Monday, October 7, 2013

More consideration of evil

So back to this topic (it's one of my favorites), the crack I mention in that post deserves perhaps a bit of explanation. Consider the ratio between good and evil in reality to be an equilibrium.

Edit: Some time later (I think about 4 years :P )
Nonono, scratch all that. The notion of equilibrium is ridiculous, more or less, and the closest thing I have to a notional answer at the moment is from (need to find that verse again) where it seems to be claiming that at the end evil will cease to exist as though it had never existed. Which seems silly on its face and also from present experience. But if time could be rewound such that an event never happened, could it still be said to be evil?

Take for a moment as axiomatic that God is omnipotent and thus has such power at His disposal.
Take for a moment as axiomatic that God is strongly omniscient, existing beyond/behind quantum mechanics with knowledge of the full state of every particle or probability wave in existence at all points in time.
Finally take as axiomatic the assertion in the post linked above that an omni-good God will not allow evil to exist given knowledge and power to prevent it.

Given an entity embodying the first two axioms the third would not allow such an entity to have created the reality we see. But if an evil act were to cease to have ever existed, if all the ramifications of that act were to be blotted out completely would it still be 'evil' in a sense that has any meaning? Would it still disqualify the Christian notion of God?


On a footnote, the notion in the linked post about payment nullifying the evil is starkly naive and blind. Paying for a thing does not made it to have not happened. If you witness the rape and murder of your child there is no amount of payment that will cleanse you of the scars that evil event will create in you. You are changed forever at each moment of existence. 'Payment' is a ridiculous notion. But rewinding? Hm.

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