I think i'm mad. Right Desiree ? ...

Imagine vast oceans of water and all that resides are 2 islands opposite ends of the world. Each island has their own form of government system, citizens who preach what their rulers command, and a military so infinite with limitless powers. As time went by, each island grew in strength and population and the need for land was essential. Soon there was a battle between the 2 islands, in a fight for land and power. And that fight went on forever…

Now instead of islands, let us replace the 2 entities with a different notion. Let us replace the islands and name them ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ and both sides take arms in a battle that has raged since the start of time. The analogy sounds like it came from a script by Tolkien, except this was how the Christians saw the concept of ‘Good’ against ‘Evil’. The land which the ‘Good’ held was often called ‘the soldiers of Christ’ and the land of the ‘Evil’ was the ‘Army of Darkness’. Of course all these were just terms given to them by scholars who studied the Christian Faith. They were all in essences, mortal men.

So why am I telling you all this? I would like to examine the meaning of Evil. And to do so, I will need to trace back the roots of evil and the purest of its forms. Good and Evil can never be seen like an entity since it is a concept, unless it’s baked like a cookie but that’s not really the point. A person can be called good at the instance of him doing a deed which portrays him as good, and that same person can be called evil when he does something which portrays him as evil. Just like how a knife is only a knife, it’s purpose is to cut things. However if the knife cuts the wrong things, like a person and kills, it is therefore used as a weapon and considered Evil.

Does Evil even exist? Epicurus argues of how God can exist if Evil exists. Epicurus drew the conclusion that the existence of evil is incompatible with the existence of a God who cares about the matters of mankind, assuming absolute concepts of benevolence, knowledge, and power. There are many formulated arguments to support Epicurus works, one of such goes; If God exists, then God is omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect. If God is omnipotent, then God has the power to eliminate all evil. If God is omniscient, then God knows when evil exists. If God is morally perfect, then God has the desire to eliminate all evil. Evil exists. If evil exists and God exist, then either God doesn’t have the power to eliminate all evil, or doesn’t know when evil exists, or doesn’t have the desire to eliminate all evil. Therefore, God doesn’t exist.

The idea of God not in existence can be forged in a logically sound argument. However the premises of which the argument is based upon can be called into question. What if God, rather then being characterized in terms of knowledge, power and goodness, is defined in a more metaphysical way, for example, as the ground of being, or as being itself? The answer will depend on having defined God in such purely metaphysical terms, one can go on to argue that such an entity will also possess at least very great power, knowledge and moral goodness. If so, evil is a problem.

However, if God is conceived of in a purely metaphysical way, and if no connection can be forged between the relevant metaphysical properties and the possession of significant power, knowledge and goodness, then the problem of evil is irrelevant. But if that is the case, God would cease to be a being that is of religious attitudes or a ground for believing that fundamental human hopes lie upon.

We can also argue that some evils are such that their actuality, or at least the possibility, is logically necessary for goods that outweigh them, in which case it is not true that a perfectly good being would want to eliminate such evils. Take for example, the Vatican’s stand on using contraceptives. They oppose the issue because it goes against pro-life, however the prevention of STD’s and unwanted pregnancies outweigh the standing order. (Or that’s what a lot of Catholic couples tell me.)

A catholic priest or St Augustine to be precise, argues that Evil does not exist. Instead the notion of evil can exist within a being. Just like how one might say, white does not exist but a white table exists. He goes on to further add that the existence of Evil within a being is not because of creation but by a negation of Good within. The interpretation made by St Augustine can be told of a being as a carrier of Evil but never being Evil itself.

The way I see it, if a being is just a carrier of Evil, Evil would be something like a virus that infects. However that same interpretation can be said of Good as well since both Evil and Good are concepts of the opposite ends of the scale (a duelist ideology which stats that there are always opposites in a being like a Ying and a Yang). So what do you call a person who has done neither Good nor Evil? I cannot find a word to describe a person of such since he is more or so left in limbo. However going by Christian theological context, a person who has neither done any Good nor Evil is still Evil since everyone was born with Original Sin. I won’t go into explaining the concept of Original Sin since it would be digressing! Not too mention there are people who don’t believe in a God.

Ok, maybe the idea of Evil and Good in Christian context is too depriving of breathing space. Look at today’s society and think of what is evil. Unless you are very liberal to the concept of homosexuality, the norm would consider homosexuality as evil. This understanding of homosexuality being evil has to do with the influence of the community we live in. Why do I say that? Because the ancient Greeks held favorable views of homosexuality between male youths and adult men, their society accepted that the act of homosexuality was not evil.

What does that tell us about the understanding of Evil in our modern day society? We can say that our society is ever changing, which also means that an act that was once considered ‘not-evil’ can be considered evil today if the society deems so. But what makes an act Evil? Plato argues that what we call Evil is mere ignorance and what is good is that which everyone desires. I see flaws in his idea, because everyone wants money and sex (think of prostitution and greed), does that mean it is good? Also, ignorance as said in the dictionary is the lack of knowledge. Unless I’m misinterpreting the meaning of ignorance, I cannot understand how one person can have the lack of knowledge since everything we understand of and experience is knowledge itself. If there is another meaning towards the word ignorance, someone needs to add that into the dictionary.

Of course a politician would say that what makes them create a rule is because the act is judge by them as evil. Which we all know is a white lie since most of the rules are just for their personal benefits. I did mention white lie since it does help the society in some way or other…. I think.

However majority of today’s society takes after moral universalism. What is that? It’s almost like Plato’s Theory of Ideas whereby the source or justification of a system may be thought to be what is common among existing moral codes, or the commands of a God. An example of an organization which practices this concept is the United Nations.

Within the realm of religion and society, people have the idea of Evil or what they deem evil. However there are many gray areas which are often hard to explain, such as the example of a man killing another man in self defense, is that considered Evil? Defining Evil would be almost impossible because of the restrictions between society and religion. Even the notion of killing as being evil is called into question when judges sentence people to death, especially in Singapore where a person can get hung for the possession of drugs.( I know, it’s a cheap shot at the government)

Desiree says:blogging is like writing in a diary...just that the words get on "paper" faster...cause u're typing

Desiree says:but then u realize pple u dont want reading it are reading...and u'll need a new way to release the embarrassment(if any)

Desiree says:blogging is good release if u feel well....lost...

So.
I think i like a girl call Angela.
Thank God nobody remembers or reads this blog ! Ha Des !