Perspectives on evil and its creators have changed throughout history. Every religion explains evil in different ways, in eastern countries evil is “the effect of spiritual ignorance” and in Christianity evil is “a parasite state that perpetuates itself by misusing God’s good resources and by following a wrong direction.” Evil, in Western Countries, is associated with Devils, Satan, and demons, to some extent. The devil and Satan can be interpreted as the same entity. However, Satan is a devil. The word “devil” comes from the Greek word diavolos, meaning an accuser and a malicious slander. Satan, on the other hand, is God’s fallen angel. Therefore, Satan is a malicious slander and an accuser. A demon, unlike Satan, is “neither moral nor …show more content…
Evil, for the most part, is associated with wickedness, harm, and mischief. The concept of evil has changed throughout the course of history. In the Hebrew Bible, evil is either created by a flawed human will or a flawed cosmic order. Meaning, evil is either made by men’s imperfect structure or just a flaw in the universe which cannot be stopped by anyone or anything. In Greek Philosophy, Evil is non-existent. However, there is vice caused by humans. During the rise of Christianity, evil was blamed on the fall of Lucifer. Evil was a concept of failure and hardship, not of fate and will. Evil, in Christianity, is caused by Satan. The Christian definition of evil has remained throughout time. However, modern philosophers considered evil as either human nature or human corruption. This made evil a more biological aspect of human nature rather than a force of the world or the wickedness of Satan. My idea of evil is like some modern philosopher’s ideas. I believe humans are generally benevolent, however, under certain circumstances evil can corrupt …show more content…
There is now applicable definition of demon during the times of the Old Testament. In the ancient world, demons were thought to be natural beings or supernatural. For instance, Plato described demons as entities with “supreme power able to order human affairs.” He believed demons gave “peace and reverence and order and justice” to humans. He rejected the idea of demons being evil. Platonists and Neo-Platonists contradicted Plato’s beliefs and believed some demons were good and others were bad. Platonists influenced Christian philosophers. Therefore, Christian’s definition of demon is similar to that of Platonists. St. Augustine, a Christian philosopher believed Demons resided in-between of gods and humans. He stated that demons where “the fount of all spiritual and material evil.” Augustine believed witches where the offspring of demons and humans. Demons, today, are less of a belief. Although some people do believe in demons like evil spirits, witches, and ghosts, demons are not taken as serious as they were in the ancient world and witch trials. Some consider sleep paralysis as encounters with demons. In many cases, people wake up in their dream and feel an evil presence near them. I have had sleep paralysis and see these demonic figures near me creating distress in me. Diotima of Mantinela. Socrates’s teacher, explained how the sleep state was a state in
When I think of the concept of “evil,” I think of The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. In The Consolation of Philosophy, Lady Philosophy stated:
Whilst Augustine argued that evil is not a real thing that is present in the world, many people, especially those who have really felt suffering, believe that is certainly is a real, present thing in the world. Overall, the Augustine Theodicy is attractive to conservative theists, because it provides a classical theistic answer to the problem of evil and suffering. However, the Theodicy does open up a larger amount of unanswerable questions, so the weaknesses out way the strengths.
Evil is something everyone has in them, but it isn’t always expressed the same way in everyone. Evil can be oftenly be expressed when someone is down on the selves and feel like they need immediate and major change. Most are curious as to if people are naturally born with evil or they learn it overtime. The only logical reasoning would be to learn evil over our lives, because when we are born we essentially know nothing until we mature and read books and are educated. Therefore we learn about and see evil being used and asses it to ourselves.
The reason that we even have an experience of a perceived evil is because for the soul to experience itself as any particular thing, the exact opposite of that thing must come into the realm of existence. In other words, in this relative existence, hot cannot be hot without cold, darkness cannot be without light, and you cannot be you without that which is not you. So I believe that what we call evil is just the opposite end of the spectrum of good, not something separate.
