You remember Geraldine from the Flip Wilson Show?
She always said that "the Devil made me do it!"
I think you will find that many of the Calvinist persuasion would have Satan actually saying:
"God made me do it."
Posted on 07/29/2003 7:26:55 PM PDT by P-Marlowe
Do we have the same attributes as Satan? Are we fallen angels?
For those of us who define "evil" according to the moral code found in the Bible, this is not necessarily a problem.
But to the skeptic, or the atheist, the simple answer to the question would be that in the absense of a transcedent being and a transcendent moral code, then neither evil nor good can exist. Thus for the skeptic the question is a non-sequitor.
Interestingly the fruit which Adam and Eve ate from was from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, once man ate of that tree, he became aware of what exactly good and evil were. Thus, since we are under the curse, we need not "define" either good or evil, as the knowledge of good and evil has been forever etched into the souls of all men.
So your suggestion that I define "evil" is equally a non-sequitor. It is the same as defining obscenity. You know it when you see it. --- Unless, of course, you accept Genesis only as allegory and not as literal. Then you've got a bigger problem than merely defining "evil."
You remember Geraldine from the Flip Wilson Show?
She always said that "the Devil made me do it!"
I think you will find that many of the Calvinist persuasion would have Satan actually saying: "God made me do it."
If it was a non-sequitor to the skeptic then why do they use it as an argument against theism? Every skeptic knows their is a difference between good and evil but try to explain it through natural causes. It sure is a lot easier just to "gloss-over" the subject as a non-sequitor.
I'm 34 so I'm right on that cusp of people born and raised in L.A. who listened to AM radio before KROQ FM dominated our lives.
ah, the memories....I feel like I can almost hear "More than a Feeling" by Boston
~IF~ Adam had freely chosen to obey God, there would be no need for Salvation because there would have been no fall. Craig's presumption seems to be forgetting that Adam and Eve were already in Paradise!!!!!
God had already created everything ~good~ and ~perfect~.
"Heaven" for us, in reality, will be a New Earth -a new creation! The new "Eden", if you will.
The difference being that Adam was corruptible, we will not be "corruptible" in the New Earth.
Craig's comments are ultimately irrelevant to my point as your author insists that "evil" is a necessary "side effect" of creating a world with "love".
Your author also makes the contention in the very next sentence that "a world possessing both evil and love is superior to a world where neither is possible"
In the New Creation, there will be no possibility of "evil".
Thus, according to your author's argument, there will be no "capacity to choose" in the New Creation.
And, according to your author's argument, a world without the "capacity to choose" is incapable of "real" love and is inferior to the one we have.
Thus, if I am to hold to the position that "evil" will not be possible in the New Creation, I must conclude, according to your author's argument", that there will be no "real" love in the New Creation (since we don't have the possiblity to "choose" which is necessary for "real" love) and I must condlude that the New Creation will be inferior to this current creation.
Jean
.....the calvinist cabal, or the arminians for that matter have never ever joked about crapping in a mormon temple - That joke was over the top and offensive to Catholic confessional
"you never know whos watching"
yes Thomas you have made my point.
If God did not create "Evil" as a force then the free will he gave angels and man was useless.
To choose one must have a choice.
yes Thomas you have made my point.
If God did not create "Evil" as a force then the free will he gave angels and man was useless.
To choose one must have a choice.
Yes, and therefore the fall must not have taken place because that would have required man's free will. </sarcasm>
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