Who Are We To Judge Evil
In a world recently rocked by the intense pain and rage of disaster, the threat of evil has once again made its way into the hearts and mind of everyone. The mass destruction of the World Trade Center and the subsequent massacre has served as an emphasis for a theory long understood by the human race and frequently feared by it as well. Fear is not an uncommon reaction to a force or entity that cannot be controlled by others. To successfully discuss the concept of evil as it pertains to the literature of the Old Testament and relate a relevant conclusion to the present day's events, certain assumptions must be made. Firstly, there must be a suspension of belief in reality and a temporary trust in the concept of God, at very least in the critical sense. A number of important questions must also be answered to develop a basis for the determination of evil. Only through careful analysis of the many underlying factors of our own nature will the nature of God's evil be understood. Metacognitively, it is important to realize that any determination of evil is based entirely on the moral and ethical values we have been ingrained with since birth. Evil, in our sense of the word, is frequently categorized as causing harm to someon
In the Book of Job, God is the leader of the court of heaven, and they have been convened to discuss Job and all his righteousness throughout life. God questions the Adversary about Job and is convinced that Job is only righteous because he has never felt the wrath of God in his entire life. Upon this, God apparently commits an evil act, allowing the Adversary to do what he desires with Job so long as Job is not killed. It is a test from God - to learn if Job is truly "a man of blameless and upright life." An interesting point to note is that God uses very intricate binding between good and fear that allows the Adversary to take advantage of the situation. God couples a mortal's fear with his dismissal of wrongdoing. In this way, God has shown that fearing the consequences is good, and will keep you from evil. This serves to allow a paradox to enter the discussion of evil, for God does not fear himself, and therefore, is not bound to be good. If man was created in God's image, and man is inherently evil when not bound to good, it follows that God is also inherently evil, and therefore commits evil acts. The important thing to note is that we are continuing to use our own definition of evil to evaluate God's justice, which cannot lead to a conclusion. e else with intent. In evaluating God's evil, it is important to realize that God is, by definition, omnipotent and omniscient. Due to these factors, it is likely that God knows something mere mortals could never possibly hope to understand. It is because of this that God can be thought to have a justice system far beyond what humans can hope to comprehend because of his power. The Book of Job attempts to reduce God's system of justice to a level that we can understand, and the culmination of this act is the realization that God's justice cannot be understood. Our own definition of evil is flawed in the sense that we do not know what is to come, and perhaps one single malicious act can prevent thousands of others from occurring. A perfect example: had Osama bin Laden been killed when fighting in guerilla warfare against northern enemies, even though his cause was just, it would have served to prevent the death of 3000 people 20 years later. In this sense, we must always suspend our own ideals of justice, for
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Approximate Word count = 1543
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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