The Great Paradox of Evil


Traveler
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I have placed this thread under the pages of General Discussion to encourage “thinking outside the box”.   I have long struggled with the logic of evil.  Perhaps it is more properly stated as the illogic of evil.  Regardless of the scale upon which evil is weighed – it will always end in or bring about self-destruction – but also with everything it touches – evil will always degrade and destroy.

Anything that “eats itself” is unsustainable.  The greatest of all evil is labeled in scripture as “Perdition”.  The meaning of perdition is – total complete ruin.    This runs counter to the concept of “Salvation” that comes from the root meaning of salvage.   Thus to salvage (salvation) is to save and remove from ruin (evil) exclusively that which is of value (good). 

So here is the Great Paradox:  How can anything possessing even the most remedial intelligence choose evil over good?  The only reason that I can logically imagine is that such a choice is void of any possibility of anticipation.   In short, deception is involved.  But the problem is – how can an entity have agency or free will if something outside such entity is stacking the deck with such deception that a choice is meaningless.

I will begin this discussion of evil with this paradox self annihilation – but the more I ponder this subject – this only scratches the surface.  And so I offer this paradox of evil – in part to discover how others have addressed or understand this paradox – if at all?  To determine if there is any interest or thoughts before I continue deeper into what appears to be the Great Paradox of Evil and why there is any proclivity (engine) to embrace it

 

The Traveler

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Hidden assumptions:
- Everything smart wants to continue
- Everything smart values existence
- Everything smart understands cause and effect, action and consequence 
- Lucifer kept his memory of the pre-existence with God, therefore, having all the facts at his disposal, Lucifer 'gets it'

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3 hours ago, Traveler said:

I have placed this thread under the pages of General Discussion to encourage “thinking outside the box”.   I have long struggled with the logic of evil.  Perhaps it is more properly stated as the illogic of evil.  Regardless of the scale upon which evil is weighed – it will always end in or bring about self-destruction – but also with everything it touches – evil will always degrade and destroy.

Anything that “eats itself” is unsustainable.  The greatest of all evil is labeled in scripture as “Perdition”.  The meaning of perdition is – total complete ruin.    This runs counter to the concept of “Salvation” that comes from the root meaning of salvage.   Thus to salvage (salvation) is to save and remove from ruin (evil) exclusively that which is of value (good). 

So here is the Great Paradox:  How can anything possessing even the most remedial intelligence choose evil over good?  The only reason that I can logically imagine is that such a choice is void of any possibility of anticipation.   In short, deception is involved.  But the problem is – how can an entity have agency or free will if something outside such entity is stacking the deck with such deception that a choice is meaningless.

I will begin this discussion of evil with this paradox self annihilation – but the more I ponder this subject – this only scratches the surface.  And so I offer this paradox of evil – in part to discover how others have addressed or understand this paradox – if at all?  To determine if there is any interest or thoughts before I continue deeper into what appears to be the Great Paradox of Evil and why there is any proclivity (engine) to embrace it

 

The Traveler

Why do medical doctors often...

  • Smoke (and ignore the word of wisdom in general).
  • Eat fatty, high cholesterol foods.
  • Forego exercise

Why does Al Gore...

  • Use more electricity than 10 average households.
  • Fly when he could telecommute.
  • Drive the most gas guzzling vehicles when a Tesla would do.

Why does an engineer...

  • Live in a house that is falling apart.
  • Have landscaping that is a virtual nightmare.
  • Eat organic foods.
  • Ignore modern conveniences like "sprinklers".
  • Run away from microwaves like they're sources of COVID.
  • Want to grow his own watermelons?  

OK, that last one was because it's a better watermelon.

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8 hours ago, Traveler said:

I have placed this thread under the pages of General Discussion to encourage “thinking outside the box”.   I have long struggled with the logic of evil.  Perhaps it is more properly stated as the illogic of evil.  Regardless of the scale upon which evil is weighed – it will always end in or bring about self-destruction – but also with everything it touches – evil will always degrade and destroy.

Anything that “eats itself” is unsustainable.  The greatest of all evil is labeled in scripture as “Perdition”.  The meaning of perdition is – total complete ruin.    This runs counter to the concept of “Salvation” that comes from the root meaning of salvage.   Thus to salvage (salvation) is to save and remove from ruin (evil) exclusively that which is of value (good). 

So here is the Great Paradox:  How can anything possessing even the most remedial intelligence choose evil over good?  The only reason that I can logically imagine is that such a choice is void of any possibility of anticipation.   In short, deception is involved.  But the problem is – how can an entity have agency or free will if something outside such entity is stacking the deck with such deception that a choice is meaningless.

I will begin this discussion of evil with this paradox self annihilation – but the more I ponder this subject – this only scratches the surface.  And so I offer this paradox of evil – in part to discover how others have addressed or understand this paradox – if at all?  To determine if there is any interest or thoughts before I continue deeper into what appears to be the Great Paradox of Evil and why there is any proclivity (engine) to embrace it

 

The Traveler

I have been told that the Adversary and his fallen angels have an overriding hatred of all the creations of our Father (which also includes us).  There only goal left is to destroy everything the Father is and has created.

Hatred is a terrible thing, but it drives revenge, vengeance, anger, and the desire to destroy.  It can crowd out all other aspects or emotions if one rages with hate.  It is the opposite of love, and the opposite of hope.  Pure evil thus is probably filled with hatred and rage, and when it is that filled with it to the complete opposite of how much our Father and our Elder Brother loves us, it is probably impossible for us to comprehend how such a being thinks.

That they would self annihilate might seem to be an actual reward to one in such a state, if only to escape their suffering, and if they take down what they hate with them, that could be their ultimate goal...which is a terrible thing to think about.

However, we have books and novels that explain such hatred in men (Moby Dick for example and others) and it's self destructive tendencies where men do not care about themselves, only destroying that which they hate.

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Evil is most concerned with itself and the status of its own existence. It doesn’t care if it is self destructive, it is only going to exist for a finite amount of time so it/he/she does everything it can for itself in the shortest amount of time while withholding zero restraint.

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