theory regarding evil

[Oldschool6]

I have some theories in regards to "Evil". I do believe in universal morals and it occured to me once that all evil actions that I can recall are usually the result of a human being seeing an action they would regard as "evil" or "harmful" to them. & even though we humans are not supposed to judge one another on what is "good" & what is "evil", that individual proceeds in being a judge and punishing the individual. As a result of the emotions and desire, an individual uses the percieved "evil" that the individual has done to that person, and instead of forgiving them as jesus insists we do, they presume themsevles to be judge, jury, and executioner and punish the individual. This punishment is an "evil" action and thus it goes on as a never ending cycle. When this occured to me, it reminded me of the garden of eden story. It made me wonder whether the reason God didn't want Adam & Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge was that if they did, they would gain knowledge of "Good & Evil" & therefore this would begin this never ending cycle of willingfully distorting one's ethics to catagorize something done to them as "evil" & thus give them this excuse to obtain one's desires through evil actions. This makes sense to me because I do this all the time whenever I sin, I have the tendency to suspend my belief in God & thus my ethics. I'll tell myself reasons not to believe. Then, later on I'll feel dejected and spiritually weakened and I'll restore my faith. Does any of this make sense?

[Byblos]

I have some theories in regards to "Evil". I do believe in universal morals and it occured to me once that all evil actions that I can recall are usually the result of a human being seeing an action they would regard as "evil" or "harmful" to them. & even though we humans are not supposed to judge one another on what is "good" & what is "evil", that individual proceeds in being a judge and punishing the individual. As a result of the emotions and desire, an individual uses the percieved "evil" that the individual has done to that person, and instead of forgiving them as jesus insists we do, they presume themsevles to be judge, jury, and executioner and punish the individual. This punishment is an "evil" action and thus it goes on as a never ending cycle. When this occured to me, it reminded me of the garden of eden story. It made me wonder whether the reason God didn't want Adam & Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge was that if they did, they would gain knowledge of "Good & Evil" & therefore this would begin this never ending cycle of willingfully distorting one's ethics to catagorize something done to them as "evil" & thus give them this excuse to obtain one's desires through evil actions. This makes sense to me because I do this all the time whenever I sin, I have the tendency to suspend my belief in God & thus my ethics. I'll tell myself reasons not to believe. Then, later on I'll feel dejected and spiritually weakened and I'll restore my faith. Does any of this make sense?

Hi Oldschool and welcome to the board. I think some of the ideas you express wrt evil are under discussion in another thread titled The Fall and Free Will (particularly towards the end as to how evil came about). Please check it out and if you feel it relates to what you're saying, jump right in and participate. Otherwise keep posting in this one and other members will respond accordingly.

Best regards,

Byblos.