Heather in Neverland Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Please answer the following questions honestly accoridng to your own beliefs: 1. How do you define "good"? 2. How do you define "evil"? 3. Where did evil come from? 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Please answer the following questions honestly accoridng to your own beliefs: 1. How do you define "good"? 2. How do you define "evil"? 3. Where did evil come from? 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? Not at all. Thanks! To elaborate: God is not a source of evil or a creator of it. He opposes it but gives us room to be non-robots. Evil plays out in ways that are horrid because of sin, sinfulness and our choices. But basically, God has already won the fight against evil when Christ died. The rest of time is just mopping up operations. The war is won; the victory is clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGin Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Please answer the following questions honestly accoridng to your own beliefs: 1. How do you define "good"? 2. How do you define "evil"? 3. Where did evil come from? 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? Thanks! 1. God 2. The absence of God/good (not good's opposite) 3. Free will choosing to separate or exclude God/good 4. Confirms my belief in God On this subject, I highly recommend - Mere Christianity by CS Lewis :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Please answer the following questions honestly accoridng to your own beliefs: 1. How do you define "good"? 2. How do you define "evil"? 3. Where did evil come from? 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? Thanks! I see "good" as what life actually is made of. As in God or Existence is "good", or rather, "Goodness" itself. Life is, intrincically, goodness/love/light. "Evil" is just the quality of turning away, denying that goodness. Actually, the true nature of everything has that quality that we call "goodness", and therefore evil is included within that...which is why good overcomes evil. Evil is experience though, when we deny our goodness, or Godness. It's like the analogy of the light. Dark has no real power of itself...it is only there when the light is shut out. Once the light is allowed to shine, the dark just naturally disappears. The presence of evil in the world is not something animals or the sky or the trees really know anything about. It is purely a human thing. We create the evil ourselves- most human suffering is man made. And I dont think that is anyone's fault, but we can become more conscious about dealing with it. I see God as "what is" is a very vast sense, and not as a religious concept, so the presence of evil is within God too, and God is not in conflict with evil. Only we are, which I don't think helps at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 (edited) 1. How do you define "good"? If it is helpful, useful, or enjoyable in a way that doesn't hurt anyone, including ourselves, significantly it is probably good. Obviously eating a large bowl of chocolate mousse is unhealthy, and therefore not good, but it is not going to significantly hurt our health unless we are diabetic. The enjoyment factor is high, so I therefore conclude that it is good to eat large amounts of chocolate mousse once in a blue moon. Now if we were to eat it right in front of our chocolate loving diabetic friends or family, it would be selfish which is bad. 2. How do you define "evil"?I'm not really into the idea of "evil" for the most part. The closest I think I can come to that is sociopathic behavior. 3. Where did evil come from?I don't think it comes from anywhere. It's something that can happen when other human ingredients are missing. 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God?I don't believe in God, and evil is part of my equivalent of the "divine." I use quotation marks because people usually use the word to indicate something above us, or otherworldly, whereas my divinity equivalent is about as mundane as you can get. Rosie Edited December 13, 2009 by Rosie_0801 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Would it be tooo lazy if I just say ^^^DITTO ^^^ (providing the chocolate is Fair Trade, because chocolate from cocoa grown by child slaves is Bad, m'kay) Depending on the nature of the assignment, you may want to rethink your questions, as you have made a lot of assumptions, which could make it difficult to get useful answers from those who don't believe in a conventional good/evil dichotomy, or think that evil came from somewhere, or have a traditional understanding of and belief in God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 Depending on the nature of the assignment, you may want to rethink your questions, as you have made a lot of assumptions, which could make it difficult to get useful answers from those who don't believe in a conventional good/evil dichotomy, or think that evil came from somewhere, or have a traditional understanding of and belief in God. Actually, you answered the questions perfectly. Part of the assignment is finding whether one even HAS a defintion of good/evil, or even believes they exist. And if you do not believe in God then the last question would not pertain to you...unless the REASON you do not believe in God has something to do with evil (like those who lose faith in God due to a great tragedy, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Please answer the following questions honestly accoridng to your own beliefs: 1. How do you define "good"? 2. How do you define "evil"? 