Calling good evil and evil good

[jimmy2010]

Hello,

My best friend, who is Catholic, just had a dialog with me regarding many of the Catholic issues he is having problems with. When we got to the “Good” versus “Evil” discussion, I talked about the increased in Satanic worship all around the world. He immediately countered by saying Satanic worship is not bad in all case, some are good.

Of course he has problems with core Catholic issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, etc… He mentioned that since Catholics do not allow women to choose, it is oppressing them, that it is hostile to those with same sex attraction because it does not allow them to marry. To him, they should be allowed what is allowed for others.

Since he is my best friend and we go to Sunday school together, it pains me much to see how far he is from the faith. I think once he leaves his family, he will probably leave our beloved church.

From the long talk we had, it seems Catholic moral doctrine are not as appealing to him and people should be able to do what they want, worship Satan, have abortion, population control, etc. In a sense, what is good for Catholics are negative to him and what bad for Catholics are positive, hence good is seen as evil and evil is seen as good.

The problem I’m seeing is that we had the same education but we seem to be interpretating it differently. I should say that he has SSA.

My point of discussion is how prevalent is good being called evil and evil good?

Thanks,
JL

 

[turtle18]

Very prevalent. And the Book of Isiash warns us this is going to happen. How some people can’t see how wrong things are boggles my mind sometimes. That is why you have to love God with your MIND, heart & soul. It you are missing any part of this equation, you will be confused.

 

[jkarp]

When we got to the “Good” versus “Evil” discussion, I talked about the increased in Satanic worship all around the world. He immediately countered by saying Satanic worship is not bad in all case, some are good.

Did he cite any specific examples of what kinds of Satanic worship are not bad? Doesn’t Exodus 20:3 say, “You shall not have other gods besides me”? Worshiping ANY other person, place, or thing in place of the Lord is objectively sinful.

 

[jimmy2010]

Did he cite any specific examples of what kinds of Satanic worship are not bad? Doesn’t Exodus 20:3 say, “You shall not have other gods besides me”? Worshiping ANY other person, place, or thing in place of the Lord is objectively sinful.

When I objected about the worshipping of Satan part, in that there can be no good in it, he said I should not try to force my views on others who do not believe in what I believe; and that I should be more tolerant of other people.

I said I want everyone to be in Heaven by helping them to see that their way is in error according to church laws and the law of nature. He doesn’t see the error on their way or his way though. I guessed a lot of prayers are needed for my friend.

Regards,
JL

 

[chrisb]

When I objected about the worshipping of Satan part, in that there can be no good in it, he said I should not try to force my views on others who do not believe in what I believe; and that I should be more tolerant of other people.

I said I want everyone to be in Heaven by helping them to see that their way is in error according to church laws and the law of nature. He doesn’t see the error on their way or his way though. I guessed a lot of prayers are needed for my friend.

Regards,
JL

Grace and Peace Jimmy2010,

There is a difference between tolerance and permissiveness. It doesn’t appear your friend can see the distinction.

This is, as others have already stated, prevalent in our society. It stems from a certain lack of understanding of Moral Right and Wrong. Most modern philosophies have discarded Classic Moral Theology and with that have focused the merits or demerits of human acts to intension’s and consequences. This discards the ‘object’ of their acts and assumes that all objects are neutral. Morality has become a matter of the individual and the consequences which arise from one’s individual choice. No thought is put on the object of one’s desires and it’s inherent qualities.

For example, through the Virtue of Prudence we know that certain things are inherently ‘disordered’ and not a fitting ‘object’ of our acts no matter what our intension or lack of apparent lack of consequences.

Unfortunately, a great deal of this kind of Moral Understanding was discarded in the ignorance of the 60’s and 70’s as relativism gained a foot-hold in Academia throughout the Western World.