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Thank God for Evil.

Greatest I am

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Thank God for Evil.

Consider what and where we would be without evil.
Many think that God was punishing man when He evicted us from the garden of Eden.
They would be wrong.
Imagine us back in the garden without knowledge of good and evil. There would be little that we could talk about because all issues have a good and evil aspect. Even sex would likely not be available because of this and we would not likely be here. We would eat of the tree of life but can a life without knowledge be called life. I don’t think so.
God wants us to know that we know why we follow Him. We can only know why we follow Him by referring to our knowledge of good and evil. Without it we would not know why we follow.
Evil then becomes necessary for us to know God.
God then needs evil to accomplish His plan for man.
If evil is a necessity for us, and even having evil thought is a sin according to Jesus. It is impossible for man not to sin if man is to know God.
This is why Jesus forgave all sin even while evil still dwells among us.
We all hope that the evil that is done in this world is small evils but even as they occur we must thank God for them. They teach us of who He is.
God is Perfect and has provided a Perfect environment for us to seek and know Him.
Let us try to recognize this and actually see the Perfection that surrounds us as well as the Perfection of all of us.
Is evil a requirement for intelligence and a knowledge of God. Regards
DL
​
 
Greatest I am said:
God wants us to know that we know why we follow Him. We can only know why we follow Him by referring to our knowledge of good and evil. Without it we would not know why we follow.
Click to expand...

Then why were we originally forbidden to... oh never mind. This post misses the mark on:

- Religion
- Biblical Scholarship
- Grammar and Punctuation
- Science
- History
- Literature

... and so forth...

:rolleyes:
 
No, Thank evil for god!

If it weren't for the fears of our prehistoric ancestors, man would never have felt the need to create a mythical protector in the sky to watch over us.
 
If your miserable, sadomasochistic, sucidial god needed to create evil for our good, then he cannot be omnipotent, and fails to be god.
 
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Our brains are associational, learning primarily by considering related things that happen near each other in space and/or time. This is quite reasonable.

More complicated actions are presumed to be driven by external sentience (i.e. not-you) because, hey, that worked out as much safer than presuming it was just the wind until shown otherwise, which was usually fangs sinking into your throat.

So we have a natural tendency to associate a sentience driving actions we see out there. This lead to simple animism, with the theory, if you can call it that, that there were spirits driving everything from wind to tides to lightning and storms, to full seasons and droughts and climate.

And, or course, if there is sentience behind it, then perhaps it can be appeased if we just dance the right way, or sing the right song, or say the right words, or incenerate the right grain or animals or people. Think back to B.F. Skinner's pigeon experiments where the pigeons would repeate whatever movement they happened to be doing when the food pellet was dropped in. Repeat it over and over, even though the pellet was dropped at a random moment.

And once the spirits were theorized to be in control, the rest of religious history was just a game of one-upsmanship in thinking my particular favorite spirit was tougher than yours, and should be appeased more than yours.

This culminated in an "infinite" god, who was so powerful that not only could he kick the butt of all other gods combined, but even better, the other gods didn't even exist anymore.
 
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You're saying evil is a thing? A force of some kind?
Or are you really thankful for evil Acts? If your god is perfect, then I guess he knew we needed evil? Or did evil get created the same time god did?
 
Greatest I am said:
Thank God for Evil.

Consider what and where we would be without evil.
Click to expand...

Quite a bit happier, I suspect.

Many think that God was punishing man when He evicted us from the garden of Eden.
They would be wrong.
Click to expand...

Yeah. He was just pissed because we were late with the rent for the third month in a row.

Imagine us back in the garden without knowledge of good and evil.
Click to expand...

*Closes eyes* For some reason I can't get the image of Homer pulling strips of bacon off a pig's stomach out of my head. And naked Marge.

There would be little that we could talk about because all issues have a good and evil aspect.
Click to expand...

Silence isn't necessarily a bad thing. I could use some right now, particularly from the religious nutters.

Even sex would likely not be available because of this and we would not likely be here.
Click to expand...

True. Evil sex is the best sex.

We would eat of the tree of life but can a life without knowledge be called life.
Click to expand...

Mmmmm. Apples.

I don’t think so.
Click to expand...

Sure it can. You just did. You called it a "life without knowledge".

God wants us to know that we know why we follow Him.
Click to expand...

Why? Is he lost too?

We can only know why we follow Him by referring to our knowledge of good and evil.
Click to expand...

