Describe the problem of good and evil (including arguments and rebuttals) in your own words. What do you conclude from this?
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- dsm
- Biostatistician, Biology and Philosophy Faculty, Lacrosse Addict
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13 comments:
Liz Stern
In my eyes, the main problem of good and evil is that they are forever changing. Certain moralities of today were considered evil 100 years ago such as birth defects in children and same sex relationships. These things are now considered acceptable where as a few centuries ago they were not. In the past it was acceptable for a woman to get married at a young age, even encouraged, where as today it is considered unethical. This brings a good point up about ethics. Many ethics are tied in with good and evil where people in the same day and age have different opinions about good and evil. One says that child bearing out of wedlock is unethical, one says that its better than adoption, one says there is nothing wrong with it. I have heard all three from people of the same generation; it goes back to their ethics as a human. These issues will forever be around because everyone has different ethics and morals that they hold as their standard of living and feel that others should hold the same. The Ten Commandments point out the exact rules that God has set forth for his followers, these rules provide many people the life guidance they need, but there are going to be those who refute the commandments and do what is best for them.
Theism is simply the belief in God. An argument against theism is stating that people find it a problem that God and evil exist. The argument is saying that since God is all knowing, all powerful, and would want to prevent suffering that God doesn’t exist because suffering exists. God knows about the people suffering and in danger, God could have prevented the problems, and God created the problems. The problem with this argument is that God knows about suffering and could have prevented suffering if he did not give the people of the world free will. If the people didn’t have free will we wouldn’t have suffering because there would be no sin. Sin created suffering and danger among people. If the entire world obeyed the Ten Commandments I bet there wouldn’t be suffering and disaster. One rebuttal discussed was that “good events reflect God’s nature, why don’t the bad,” I would say that this is a personal opinion. Some people do not see good events as God’s nature and some do see bad events as God’s nature. They way events happen, as explained to me, is always an act of God, whether it is good or bad, death or life. The term “God works in mysterious ways” fits well here. An example of this would be God might have used a tragic event to allow a person with health problems to pass away in a quicker less painful way.
Free will states that humans have the right to make the decisions that affect their everyday life. God allowed humans to think for themselves and have the right to make their own decisions, since God knows everything he knows the decisions one is going to make but this doesn’t take away the free will. This is being discussed because people cannot have free will and not make morally evil decisions. God doesn’t make our decisions for us; therefore no one can have a sin free lifestyle. Humans naturally make decisions that benefit them even if it means hurting someone else. This is what sin is, the inability to follow the Ten Commandments that God put forth for Christians and all humans to live by. Free will defense states that a world in which we are free is better than a world in which we are restricted. I don’t know how to rebuttal on this, life and the world in general might be better if there was no sin, but we will never know. It also states that God created this world in which people are going to do things that are morally evil. God created the world and the people, but the people make the decisions to do morally evil things.
The counterpart theory states that good cannot exist without evil. A correspondence to this theory is that happiness cannot exist without suffering. This is a more complicated theory because it would cause those who believe in God to argue their faith and those who do not to argue what they believe, whether it be their morals and values or just their personal opinion. The bible states that the first man and woman sinned and therefore allowed sin into the world. Along with sin comes evil and suffering, this is all a religious belief. If one who was not religious was to argue against this argument they would say that there doesn’t necessarily have to be suffering to be happiness, we the people just have to work together to eliminate suffering, its not like physical attributes or competition. They see tallness and shortness as something that one cannot control, but happiness and suffering is something that one can work for or overcome.
Virtue defense states that God wanted suffering to allow virtues so that his people can learn to be loving, caring, compassionate, sensitive, and/or forgiving. It shouldn’t take suffering to allow people to feel these feelings, it should be a normal everyday thing for someone to love and forgive another being. I think the idea behind this is that God created suffering for this reason only and I just don’t know how that could be even close to accurate. God is a loving, caring, compassionate God and the suffering that occurs is because humans created sin and continued to sin causing a world of suffering.
I conclude that there are too many reasons people are trying to defy God. God is a Christians eyes is there to protect us from evil, doing whatever it takes. But the idea of good and evil will forever go back to God or no God. I don’t know how I would respond to these things if I didn’t believe there was a God. Logically speaking the ideas and theories have their strong points but they all point fingers stating that God might in fact be evil, not good, because he is allowing suffering on earth. He allows his people to suffer and we don’t know why, but it’s not always good to know why. It’s best just to leave it to faith.
