If god is everything, doesn't that make him evil as well as good?

[Redzeppelin]

Re: Interview with the Vampire; scriptura al dente:
"Since you comprehend what you call goodness, does not this make you good." And again, taken a few steps further, what are good and evil but matters of perspective? Is the rod an evil to the parent that wields it, or is it a life saver for the child that receives it? Or if you prefer--which is the greater evil--to impose your will upon others, or to leave them to their own devices? Spiritus Silos Solipus...

Our perspectives may influence our interpretations of events, but that doesn't mean that reality is nothing but perception. That is a dangerous line of philosophy to follow.

[Demian]

"Doubt is not a pleasant place to dwell...but certainty is absurd"
--Goethe

[weepingforloman]

God is not everything. That is not a feature of western/Semitic (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) religions, but of a pseudo-religion called pantheism. Pantheism holds that God is everything, and, therefore, that all things point toward the character of God. The Semitic faiths (and others, like Dualism and Manicheanism) believe in what is called dualism (lower case) in which good and evil are opposed. Dualism has the idea that there are two gods, one good and one evil, and they are both eternal and coexist forever. There are many reasons this doesn't always hold up, but that's not important. The point is, the most influential current religions (last time I checked, there were at least more nominal Christians than any other creed) maintain that evil originates from humanity and (some say so, not the intelligentsia of the Catholic Church, or as far as I can tell, most Jews and a few Muslims) from the diabolical. Good question, but addressed to the wrong people: the pantheists might say yes.

[weepingforloman]

Hmm. I was reading The Source a couple days ago, which i have come to beleive is one of the best books ever written, and thinking about this. Basically i guess it's just what you beleive. If God is simply a force, a cause, then he can be neither good nor evil but simply there, which i think is like Judaism. If he is personified, like Christianity does, depicting him and even giving him a benevolent "son", then he is like a human - with the capacity for either good or evil but wholly of neither.

We Christians do not believe that God is human-like to that extent, only that He has will, He acts, He has a definite character, and that He creates: all of these things are like humanity. You're forgetting one of the key points of Christianity: humanity is fallen.

[libernaut]

"The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas" - Hermann Hesse, Demian

[Bookworm4Him]

This may already have been contributed, I didnt read all the posts, but I'll go ahead and post. We have concepts of good and evil, and try to fit God within them. That there is good, and God does good, so He fits w/in those boundaries, whereas really, God is God, but God IS good. Not as an adj. describing Him, but as a noun, just as God is love. So what God is, is the def. of good. When we decide what is good, we compare it to God, and see if it is part of his being, if not, then it is evil. Murder is not of God, therefore, it is evil. Hope that helps!

[kiobe]

Darkness doesn't exist in and of itself. It is merely the absence of light.

What if... evil doesn't exist in and of itself... rather it is merely the absence of good?

moreover... if God is ALL good... then you can rewrite that as

evil doesn't exist in and of itself... rather it is merely the absence of God

well done.

[bouquin]

My mother is a devote Baptist. She does not approve of my 33-yr-old brother's girlfriend who is a single mom. As a consequence, the relationship between my mother and my brother has lately become strained. My mother is convinced that it is the devil that's trying to wreck the warm relationship that used to exist between her and my brother. Is this sound Christian reasoning, I mean about putting the blame on the devil?

This may already have been contributed, I didnt read all the posts, but I'll go ahead and post. We have concepts of good and evil, and try to fit God within them. That there is good, and God does good, so He fits w/in those boundaries, whereas really, God is God, but God IS good. Not as an adj. describing Him, but as a noun, just as God is love. So what God is, is the def. of good. When we decide what is good, we compare it to God, and see if it is part of his being, if not, then it is evil. Murder is not of God, therefore, it is evil. Hope that helps!

[PrinceMyshkin]

My mother is a devote Baptist. She does not approve of my 33-yr-old brother's girlfriend who is a single mom. As a consequence, the relationship between my mother and my brother has lately become strained. My mother is convinced that it is the devil that's trying to wreck the warm relationship that used to exist between her and my brother. Is this sound Christian reasoning, I mean about putting the blame on the devil?

Of course it is sound Christian reasoning according to what I've read by some of the Christian apologists here; but it is assuredly not humane reasoning.

[motherhubbard]

My mother is a devote Baptist. She does not approve of my 33-yr-old brother's girlfriend who is a single mom. As a consequence, the relationship between my mother and my brother has lately become strained. My mother is convinced that it is the devil that's trying to wreck the warm relationship that used to exist between her and my brother. Is this sound Christian reasoning, I mean about putting the blame on the devil?

It is human to blame others. It is sound christian reasoning to be forgiving and understand that no sin is greater than another, no one is without sin and Christ died for all, even single mothers -

[PrinceMyshkin]

It is human to blame others. It is sound christian reasoning to be forgiving and understand that no sin is greater than another, no one is without sin and Christ died for all, even single mothers -

It's sad, I think, when we use "human" to mean fallible, inferior or limited. Yes, it is "human" to blame rather than to understand; and it is also human - not specifically Christian - to try to understand others and via understanding, to forgive them if we can.

It is also "human," I think - in that sense of helpless and less than perfect - to long for an infallible guide, an all-knowing, all powerful parent, and to become convinced of the one we have 'found.'

[motherhubbard]

It's sad, I think, when we use "human" to mean fallible, inferior or limited. Yes, it is "human" to blame rather than to understand; and it is also human - not specifically Christian - to try to understand others and via understanding, to forgive them if we can.

It is also "human," I think - in that sense of helpless and less than perfect - to long for an infallible guide, an all-knowing, all powerful parent, and to become convinced of the one we have 'found.'

It may surprise you but I think that was very well said and I completely agree.

In spite of this my faith does not falter. I just check harder and ask more questions and demand more evidence. It may also surprise you that even though I call myself a Christian, I do not take for granted that my understanding is absolute.

[PrinceMyshkin]

It may surprise you but I think that was very well said and I completely agree.

In spite of this my faith does not falter. I just check harder and ask more questions and demand more evidence. It may also surprise you that even though I call myself a Christian, I do not take for granted that my understanding is absolute.

It does surprise me somewhat inasmuch as I previously thought you were nifty and now I think you are even niftier than that.

[bouquin]

It is human to blame others. It is sound christian reasoning to be forgiving and understand that no sin is greater than another, no one is without sin and Christ died for all, even single mothers -

My question is not about forgiving. My mother feels righteously justified in her disapproval of my brother's girlfriend; she has no compunction about that. My question is on whether she is right in blaming the devil for the strained relationship that now exists between her and my brother. That is what is apparently being taught her at her Baptist church. Is that teaching sound? Is it Bible-based?

[Granny5]

I've been in a Baptist church. My husband grew up in a Baptist church. I've known no one to blame the devil for single parents. Usually they blame the girl. Of course, in the Southern states of the USA, it's always the girls fault. We should know better. Even though I was divorced, I was still considered a single mother who should have known better. If she is going to blame the devil for anything, she should blame it for making her so closed minded and causing a riff in the family.
As far as I know, forgiveness is what is taught in every Christian church. Christ forgave and we are to try our best to live as Christ did.