If there is no God, does that make Humankind the Devil?

If there is no higher good to balance the ultimate evil, does that make us the ultimate evil?

 

Only if one assumes the lack of any higher good within the human race. It's easy to quote the Holocaust, 9-11, and Pol Pot as reasons to say the human race is intrinsically bad; but if that is so, how do you explain Mother Teresa, Fred Hollows, or the men who stood away from the lifeboats on the Titanic and let the women and children depart?

(Although I get the feeling this thread's headed for a lock... )

 

Why would this get locked? I'm just following on the 'Is there a God' discussion.

(I've never had a Thread locked before. This might be a good character builder for me )

 

the 'devil' is only another expression of 'god'.

One cannot exist without the other, or there would be no basis for comparison and we would not be able to distinguish the virtues of either.

It's a yin/yang type thing. You have to have one so you can see the other. Night/day, black/white, good/evil.

If everyone was good, would you even know what good was?

 

If you take the Catholic catechism version of God and the Devil, the Devil isn't actually God's equal. He was the highest created being (as opposed to JC who was part of God to start with) and fell from grace. He only has as much power as God allows him.

Of course, people will ask, why would a perfect God allow Lucifer to fall, and why does He allow evil in the world? That seems to miss an even more disturbing question: why would a perfect God create good and evil at all?

The concept of yin-yang duality is foreign to the Judaeo-Christian idea of God and the Devil. Even the Old Testament speaks of the Devil more as the accuser, or the tester, as in the Book of Job, rather than as God's equal.

*whew*

 

Good and evil only exist in the human mind.

And they exist in EVERY human mind.

Only by accepting and facing the evil within can you control it.

Which is why priests end up doing 'evil' things.

If you do not accept control for the evil within, if you ignore it, pretend it doesn't exit, it controls you.

 

Good and evil only exist in the human mind.
And they exist in EVERY human mind.
Only by accepting and facing the evil within can you control it.
Which is why priests end up doing 'evil' things.
If you do not accept control for the evil within, if you ignore it, pretend it doesn't exit, it controls you.

For some reason, this reminds me of that exchange from "Dragon" at Yip Man's Kwoon...
"We all have inner demons to conquer. We call these demons fear, and anger. If you don't overcome them, the life of a hundred years is a tragedy..."
Or something like that.