3. Where did evil come from? 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? Thanks! 1. Willfully choosing to behave in a way that positively impacts yourself and those around you. 2. Willfully choosing to behave in a way that causes great harm to yourself or those around you, especially when doing so strictly for one's one benefit. 3. & 4. Good and evil are two sides of the same coin, and we all have the capacity to do both. That is why making a conscious, willful choice is an important factor (anyway can so or do something very harmful without meaning to or without thinking it through - that may be bad, but not evil - however making a conscious choice to inflict pain on someone else for your own benefit or pleasure is evil). I believe there is a divinity greater than us to which we are connected, and like everything else it has 2 sides. I don't know if I explained that well. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 1. How do you define "good"? I guess good is what is pleasing to God ... loving God, loving your neighbor, anything that brings love, joy, peace and comfort. 2. How do you define "evil"? What is not pleasing to God - something that comes from a malicious intent. 3. Where did evil come from? an absence of God. Since God is all good, it has to come from a lack of God. This is not meant as condemnation of those who don't believe in God. I believe God is just as present with my atheist friends as with my believer friends. This has been especially evident this past week, in all the kindness and help and I have received from my friends, believer and non-believer alike. 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? Boy, this is a huge theological question, one of life's big mysteries. I could think about this forever and not have a full answer. I have contemplated this all my life. Does this make me love God less or believe less fervently? No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 1. How do you define "good"? Desirable, helpful, pleasing, not harmful, ethical. 2. How do you define "evil"? I don't really believe in it. I may sometimes call evil an act that is harmful in as many contexts as I can see. 3. Where did evil come from? I guess the idea of evil came fundamentally from the notion that we're judges standing outside of nature, able to see all. Which is silly. So, a Christian would I guess call that the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I think I'd call it civilization. 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? I'll leave this one to people who share your idea of God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amy g. Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 I'm answering without reading the previous posts. Evil is life/health taking choices and good is life/health giving choices. Of course, everything is a gray area. i might take the life of a rooster to give health to my family. I think about what is the greater effect of an action. I think people choose to do good or evil. The source of evil coming into the world might be the fall in the garden of Eden, but people make choices about how they want to live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Please answer the following questions honestly accoridng to your own beliefs: 1. How do you define "good"? without fault/blemish/sin - absence of evil 2. How do you define "evil"? self-serving hatred, deception, pride 3. Where did evil come from? Satan as described in the Bible...our own pride and selfishness...(pride as in puffing up oneself above all else, not "pride" as in happy/content with a thing) 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? It improves my prayer life, that's for sure.;) Thanks! hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest janainaz Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 1. How do you define "good"? I believe the essence of love is God. He described His true character in this verse (because God IS love). If you replace every word 'love' with the word 'God', you realize love and God are intertwined: Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails 2. How do you define "evil"? Evil is the absence of God. 3. Where did evil come from? Isaiah 45:7: "Who fashions light and creates darkness, who makes peace and creates evil, I am HaShem who does all this." This verse you could dig into. I don't read the Bible literally, there is so much to uncover with translations and the way things were written. Yet, simply put, I believe God created everything. In Romans it says those who belong to God are the called, predestined and yet we are also given free will. I have hard time wrapping my brain around that. He's all knowing, so from the time of my creation, He knows what I'm going to do. This means that something He creates He can see beforehand what will happen - even if it's evil. But, if His eye is on those that will belong to Him and His plans are to turn it all for good, you see the bigger picture. I look at it like we have an opportunity to CONTINUE to choose God every moment. Living IN Christ is a moment by moment choice. We will always belong Him, but listening to the Spirit rather than the flesh is something that is ongoing. You can be a Christian (I don't see it as a title for me), but you can live either in darkness or in the light. If you are in bondage of fear, you are living with faith in evil. But, if you are living in the light, you are having faith in the goodness that is God. So, yes, God created vessels for evil, but choosing to live without his presence is never his intention. Just how I see it. 