Jessica Southland
I believe that what is considered good and what may be considered evil is all in the eye of the beholder. We have been taught through our years what is right and what is wrong, which in some ways is the same as good and evil. But when you step back an look at it what may be good to one person may not be good in anothers eyes, for example lets use tatoos; alot of people consider them to be a work of art, a painting on a walking canves;then there is the older generation that think they are wrong "the work of the devil I once heard". So it can be hard to identify good and evil.
The argument is that god is Omnipotent and Omnibenevolent if so then why would he want or let there be such a thing as evil. The fact that he is Omniscient means he would have known before he had ever created the world that there was going to be evil and alot of it.One of the rebuttals is that it is a double standard,if good events reflect god's nature , then why don't bad events. If he is such a all knowing loving God why would he let these things happen. Which makes me wonder if there is a God that really does exsit or is it just alot of story's told so that people would have some hope and keep going when things where rough. I mean when ever there is something evil going on it always turns to the devil. How do we know that the devil is evil, because we were told he was just like we were told that God was Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent. But how do we really know, cause if we look around at the world today you would never be able to tell. I was brought up and taught about God and all that stuff, but as I got older it just seemed to be a hole bunch of story's that were put together, I mean nobody has ever actually seen this God we speak of, have they??
Good and evil are one in the same without evil how would we know what is good, and vise-versa.
Jessica Meza
The problem with good and evil lies in what is acceptable in society. Today a lot more is accepted on a daily basis opposed to what was tolerable several years ago. In the 1500’s all it took was a mere accusation to have a person that could have been perfectly innocent hung or burned to death for being a “so called” witch or practicing witchcraft. With that said, society is not constant throughout therefore one can not assume that personal life style choices will be respected at all times within a course of someone’s day. This is also true when analyzing what may be considered good or evil.
An example of a good aspect in my life is that I am in a committed relationship and live with my boyfriend. However, people may view that as evil because we are not married which means that I am living in sin. Another main stream issue is premarital sex that results in women of all ages having children out of wedlock. This situation has become very common in our society and may be thought of by some as good or a blessing to their lives and others evil depending on one’s religion, personal opinions, and experiences of their own, family or even friends.
So it appears there are two views to most, if not all, matters of life where people will interpret behavior one way or another which is a secondary underlying issue in the divide between good and evil. In conclusion, I can gather that this predicament has and will always be up to debate and that I can only hold true to my personal beliefs, morals and values in life. At the end of the day, as an adult I have ultimately learned, no matter how hard you try sometimes that it is impossible to please everyone and that is something I can live with as long as I respect myself.
Ryan Keene
The problem with good and evil is all a matter of perception and choice. The beauty of free-will from God is that he is omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent in the sense that he does know all the negatives that are polar to the positives, he does know what we are going to do and when we are going to do it, but being the benevolent God he is, he gives us the free-will to choose even if he knows that suffering will be involved. If he were this God that chose for us than us as humans would not have ever learned emotions such as compassion, sympathy and happiness because it has to be dark before someone or something turns on the lights. As it was said earlier, good and evil are a matter of perception. If someone were to say such as in the powerpoint notes "why not sacrifice some freedom for lack of suffering" wouldn't that mean that the people whom enjoy the freedom of choice suffer? Unfortunately the balance of good and evil must always be there and there can never be one without the other due to the fact that these things teach us a valuable lesson that God is trying to teach us about who we are as humans. He knows that we are imperfect, which is why he is perfect. If he weren't perfect, then he would not know how to make an imperfect being, and becase he is all-knowing he cannot not know something, and since he knows everything, he knows, feels and experiences all these things that we do. This all ties in with good and evil in the sense that God created both good and evil along with everything that entails both. He knows more about them than we do, however, he also knows that some people have a different perception on good and evil. For instance, if someone thinks that killing someone that killed someone that person loves is evil, but the person that killed the murderer thinks it is good, who is right? Both parties have the perception that they are right, and who is the one to tell them that they are wrong? During a specific time in history that is how things were done and it was the right way, however now, it is the wrong way. This is why there has to be a judge, an ultimate and superior third party being such as God. There is no other person qualified other than He, the creator to judge someone's actions.
