Lism
Groyperous...
- Joined
- May 17, 2024
- Messages
- 1,414
In this thread we discuss why evil exists despite god being real.
This is my understanding of the approaches to this problem:
1) The material world was fashioned by an evil god (Gnosticism)
2) God allowed for (but did not choose) for evil to exist because it made human beings capable of being both knowledgeable (of evil) and nonetheless good, which is more godly than being ignorant and good like Adam and Eve. (Christianity and other Abrahamic religions?)
2b) Evil does not exist, it is simply empty conceptual space deprived of the goodness of God (Abrahamic religions)
3) Human beings choose, through our attachments to this world, to continue to descend into this sphere of existence and experience harm. Evil is entirely of our decision, and is an illusion which cannot be considered a creation at all due to this. (Dharmic and Platonic Strains)
4) Evil does not exist, it is simply a human construction. God is morally neutral
5) Evil exists but is qualitatively empty, it is something which can only really be described as the byproduct of the multiplication of God into the intellect. The world must exist for some necessary reason of halting the proliferation of evil and entrapping it. (Middle Platonism, Zoroastrianism)
I think all of these except maybe for #1 are fairly reasonable.
This is my understanding of the approaches to this problem:
1) The material world was fashioned by an evil god (Gnosticism)
2) God allowed for (but did not choose) for evil to exist because it made human beings capable of being both knowledgeable (of evil) and nonetheless good, which is more godly than being ignorant and good like Adam and Eve. (Christianity and other Abrahamic religions?)
2b) Evil does not exist, it is simply empty conceptual space deprived of the goodness of God (Abrahamic religions)
3) Human beings choose, through our attachments to this world, to continue to descend into this sphere of existence and experience harm. Evil is entirely of our decision, and is an illusion which cannot be considered a creation at all due to this. (Dharmic and Platonic Strains)
4) Evil does not exist, it is simply a human construction. God is morally neutral
5) Evil exists but is qualitatively empty, it is something which can only really be described as the byproduct of the multiplication of God into the intellect. The world must exist for some necessary reason of halting the proliferation of evil and entrapping it. (Middle Platonism, Zoroastrianism)
I think all of these except maybe for #1 are fairly reasonable.