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? The presence of evil in the world makes God's light shine all the brighter. God said it's easy to love those that love you, but true love is loving your enemies. So, if evil is absence of God, love is what we are here to do. Otherwise, we have no point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest janainaz Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 I see "good" as what life actually is made of. As in God or Existence is "good", or rather, "Goodness" itself. Life is, intrincically, goodness/love/light. "Evil" is just the quality of turning away, denying that goodness. Actually, the true nature of everything has that quality that we call "goodness", and therefore evil is included within that...which is why good overcomes evil. Evil is experience though, when we deny our goodness, or Godness. It's like the analogy of the light. Dark has no real power of itself...it is only there when the light is shut out. Once the light is allowed to shine, the dark just naturally disappears. The presence of evil in the world is not something animals or the sky or the trees really know anything about. It is purely a human thing. We create the evil ourselves- most human suffering is man made. And I dont think that is anyone's fault, but we can become more conscious about dealing with it. I see God as "what is" is a very vast sense, and not as a religious concept, so the presence of evil is within God too, and God is not in conflict with evil. Only we are, which I don't think helps at all. I love how you explained that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coleroo Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 1. How do you define "good"? ~ Doing no intentional harm to yourself or others, being polite, well mannered, honest, trustworthy, and faithful 2. How do you define "evil"? ~ The opposite of #1....murder, harming others, lying, stealing, cheating, dishonesty, unfaithfulness 3. Where did evil come from? ~ The corrupted desire to dominate all others around you and be "God" 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? ~ It affects it different ways at different times. Evil that hits closer to home tends to affect my view of God far greater than evils I can't see. Usually that's because in those situations I have a greater sense if the evil was *justified* or not, or if a prayer seemed to go unheard. I know it sounds like a childish irrational response, but you asked for an honest answer. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CactusPair Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 1. Good is benevolence, kindness, without a conditional expectation of a trade or reward coming back to you. Good is helping, not hurting; respecting the autonomy and integrity of others. Good is tolerance; and also selflessness, duty, and the courage to stop and prevent wrongs. It is the bravery to stand up for the needs of others in the face of opposition. It is refraining from the imposition of will, the subjugating of others; resisting the temptation to misuse power, but instead using power to protect and nurture others and oneself. Good is empathy, patience and forethought. 2. Evil is causing harm in thought or deed; misusing power because one can. It is the destructive imposition of will upon another, or situation, either through indifference, thoughtlessness, laziness, wanton stupidity or direct maliciousness. 3. Evil comes from an inflated sense of self, or selfishnes; the idea that the self has the right to do whatever it may like. It comes from an "*I*want" impulse. 4. My idea of God....that's a tough one. As portrayed in the bible, God embodies both the definitions of good and evil, as I define them here. If one uses this working definition, humans, then, certainly are created in the image of the biblical God. God is selfish, jealous, a destroyer; but also he is forgiving and merciful. a creator and nurturer, a protector. No person is all good or all evil, nor are our thoughts and deeds so simply chelated and defined. Nor do I accept the philosophical precept that God is all Good. I'm not sure where that idea originates....One must choose to do what is the most good and causes the least evil. God, biblically portrayed, personifies that challenge. Thanks for the poll! These are difficult questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Actually, you answered the questions perfectly. Part of the assignment is finding whether one even HAS a defintion of good/evil, or even believes they exist. And if you do not believe in God then the last question would not pertain to you...unless the REASON you do not believe in God has something to do with evil (like those who lose faith in God due to a great tragedy, etc.). Ah, fair enough. And it does happen that people are theistic and then lose their faith because of the Problem of Evil. The other thing, of course, is that Good and Evil undoubtedly exist as cultural constructs, regardless of whether I believe them to be objective phenomena, so everyone is going to have some idea of them from literature and philosophy, no matter what their personal beliefs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 These answers are awesome!!!! I love reading all the different ideas. Keep them coming ladies.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 These are very thought provoking questions, and there are some very thought provoking answers in this thread. 