bttt
Man is a spiritual being. How we treat each other depends on which spirit we choose for guiding us through this life.
Well-written review. The depths of human depravity have been plumbed so thoroughly that nothing should be novel. But somehow, Man, in his infinite paltriness, manages to descend ever lower ...
The one thing I know about evil is it is much easier to recognize in others than in ourselves. The problem is so perplexing that we can often gull ourselves into believing our own evil is actually virtue.
An interesting read.
A rigorous understanding of good and evil leading to wisdom doesn't happen unless one studies and discerns between divine good and human good based upon Divine Righteousness.
"Is the heart of man irredeemably evil, or at any rate inclined to evil? "
The Manufacturer says it is.
And the willing, do-nothing facilitators of the slaughter in Ruanda are named Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton. Does that make them evil as well? One might think so.
The Kymer Rouge communists did this in Cambodia too.
Now, now, now. This isn't a matter of evil. It's just a Western misunderstanding of cultural diversity.
(sarc)
Evil, like history, belongs to men alone. If a tiger escapes from a zoo and attacks you, it would hopefully not cross your mind as being an evil act; and even while being brutalized, you would know that the tiger does not hate you, or is attacking you from malice; it is just being a tiger.
So people act with purpose. That gives them a capacity for evil. And yet to know if their actions are evil or not, you must know what that purpose is. Its context. Their purpose may even be just, and yet their execution of that purpose is what has resulted in evil.
Evil may indeed be an act of commission or omission. So unless you actively oppose it, you are accessory to it.
Evil is also dependent on its recipient. An act of little consequence to an adult might be terribly oppressive to a child. And yet it is not fair to call an otherwise normal and neutral act evil, just because who it is directed at is weak, and feeble of spirit. Except when directed at them for just that reason.
It might be said that suffering is evil. Not causing others to suffer, but suffering yourself. If you refuse to suffer, despite injury, then you transcend being a victim. From that point on, even if the intent is evil, it is just reduced to a contest between their seeking to harm, and your seeking to protect. Win or loss, it is just a contest.
In the end, to understand this abstract of man, you must also use another abstract: judgment.
If you talk about Hate... you are getting close!
Great article. Thanks for posting. Thanks to all contributors.
Words and deeds bump! Criminal behavior is caused by criminal thinking. Identify the INDIVIDUAL criminals. Incarcerate or kill them, depending on their crimes against INNOCENT INDIVIDUALS. We the living can, have, and will continue to do it in the future. It is what allows us to live in peace and freedom.
Life/Optimism BUMP!
The fact that islam rules 1/5 of the planet proves to me that there is no supreme being and that humans are fundamentally primitive, hopeless beings. Until islam withers, I'll feel the same way. Communism in the USSR in my younger days made me feel the same. We'll see if both evils can be reduced.
Use any engine to search 'argument from evil' to see how widely discussed this question is and how nobody can find an answer other than to use the existence of 'random' evil as proof that there is no involved God.
The Hutu and the Tutsis have lived near each other for hundreds if not thousands of years.
In that time they have been rivals at times having the occasional tribal war.
No doubt the crowding that high population density places on people living at the subsistence level may have put pressure on the relationship of the two groups.
The author’s above paragraph made me think of the new tribes that are forming in our inner cities, namely the gangs that the illegal drug culture has been financing and incubating.
Small skirmishes happen fairly regularly how long before a true tribal war breaks out in one of our inner cities.
Given that many of these gangs are linked between cities it seem quite possible that a gang war in one city should spread to another or several other cities.