a good or an evil.You aren't addressing your own topic.The most common usage of the word "evil" today carries the meaning of extreme moral wickedness. That usage came about around the 1800's.Before that, where we would use the words bad, cruel, unskillful, defective (adj.), or harm, crime, misfortune, and disease; the Anglo Saxons used the word evil.The greek word poneros also carried these various meanings. So we really have to understand what the author was saying when using the word poneros. Poneros isn't always translated as evil. Kakologeo is another word that is translated as evil, but doesn't imply moral corruption.I don't see that Jesus claims that all humans are morally wicked in the extreme.For Jesus to only come to save the sinners and not the righteous shows that all humans were not considered morally corrupt or evil in today's usage. Even Paul said that the Gentiles were naturally doing things required of God's law, not contrary to the law, but required of the law. Humans are not evil. Some humans may be morally corrupt, but being humans does not make one automatically evil.

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

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IF I were to go with the idea that truth is an absolute and that Jesus Christ is truth, (in a living sense) I would be approaching this argument by declaring that God is good, evil is the absence of God (in the sense that whenever a person sins, they are denying God either consciously or subconsciously at that moment.)

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You're not addressing reality. You are using a metaphor to create a picture or feeling. So now we have to weed through the religious jargon.When we look at the meanings of the word truth, the meanings that deal with our physical reality are: (1) the state of being the case: FACT (2)the body of real things, events, and facts: ACTUALITYWhen you say that Jesus Christ is truth, I feel that the third meaning is intended: a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality. You are comparing him to that fundamental or spiritual reality implying that they are similar. Unfortunately you've only stated a name, you haven't really given any information to the reader.
What is the fundamental or spiritual reality? (rhetorical)The same with God is good. That makes a nice visual for a sermon or Sunday school lesson, but it isn't a means to further this discussion concerning evil and what it means today or what the Bible authors were saying concerning evil. Language changes over time, we can't just look at the surface.

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

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Does this mean that good is an absolute? My critics may assert that even though the Bible has an absolute view of good and evil, the Bible itself is a fallible creation of human wisdom. The philosophical implications still stand, however, if we are to argue whether a human author can be inspired by an absolute belief.

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I'm not sure why some people have the need for things to be absolute. (Something that exists independently of all relations and conditions, that which has reality or validity in and of itself.)Given that definition, no, good is not an absolute. Good is just a word that describes positive actions.I would say the Bible does not have an absolute view of good. Of course that also depends on what you mean by absolute view now that you're using absolute as an adjective. Even though Jesus said that there is only one who is good, in chapter 12 talks of a good man.

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In that sense, evil is not personified in humans unless we choose it.

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What do you mean by "evil being personified in humans"? Are you saying that people can choose to be the embodiment of evil or not?

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

I see your Revelation 13, and raise you a Mark 9: Your OP suggests that you want to discuss the reality of evil as we define it today. Whether you like it or not, the usage of the word has changed over time. You need to be more precise in what you are referring to when you say evil. (moral corruption, calamities, etc.)As I've said before and you haven't addressed, evil is a descriptive word. The noun form came about due to creative usage of the word.Bottom line: Humans classify actions as good, bad, or indifferent. Yes there are actions that we classify as wrong, but there is no one thing or object that causes a person to do wrong or right for that matter. What once was wrong can now be right and vice versa.Yes there are physiological anomalies that can prevent a person from understanding wrong from right. A short circuit in the brain is not evil, but may be the cause of a person committing heinous acts. The actions are classified as evil, but the short circuit is not the evil (cosmic evil force).Edited by purpledawn, : SubtitleEdited by Admin, : Fix evil link.

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

This thread, which you started, is about evil; not the holy spirit. The holy spirit hasn't even been mentioned, by me anyway. So the last part of the verse doesn't pertain.My Message 117 did have more on topic comments than off. Unfortunately your reply was completely off topic and doesn't further the discussion on evil.Please address the comments that deal with the topic of evil.

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