There is no good without evil and no evil with out good. The definition of evil is different in everyones eyes. Some people consider playing jokes or pranks on people as evil. Throughout time the struggles of good and evil have always bin in debate. I personally believe there is no evil just people that make bad choices and if they do something good its whats expected. I hate when people do something generous or nice and expect to be rewarded. So in my mind there is no evil nor is there good, its just people making right or wrong decisions.
The problems with good and evil are that everyone’s version of good and evil is different. Take for instance homosexuality. Some would argue that it is good and acceptable while others would claim that it’s blatantly evil. How are we to define good and evil? The argument for good and evil that makes the most sense to me is the balance argument. With good there must be evil in order for either to be defined. I believe in balance and question what purpose we would have if the world was a utopia of neither good nor evil. Rebuttals against this would be that good and evil don’t exist or that there isn’t a balance because there is too much evil or suffering and not that much is needed. I believe that the rebuttal that good and evil don’t exist is ridiculous. It seems quite apparent there is much suffering and evil in the world as well as times of happiness and good. The rebuttal that there isn’t balance between good and evil or not so much evil is necessary is tricky. You then have to decide how much evil and suffering is necessary for one to appreciate the good. Like most things I believe that it is probably a different amount for every individual. Perhaps the amount of good and evil in the world is just where someone wanted it or felt that it should be.
Good in my eyes is something that is very enjoyable, pleasurable, and very well accepted to one's self, and evil is something that causes suffering, makes one miserable, and is not very well accepted. This is what my opinion of good evil is but it varies from one person to the next what is good to one can be evil to another. I believe that this has to do with how we are raised and what we are taught about our morals and ethics. Then there are some people that no matter how much they are suffering or no matter how miserable they are they still find good in any situation. This here is proof that we can decide in our own minds what is good and what is evil as well as deciding how we want to approach every situation that is handed to use. The problem that comes with this is that it leaves everyone one open to there own opinion and it makes people very judgmental to others for, example; there are two young people that are very much in love and decide that they want to spend the rest of their lives together so they decide to become cohabitant with each other. To some this is a very positive thing in this young couples life but to others is can be very evil in the aspect that they believe that the Bible states that we should not be cohabitant until after they are united in marriage. But in the eyes of the one that thought this was evil would have a totally different opinion if this young couple would have done the right thing in their eyes and got married first and lived happily together that way.
What I conclude from this is even though there are definitions defined in the dictionary for what good is and what evil is we are always going to make up our own minds for what is good and what is evil in our own minds, and we will continue to judge others by the decisions they make in their life.
S.Q.HALL
Susan McCliment
God is all loving. God is all knowing. God is all powerful. From the time we reach our first Sunday School class, we're taught about God's Omnibenevolence, Omniscience and Omnipotence. This inevitably leads to one question: why would God, as the divine creator and benefactor of man, create a world in which evil thrives? Why would he knowingly curse his beloved creations with the polar opposite of his eternal love?
Free will provides the foundation for most of the discussion regarding the problem of evil. God gave us the gift to make our own decisions, where nothing is predestined. In the Bible, Eliphaz told Job that man was essentially the cause of evil; that, through exercising our free will, we make decisions that bring evil into the world. How could this be? In being omniscient, God knew exactly what we would do with our free will – some would make moral, just decisions, serving the good of man as a whole, where others would make decisions to serve only themselves.
St. Augustine took a different view of the nature of good and evil. He reasoned that, since all things are God's creations, they are incapable of being truly evil. All things serve God's purpose, and God's purpose is just and pure. Evil as we know it is merely actions being at odds with our perception of right and wrong. God works in mysterious ways, not to be understood by man.
In the Bible, the Book of Job supplies yet another rationale for Evil – that the horrors bestowed upon those undeserving of such punishment were God's divine retribution for the “sins of the fathers.” This would trace all the world's evil back to Original Sin, laying the blame for the world's problems at the feet of Adam and Eve for their unfaithfulness.
