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To: paladinan

Yes, he did write that.

That is why he believes that there is no good or evil to God. The concept of it is what exists, and it only applies to man, it doesn’t really exist.


179 posted on 12/09/2011 8:54:35 AM PST by stuartcr ("Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different.")
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To: stuartcr
Yes, he did write that. That is why he believes that there is no good or evil to God.

(!) It took me a moment to discover that you were speaking of yourself in the third person! Are you doing so because you were put out by my introduction? I hope not: I'd only wished to avoid confusion, since there are many comments on this thread, and since I'd addressed the comment to RoadGumby as well as to you (see the "To:" line); no offence was intended!

As to your point: it simply doesn't follow that "there is no good or evil, to God"; surely you are aware of the fact that God, in every instance of His self-revelation to us, has mentioned the difference between good and evil--and that He always urges (and commands) us to do the former, while urging (and commanding) us to AVOID the latter?

The concept of it is what exists, and it only applies to man, it doesn’t really exist.

I'm not sure how you could come to that conclusion, since our very ability to distinguish good from evil at all comes from God, Himself! Beyond that: if good and evil were truly such indistinguishable phantasms (without any true relation to objective reality), then we would have no capacity for knowing that any "evil" was in any way unusual, or to be avoided! I do not understand the experience of being "dry" without first having lost it by being "wet"; otherwise, I wouldn't be familiar with the concept at all! Just so, with good and evil: unless there is a true distinction, beyond our mere "labels and imaginary taxonomies", we would have no frame of reference for knowing that anything was wrong with, say, torturing someone to death, raping and pillaging, theft, and the like. And it's no help for anyone to say, "Oh, but avoidance of those things encourages a longer life with less suffering", since we'd need an awareness of "long life is better than short life (i.e. an untimely death is evil)" and "a lack of suffering is better than suffering (i.e. suffering is an evil)", all other things being equal, in order to say that. No... there is a true and real distinction between good and evil, and God is wholly good (and cannot create evil).

N.B. When I say that "suffering is evil", I do not yet refer to the fact that God can redeem and transform suffering into something glorious--not in and of itself, but because of what good can be achieved through "carrying the Cross of Christ, and following after Him"; it can benefit not only us, but the whole Church (cf. Colossians 1:24, etc.)!
180 posted on 12/09/2011 10:33:18 AM PST by paladinan (Rule #1: There is a God. Rule #2: It isn't you.)
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