I don't know about you, but I'd only be following him to get away from the damned locusts. I hate those things.

Without it we would not know why we follow.
Click to expand...

Sure we would. Locusts. I just said so.

Evil then becomes necessary for us to know God.
Click to expand...

Know Evil, Know God. No Evil, No God? I'm so there.

God then needs evil to accomplish His plan for man.
Click to expand...

Is it an evil plan? *sticks pinky in mouth*

If evil is a necessity for us, and even having evil thought is a sin according to Jesus.
Click to expand...

Syntax Error: IF without THEN line 11.

It is impossible for man not to sin if man is to know God.
Click to expand...

Know God, Know Sin. No God, No Sin? I'm so there.

This is why Jesus forgave all sin even while evil still dwells among us.
Click to expand...

If he's dwelling at my house he owes me his share of the electric bill.

We all hope that the evil that is done in this world is small evils but even as they occur we must thank God for them.
Click to expand...

"Thank you God, for making me stub my toe and causing the pain I'm cursing you for. It certainly reminds me of you. Bastage."

They teach us of who He is.
Click to expand...

God, stubber of toes, hanger of nails, hammerer of thumbs. Praise the Lord!

God is Perfect and has provided a Perfect environment for us to seek and know Him.
Click to expand...

If it's so perfect how come my cellphone service sucks?

Let us try to recognize this and actually see the Perfection that surrounds us as well as the Perfection of all of us.
Click to expand...

Well, there is just the perfect set of boobs sitting a couple of cubicles away. Does that count? I certainly wouldn't mind them surrounding me.

Is evil a requirement for intelligence and a knowledge of God.
Click to expand...

Is a question usually ended with a period. um ? hell, !
 
Halleluah! Thank god for rapes, murders, stealing, torture, war, manipulation, racism, sexism, fraud! Thank god for Katrina, for World War II, for Hitler, for Stalin, for Hiroshima, for Nagasaki, for Iwo Jima! Thank god for all those soldiers lives lost, thank god for Gauntamo Bay, thank god for those suffering in Iraq, thank god for all their glorious lives in their quest for truth and knowledge!

Yes, definate boons for humanity in it's quest to learn and grow.

Oh yes, what wonderful gifts from GOD we have here! I mean, this is the perfect environment to find a perfectly GOOD god. I mean, it's not like we couldn't find a perfectly good God in a good world, or understand how to learn with completely good intentions only!

Halleluah!

This is like the rationalization that abusive husbands make to their wives. "Sorry baby, but you gotta learn!" *Slap!*
 
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Wings said:
Halleluah! Thank god for rapes, murders, stealing, torture, war, manipulation, racism, sexism, fraud!
Click to expand...

Upon careful reading of the Bible it would seem that these things are not really evil. In many cases they are sanctioned if not outright advocated. One of the many reasons this thread was doomed from the start is due to the fact that without an consensus definition of evil, there is no discussion to be had.
 
MWare said:
Upon careful reading of the Bible it would seem that these things are not really evil. In many cases they are sanctioned if not outright advocated. One of the many reasons this thread was doomed from the start is due to the fact that without an consensus definition of evil, there is no discussion to be had.
Click to expand...

It's actually very simple:

Things I like = Things my god likes = good.
Things I don't like = Things my god doesn't like = evil.

Except for mayonnaise. That's universally evil.
 
tsg said:
It's actually very simple:

Things I like = Things my god likes = good.
Things I don't like = Things my god doesn't like = evil.

Except for mayonnaise. That's universally evil.
Click to expand...

It's far less simple when what god likes and what god doesn't like vary so much as to be self-contradictory.
 
ImaginalDisc said:
It's far less simple when what god likes and what god doesn't like vary so much as to be self-contradictory.
Click to expand...

You're reading it the wrong way. God likes what I like. God doesn't like what I don't like. It's been that way since we had a word for god.

ETA: Let me fix my notation:

Things I like -> Things god likes -> good
Things I don't like -> Things god doesn't like -> evil

Mayonnaise <-> evil
 
tsg said:
You're reading it the wrong way. God likes what I like. God doesn't like what I don't like. It's been that way since we had a word for god.

ETA: Let me fix my notation:

Things I like -> Things god likes -> good
Things I don't like -> Things god doesn't like -> evil

Mayonnaise <-> evil
Click to expand...
Ooooooh. Now I'm with you.
 
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