1. God is good. God said his creation is good. I think some of the things we say are not good are just part of the creation that God has put into place, and we have caused much harm by trying to use man-made solutions to rid the world of things that we have determined are not good, instead of working with the creation. For example, killing all the crows in a corn field only to find your crop overrun by insects because of the lack birds. God's laws are good (I'm not including man's extensions to God's laws) he provided them as guidelines to a healthy and productive life. Since God is Love, Love is good- kindness, politeness, consideration, honoring commitments, sharing with those in need, protecting those who need protection. 2. Evil is the absence of Love. Evil is desiring to have the power of God to fulfill selfish desires. Humans are probably responsible for most of the active evil in the world today. Satan does not need to do much more than present a temptation, we do the rest. 3. Evil came into existence the first time a created being (Satan?) decided to usurp God's authority, maybe. I have many questions about this, and am not sure I can ever definitively know the answer. 4. I don't believe God causes or creates evil, but that he does allow it. Then he uses it to fulfill his own ultimately good purposes. I believe many of the Bible writers anthromorphized God and ascribed human feelings and actions to Him that I'm not so sure he actually had, but again, there is no way to be certain. I do know that God is not a human being and his ways are not our ways. So the default answer is always same, He is God my creator, as the creation I may never fully understand his reasons and purposes, but if they are his they are good. I feel that my answers are lacking, but that's the best I can do for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Reminds me of Lewis' The Great Divorce: The Narrator: "Do you mean then that Hell—all that infinite empty town—is down in some little crack like this?†George MacDonald: “Yes. All Hell is smaller than one pebble of your earthly world, but it is smaller than one atom of this world, the Real World. Look at yon butterfly. If it swallowed all Hell, Hell would not be big enough to do it any harm or to have any taste.†The Narrator: “It seems big enough when you're in it, Sir.†George MacDonald:“And yet all loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies and itchings that it contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all. Bad cannot succeed even in being bad as truly as good is good. If all Hell's miseries together entered the consciousness of yon wee yellow bird on the bough there, they would be swallowed up without trace, as if one drop of ink had been dropped into that Great Ocean to which your terrestrial Pacific itself is only a molecule.†This is completely stolen from Father Stephen (here): http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/ I keep coming back to this, every time this question comes up. It is possible that this is about all I will ever be able to comprehend, and only if I keep thinking on it. Good and Evil I think evil is always small, and that good is infinite. Evil closes itself to God and thus becomes even smaller; Good opens itself to God and thus becomes infinite. Evil cannot become so large as to fill even the universe. God became so small that He could fill Hell and then burst it asunder because it could not contain Him. Every good deed will have eternal remembrance, but even the largest deeds of the evil will be forgotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 How do you define good and evil: Moroni 7:12 -13, Book of Mormon "Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually. "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God." Where did evil come from? Isaiah 14: 12 "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" "Satan, also called the adversary or the devil, is the enemy of all righteousness and of those who seek to follow God. He is a spirit son of God who was once an angel "in authority in the presence of God" (D&C 76:25; see also Isaiah 14:12; D&C 76:26–27). But in the premortal Council in Heaven, Lucifer, as Satan was then called, rebelled against God. Since that time, he has sought to destroy the children of God on the earth and to make them miserable." -lds.org How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? 2 Ne. 2: 10-11, 15, Book of Mormon "And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him according to the truth and holiness which is in him. Wherefore, the ends of the law which the Holy One hath given, unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment that is affixed is in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the atonement— "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. "Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility." "And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katemary63 Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Please answer the following questions honestly accoridng to your own beliefs: 1. How do you define "good"? The essense of God's character and the totality of what He considers to be rightious. 2. How do you define "evil"? The absense of good. The opposite of any righteous character trait. 3. Where did evil come from? Evil is the result of beings choosing to reject God's authority, wisdom and character. 4. How does the presence of evil in the world affect your view of God? Um....I just don't have words for this. Not sure it does effect my view of God. God is who He is. Evil acts make me hate evil and love God all the more I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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