Good & Evil
It seems that perfection is inherently impossible in this universe; why? (Ps 119:96)
The double problem of evil – that evil is always really evil, but there’s nothing that’s really good, at least not in this life. Evil can always outweigh good. Even if this is just in the nature of evil, it still results in an imbalance.
Jer 20:9, 18 A good example of how righteousness and happiness are not necessarily positively correlated. (consider also Heb 11:38 -- of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.)
But then I wonder which is more powerful, good or evil, because evil is worse than good is good, but even a little goodness will make a person want to live, no matter how evil their life is.
How and why is it that it’s both easier and harder to do good and love the truth (than to do evil and love falsehood) at the same time? This is a paradox. If this is true, why do people choose evil over good?
Rather than be appalled at the darkness and misery in the world, I'm shocked that it's not even worse. You think of all the things that could go wrong; the fact that many things must go right in order for good to result, but that only one thing has to go wrong for the result to end badly; the fact that people are filled with evil and seem to have a limitless capacity to antagonize each other and to make up all sorts of reasons to attack each other, and you have to wonder why there's any peace at all in the world. So this is the flipside of this issue, ironic as it is.
Sadness can be beautiful, suffering can be romantic. Why?
Why aren't all these good things (I Cor 13:2-3) always necessarily correlated with love? Paul said these 3 things remain --- faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love, and I agree, but isn't it strange that someone can have all faith, and yet not love? After all, doesn't faith come from truth and sincerity, and isn't sincerity full of love (that is, all good things are "on one side together" and are all related and are all manifestations of goodness)?
"The fact that a character was never really a "Chosen one" or suffered any abuse or heavy conflict often annuls a character of being called a Mary Sue." -- from tvtropes.org
Why is it that people prefer to see bad things rather than good things, but experientially it’s the other way around? (People are more entertained by bad things but don’t want to live through bad experiences.) Why are bad things inherently more exciting? Just seeing people getting along is boring.
Why is it that it’s evil that makes the story? That without the problem, there is no story, and therefore, no fun?
It’s very ironic to me when people who are wronged and made to suffer, though innocent, then turn around and become just as evil, as when a woman who’s raped and becomes pregnant then gets an abortion, or when kids who are bullied in school turn around and then murder their teachers and classmates.
Sir 16:4 Through one wise person a city can be peopled; but through a clan of rebels it becomes desolate. What does this mean? (This is related to The Distribution of Goodies) If I put in a certain amount of goodness, how much goodness comes out? And if I put in a certain amount of evil, how much evil comes out? And how much evil is needed to overcome the good?
Is the causelessness of noise and its inevitability related to imperfection, so that wherever there’s randomness there’s necessarily imperfection (imperfection being a form of evil)?
What makes something pleasurable or painful?
The question about reality and perfection is also related to, I think, the problem of evil, since we might say imperfection is a type of evil, as, I'm sure, many people curse their ugly faces, for example, and yet if we hold to the hunch that the desire for perfection is somehow skewed, then might this make it easier to go through life's sufferings, since we could see how imperfection, or at least the acceptance of imperfection, has some merit and virtue? And perhaps we might learn the necessity of imperfection? (This question is also under "Reality".)
The double problem of evil – that evil is always really evil, but there’s nothing that’s really good, at least not in this life. Evil can always outweigh good. Even if this is just in the nature of evil, it still results in an imbalance.
Jer 20:9, 18 A good example of how righteousness and happiness are not necessarily positively correlated. (consider also Heb 11:38 -- of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.)
But then I wonder which is more powerful, good or evil, because evil is worse than good is good, but even a little goodness will make a person want to live, no matter how evil their life is.
How and why is it that it’s both easier and harder to do good and love the truth (than to do evil and love falsehood) at the same time? This is a paradox. If this is true, why do people choose evil over good?
Rather than be appalled at the darkness and misery in the world, I'm shocked that it's not even worse. You think of all the things that could go wrong; the fact that many things must go right in order for good to result, but that only one thing has to go wrong for the result to end badly; the fact that people are filled with evil and seem to have a limitless capacity to antagonize each other and to make up all sorts of reasons to attack each other, and you have to wonder why there's any peace at all in the world. So this is the flipside of this issue, ironic as it is.
Sadness can be beautiful, suffering can be romantic. Why?
Why aren't all these good things (I Cor 13:2-3) always necessarily correlated with love? Paul said these 3 things remain --- faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love, and I agree, but isn't it strange that someone can have all faith, and yet not love? After all, doesn't faith come from truth and sincerity, and isn't sincerity full of love (that is, all good things are "on one side together" and are all related and are all manifestations of goodness)?
"The fact that a character was never really a "Chosen one" or suffered any abuse or heavy conflict often annuls a character of being called a Mary Sue." -- from tvtropes.org
Why is it that people prefer to see bad things rather than good things, but experientially it’s the other way around? (People are more entertained by bad things but don’t want to live through bad experiences.) Why are bad things inherently more exciting? Just seeing people getting along is boring.
Why is it that it’s evil that makes the story? That without the problem, there is no story, and therefore, no fun?
It’s very ironic to me when people who are wronged and made to suffer, though innocent, then turn around and become just as evil, as when a woman who’s raped and becomes pregnant then gets an abortion, or when kids who are bullied in school turn around and then murder their teachers and classmates.
Sir 16:4 Through one wise person a city can be peopled; but through a clan of rebels it becomes desolate. What does this mean? (This is related to The Distribution of Goodies) If I put in a certain amount of goodness, how much goodness comes out? And if I put in a certain amount of evil, how much evil comes out? And how much evil is needed to overcome the good?
Is the causelessness of noise and its inevitability related to imperfection, so that wherever there’s randomness there’s necessarily imperfection (imperfection being a form of evil)?
What makes something pleasurable or painful?
The question about reality and perfection is also related to, I think, the problem of evil, since we might say imperfection is a type of evil, as, I'm sure, many people curse their ugly faces, for example, and yet if we hold to the hunch that the desire for perfection is somehow skewed, then might this make it easier to go through life's sufferings, since we could see how imperfection, or at least the acceptance of imperfection, has some merit and virtue? And perhaps we might learn the necessity of imperfection? (This question is also under "Reality".)