True Evil Evil is all around, at every moment, it’s just a matter of how it chooses to come out and what side of the story one may stand on. Views on evil may range from seeing it as a plague, or used as an instrument, it puts fear into people’s minds to keep them in order. Others may believe there is no good without evil so they go hand in hand. It seems there are so many views on evil it may just be a perspective, as Thomas Hobbes theory states man level good and evil to things they desire, own, hate, or disagree with. Theories like Sigmund Freud also explain desire leads to the opportunity of evil, if taken over it may cause a person to act in a beastly way to get what they want for example power.
The most influential definition of evil is nicely summarised by Swinburne proclaimed when discussing about evil, context is very important factors to consider when talking about the subject of evil he said evil include physical pain, for
Satan’s definitions include the advocate of God, a personification of evil, the fallen angel, a spirit created by God, and also the accuser. People see Satan differently, some know of his existence, others think of him as just a myth, and there are those that just ignore him. John Milton's Paradise Lost tells of Satan's banishment from Heaven and his gain of earth. He and his brigade have plotted war against God and are now doomed to billow in the fiery pits of hell. Satan is a complex character with many different qualities. God is a character who we, as Christians, know about but do not completely understand. We also do not completely understand Satan. Some may think they know Satan but when asked “Is Satan divine?”
Evil can be categorized into two forms, moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is brought about by bad choices that stem from our free will. Natural evil is bad things that happen to people, whether they deserve them or not. The problem with evil is,
The word devil is defined as an evil spirit, a devil, the devil, false God, demon, diabolical person. The word originated from Latin word diabolus . In Hebrew another term used for the word devil is Satan, which means accuser slanderer. The Latin word is from the religious Greek word diabolos, Jewish and Christians use the term Devil and Satan or Lucifer. The devil is depicted as an evil being, that is often pictured obtaining a human form but with a tail and horns. The bible first mentions the devil to be a serpent in the garden of Eden persuading Eve to eat the fruit from forbidden tree knowledge of good and evil in the book of Genesis 3:14; “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above
The Meriam-Webster dictionary defines evil as, “…morally reprehensible: sinful, wicked…arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct…” (Merriam-webster.com). It is a word steeped in historically religious and extremely negative connotations. This is evident as John Judis brings up in his article, “the
By definition, evil is an act or feeling that is “profoundly immoral and malevolent”. The problem is that evil is a subjective term. Each person sees evil differently.
The devil at the dawn of Christianity bore little resemblance to the ruler of hell, the antichrist and agent of evil that he is known as in present day. Satan makes few overt or implied appearances in the Old Testament. For the important role of God’s greatest adversary, early Christians had to flesh out great parts of Satan’s story in order to develop him into his present, fearsome persona. The Christian story of the Devil is heavily influenced by earlier Greek mythology, and early Christian writings about the Devil co-opted local mythology in order to gain new converts and discredit popular pagan beliefs.
To understand evil we must first understand the concept that good and evil are term or words referring to what one given individuals believes to be the right and wrong thing to do. Good, many times
When a person hears Satan, a streak of fear, and the thought of evil arises. People fear Satan, and think of him as evil, but in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he displays a thought of the Father being the evil being, and Satan a tragic hero. In Paradise Lost, Book 1 and 2, the minor areas where God is shown, He is displayed as hypocritical. He contradicts himself by creating the humans to be of free will, but when Satan displays free will, he is shunned. Satan could be described in many terms, and by many people, but all can be disputed. According to my sources, Satan is displayed as the hero, while God is the evil deity, and Milton was wrong for writing Him as so. In this essay, I will show my thoughts on the subject of Satan as an evil
It is all that to be sure, but even more so, the true nature of evil is that it is personified in scripture—the evil one (Matt. 13:19, 38; Mk. 9:39; Jn. 17:15; Eph. 6:16; Col. 3:9) as scripture calls it—with a mind and will of its own, that is totally and irrevocably opposed to God. Even as good is a person, God Himself, for no one is good except God alone (Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19); even so we need to realize in the depths of our being that evil is no less a person, Satan himself. To believe otherwise is to downplay the reality, nature and insidiousness of evil.