Ultimately, there is no firm, definitive statement for why a just, loving, and judgmental God would provide His creation with the desire or ability to condemn itself to eternal damnation. Man has free will – that much is agreed upon. Evil, however is subjective. We tend to see that which does not promote the common good as evil. People who put their own desires ahead of the needs of the whole, taking whatever action will bring them to their goals without remorse are branded as evil. Those who value self-sacrifice for the good of others are considered good. These are society's definitions. The only conclusion we can draw is that we, as the Children of God, cannot possibly hope to understand his mind. Only the concept of God working in “Mysterious Ways”, ways that we could not comprehend, can supply any solace to those grieving in the aftermath of God's apparent indifference to the plight of His creations.
The problem between good and evil depend on the person's perspective and meaning of what they consider good, and what they may consider evil.
With god being omniscient, I believe that he does know what our choices are and that he knows what the aftermath of them are. However, through this I believe that he allows a lesson learned through it all. If following through his words, even evil things that happen are meant to happen. Whether for experience to be able to identify a mistake or bad choice made, only one who believes in him may understand why it was, even if they don't know the purpose. This may not make sense to people who don't believe just because the nature of god and believing in him as the father.
Furthermore, with god being omnipotent, it is being optimistic through everything that may carry one through any suffering. If you look at what good may have come out of natural disaster, or some kind of suffering disease, one may agree that by being omniscient he knows why and omnipotent gives him the ability to do so. An example of this could be the hurricane in New Orleans. Perhaps the city needed rebuilding that would allow faith to kick in an allow salvation. These people are being made stronger emotionally and mentally through god to one day be able to help the others in need of understanding suffering and make a difference in the world little by little. Only god knows and through him the people can only question and believe.
Finally, being omnibenevolent, and including against thought that if he was all loving and good, he would want to prevent suffering and evil. This goes back to the previous doing as to how he knows what he is doing and why. And obviously does not need to explain. By having faith and believing, to question him has no purpose. Only to understand.
Also, by allowing good, you need evil, along with the other virtues in life. In good there is glory and in evil there is faith when believing in god. And in reality, no one can truly understand life with just good and be emotionally strong just because it takes experience and training with any kind of evil and suffering, because you are going through it personally.
zabrina
Nicole Hahlen
Good and evil can be very controverial for the reason that the phrases are always changing with what pertains to good and what pertains to evil. I feel that in order to properly anwer this question you would just have to say that the person who is doing to determining is the one who has to decide what is good, and what is evil. In other words some people can base good and evil off of what society feels is right and wrong and than base their opinions accordly. In my very own opinion i feel whatever you want to be good is good and whatever you want to be evil is evil, but on the same terms know that the society will always let you know how they feel about right and wrond good and evil.
Peter Ngor.
The problem of good and evil.
The problem of good and evil is something that is very controversial, because the way I view what is good and evil is different from what someone else can view it. To me what is good and what is evil is what a group of people has come up and agree with to be good or evil. This kind of problem depend on the believe of the people, their religion dictate what is good and what is evil. Christian so to speak has different view on what is and evil, Muslim has their view on that one too. And there are those who thinks there is no God that are called the atheist belief that is no God at all but deep inside them they know that there is what is called creator and that is God. However when you talk about God there always seem to have very many opinion about it. But when you brought up the problem of good and evil it is undeniable because it touches every one. Day after day we see thing good thing and bad things happened. But still people view it differently and so it make people not to be on the same page about it. Therefore my conclusion about it is that it depend on your cultural values at which some had certain things that are ok with them but might not ok with other cultures. However there is good and evil but it depend on the individual cultural attributes.
The problem with good and evil to me is the way people see it. For instance, some issues include religion, abortions, racism, war and gay marriage. Some people are for and against some religions. Like I know one religion where they sacrifice animals and I would think that would be a big issue for some people to see it was evil when they people who do it see it as good things come out of it. And abortions is one of the biggest issues these days. Most people see it as evil. Especially religious people. When the person who actually goes through could have a good reason for the situation. Racism is evil to some people, some religions are racist and thats what they go by according to their religion. The war well some of us see it as evil and others see it as good. Thats a political issue. And gay marriage, most people are against it. This is one of the ways I see the problem with good and evil is the way people see it. I don't conclude from any of this. Everyday things are changing. I can't control the way people think.
Stephanie Spencer
Remember the problem of good and evil isn't really about ethical opinions or cultural changes at all. It is fundamentally about how an all good God can allow evil and still be fundamentally good....
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