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

[RichardHresko]

How beautifully Beverly has stated the gist of the matter! I have but to agree with her completely.

Satan cannot be pure evil, for if he were pure evil he would cease to exist.

1) All of God's creations were good at the time of their creation.
2) Therefore everything that exists has some goodness.
2b) To have existence is therefore to partake of some good.
3) Evil is the corruption of goodness, and has no independent existence.
4) Anything that has been completely corrupted would cease to exist.
5) Satan exists.
6) Satan can not be purely evil.
QED.

The essence of this argument is based on de libero arbitrio by Augustine.

[Whifflingpin]

Maybe

[liberal viewer]

It is an absurd premise because there is no god, no "invicible man" as George Carlin so aptly put it.

[mazHur]

It is an absurd premise because there is no god, no "invicible man" as George Carlin so aptly put it.

but it's also said

THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD !

[RichardHresko]

It is an absurd premise because there is no god, no "invicible man" as George Carlin so aptly put it.

The non-existence of God would not make the premise "absurd" since the underlying question of the origin and nature of evil would still remain. This question explores the internal coherence of one possible approach to these questions.

With all due respect to Nietzsche, there is no ultimately convincing argument about the existence of God in either direction.

I would argue (in a different thread, of course) that given the undecidability of the proposition the reasonable thing to do is to acknowledge in one's ontology whether or not God is a part of your set of axioms. Geometers seem to have no problem working with Euclidean and non-Euclidean spaces without having crises of mathematical faith.

[hellsapoppin]

``It's only God who gives life and we hold it in 'trust' until He takes it back``


He also created Satan - if the latter is evil it is because he was made that way by you know who ...

[RichardHresko]

``It's only God who gives life and we hold it in 'trust' until He takes it back``


He also created Satan - if the latter is evil it is because he was made that way by you know who ...

That does not follow. Given that angels have free will, an angel can choose to sin. The evil would be the result of Satan's choice, not God's creation.

This is not to suggest that Satan chose to be evil. He chose to make himself the equal of God, which was contrary to his true happiness. Choosing that which can not make you happy eternally as though it could make you eternally happy is the basis of evil.

[hellsapoppin]

... and who creates that evil ?

[RichardHresko]

... and who creates that evil ?

Evil is created by the action of free will.

Also note that evil does not have substantial existence, so it does not involve a positive act of creation, such as the creation of a penguin or chihuahua.

[hellsapoppin]

``Evil is created by the action of free will.``

By god's free will as per Isaiah 45:7.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Just think, that at this very moment 'God' may be pondering whether man exists.

[mazHur]

Free will is guided by Allah(God), which implies that God saves people from evil only if they ''believe'' (in Truth)

64:11 No calamity befalleth save by Allah's leave. And whosoever believeth in Allah, He guideth his heart. And Allah is Knower of all things.
Al-Quran

[Pendragon]

Just think, that at this very moment 'God' may be pondering whether man exists.

Not "whether", mon ami, but "why?" I can see God, head in His hands, thinking about man and wondering "Where did I go wrong?"

[Whifflingpin]

Pen: "I can see God, head in His hands, thinking about man and wondering "Where did I go wrong?""

But God cannot go wrong, therefore man is as God meant him to be, which includes the evil in man, therefore God is responsible for the evil, and so round we go again.

[Adolescent09]

Satan cannot be pure evil, for if he were pure evil he would cease to exist.

1) All of God's creations were good at the time of their creation.
2) Therefore everything that exists has some goodness.
2b) To have existence is therefore to partake of some good.
3) Evil is the corruption of goodness, and has no independent existence.
4) Anything that has been completely corrupted would cease to exist.
5) Satan exists.
6) Satan can not be purely evil.
QED.

The essence of this argument is based on de libero arbitrio by Augustine.

1) Goodness at creation is a consequence of innocence. This ideal has been suggested on several occasions. Since a being of new creation has no prior existence as far as we know it has no experience. Nothing is innately evil; that much is known. Evil must be encountered or thoroughly experienced to circumvent that which is good. Like a virus, vice must have a host (that which is good) in order to transgress and permeate.

2) The extent of sin is virtually unfathomable by man and thus must somehow be determined by a metaphysical phenomenon. As far as human moral is concerned, sin is absolute. But moral is still bound by mere opinion and thus to contend that "Everything that exists has some goodness" is not factually grounded.

2b) Read prior counterargument.

3) This might be true but still isn't absolute.

4) Anything that has been corrupted may inevitably cease to exist. Take tyrants, potentates and dogmatic nationalists as examples.

5) Satan is conveyed in and confined to the Christian faith (although he goes under a variety of titles in other respective religions). Whether he exists or not is strictly opinion.

6) Read prior counterargument.

This is MY opinion. Please don't take offence.