Defending Evil

[WarriorInChrist]

Then is a gang member from a foreign country who commits crimes on US soil the same evil or is he a greater evil.

I’ll bet the militant atheist wasn’t planning on killing any priest or pushing drugs on them. The gang member is the greater evil.

The militant atheist is the greater evil I would say. Not only has he destroyed his own life by choosing not to believe, but he is also deliberately trying to destroy the souls of others who do believe. That is already a two-in-one devil deal! While on the otherhand, the gang member doesn’t commit evil acts for the deliberate sake of doing so. I doubt many of them have college degrees or clean slates to go out and find honest work, so they resort to what they can do to make some quick money to support their families. In their minds and way of thinking, they are trying to make a living, even though the consequences of their actions result in something evil, but that is not the primary goal such as it is with the militant atheist. With that said, doing harmful things physically OR spiritually will both land you in hell if you don’t realize the truth before it’s too late!

 

[aucontraire]

Gangs and gang members, while they do carry out evil deeds and unsaintly things, they themselves, are definitely not evil. They are God’s children like each and every one of us with a soul. They simply made bad choices heavily influenced by what they saw growing up and how they were raised (or due to lack of being raised). We should pray for them like we pray for anyone else. After all, who was it that Jesus spent most of his time with? The rich and famous or the lowly thiefs, tax collectors, and prostitutes?

Most gang members are, at least, on a par with the worst evil you could find in the bible. They are not simply vandals or thieves. They are evil for the sake of being evil.

 

[aucontraire]

The militant atheist is the greater evil I would say. Not only has he destroyed his own life by choosing not to believe, but he is also deliberately trying to destroy the souls of others who do believe. That is already a two-in-one devil deal! While on the otherhand, the gang member doesn’t commit evil acts for the deliberate sake of doing so. I doubt many of them have college degrees or clean slates to go out and find honest work, so they resort to what they can do to make some quick money to support their families. In their minds and way of thinking, they are trying to make a living, even though the consequences of their actions result in something evil, but that is not the primary goal such as it is with the militant atheist. With that said, doing harmful things physically OR spiritually will both land you in hell if you don’t realize the truth before it’s too late!

The atheist chooses not to believe in God for his own reasons but he is not forcing that belief on others. The gang member is forcing his terror on others.

Gang members are not simply theives or vandals. They try to terrorise the neighborhood they live in. That’s why families leave those neighborhoods. Does an atheist do that?

You can’t really scare people with hell if they don’t believe in it. However many of these gangs have their own ritualistic symbols that they pray to. But they choose evil and that makes them evil.

 

[cyberfrogX]

As children of God, we are always learning from his goodness. We can individually judge whether or not an act is evil, because the act is clearly visible to us.
We cannot, however, judge a person as evil. Only God can see into that persons soul and judge them that way.
When a person does an evil deed, we can call them an evildoer, but there will always remain a question of whether or not they are evil in their hearts.

I think the question should be this:

Why does any human commit an act of evil?
and
Why does any human defend a practice that is evil?

I think the answer has to do with individual perception and how we individually define evil.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Gangs and gang members, while they do carry out evil deeds and unsaintly things, they themselves, are definitely not evil. They are God’s children like each and every one of us with a soul. They simply made bad choices heavily influenced by what they saw growing up and how they were raised (or due to lack of being raised). We should pray for them like we pray for anyone else. After all, who was it that Jesus spent most of his time with? The rich and famous or the lowly thiefs, tax collectors, and prostitutes?

We should also hold them accountable for their actions. Not everyone who grows up in a bad environment turns to evil.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

In general,
Why do “good” people,
Condone, and even defend,
Something which is clearly evil?

The usual reasons:​

• fear
• self-interest
• laziness
• moral cowardice
• failure to “join the dots”
• habit
• social assumptions
• confusion of thought
• bad reasoning
• having different standards from those before (or after) them
• religious zeal
• political partisanship
• ethical blindspots
  & so on.