Is there such a thing as Absolute Evil?

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Father Pat McCloskey writes: “Only God is absolute. Everything else, including the devil, is relative.”

O.K. God is Absolute Goodness. Goodness is an absolute. Is there such a thing as absolute evil?
 
No. There is no essence of evil, as such, there can be no absolute evil.
 
Thanks devout. We touched on this subject before. I have no philosophy background (just political philosophy) so I’ll have to relook the concept of “essence” in philosophy, though I’m pretty sure I’ll get it (unless you want to summarize it). 🙂

Can an action however be described as “absolutely evil”, say the Holocaust for one? Or the murder of an innocent child? Can these actions rightly be called “absolutely evil” and, if not, why so? Because evil has no essence? Should they just be called evil then as opposed to absolutely evil?
 
unless you want to summarize it
Essence is what defines a being as itself, and if a change were made to a being’s essence then it would not be itself. All beings, having been created by God, have a good essence.
Can an action however be described as “absolutely evil”, say the Holocaust for one? Or the murder of an innocent child? Can these actions rightly be called “absolutely evil” and, if not, why so? Because evil has no essence? Should they just be called evil then as opposed to absolutely evil?
Unless one is using absolute as a synonym for intrinsic then I would say no, since murder is not the source of its own evilness (the same holds for every evil), but is evil because of the good which it causes to be privated (namely human life).
 
Evil is a result of opposing principalities from the absolute moralities put in place by the principalities of God.
 
Evil is profound immorality and God is absolute morality.
Gods principalities is opposed by the devil principalities in every way.
God’s principalities originate with Meaning and ends with Destination and the devil principalities start with deception and ends with self image opposing God’s principalities in a mirrored order.
 
Evil is a result of opposing principalities from the absolute moralities put in place by the principalities of God.
Incongruous circular argument irrational in use of ‘absolute’.

But, the original question is beyond two fold. It does entail language. It also entails perspective and perceptions. This is contextually sensitive. However, if we believe that God in His love has absolute power, then nothing else can. Now, if you care to say that God has absolute power over all that is good, then you leave room for the argument that there is an entity that might have absolute power over all that is evil.

But from my experience, there are entities that seem as if ‘vessels’ and have been consumed by such negativity that their true, initial, human nature seems to be gone. I don’t see them as absolute, but honey, they’re gone. The more that we cave in to the societal ‘norms’ of anything negative, the more we open the door for negativity that is beyond our own. This, like goodness, can be synergistic. Let’s not let the negative synergy get to us and those around us.

Why I don’t listen to or watch the news? Why I have difficulty going out into the streets with the disrespect of language…often insulting their own births? Then try the work place where so many have learned from, or think they have, Trumpism and/or the bad boys of business, and want to be politically correct in the need for conflict management or employee assistance programs…
 
Evil is profound immorality and God is absolute morality.
Gods principalities is opposed by the devil principalities in every way.
God’s principalities originate with Meaning and ends with Destination and the devil principalities start with deception and ends with self image opposing God’s principalities in a mirrored order.
What do you mean by principalities? You’re not using the word correctly.
 
No. There is no essence of evil, as such, there can be no absolute evil.
Yes. Anything that exists is sustained by God so nothing is 100% evil (including Satan and the souls in hell). If something was completly evil, it couldn’t be something sustained by God so it wouldn’t exist. This isn’t a proof, mearly a tautology but I think it’s a good illustration.
 
Yes. Anything that exists is sustained by God so nothing is 100% evil (including Satan and the souls in hell). If something was completly evil, it couldn’t be something sustained by God so it wouldn’t exist. This isn’t a proof, mearly a tautology but I think it’s a good illustration.
Exactly.
 
All beings, having been created by God, have a good essence…
This kind of touches on the Euthyphro dilemma, namely: “Is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by God?”
 
This kind of touches on the Euthyphro dilemma, namely: “Is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by God?”
I don’t think either is completely correct. The idea of a being whose essence is evil is contradictory, since evil is a privation, and never an actual source. So God couldn’t have made an essentially evil being, in the same way that he couldn’t have made a four-sided triangle. On the other hand, we are not absolute goods, but rather we draw our goodness from our Creator.
 
…we are not absolute goods, but rather we draw our goodness from our Creator.
Are there any virtues (or values) that are absolutely good, or absolute goods? Love?
Or concepts? Truth? Is truth absolute and if so why? If yes, is it because truth is founded in God or because truth is truth regardless of God?
 
Are there any virtues (or values) that are absolutely good, or absolute goods? Love?
Or concepts? Truth? Is truth absolute and if so why? If yes, is it because truth is founded in God or because truth is truth regardless of God?
Well God is Love and God is Truth so I suppose that in that sense they are absolute goods. However, I wouldn’t think that individual acts of love and of telling the truth are absolute goods, since their goodness comes from the value of the person being loved or told the truth*.

*In the case of truth, the reason for telling it is also relevant.
 
What do you mean by principalities? You’re not using the word correctly.
Ephesians 3:10
to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly.

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
 
Father Pat McCloskey writes: “Only God is absolute. Everything else, including the devil, is relative.”

O.K. God is Absolute Goodness. Goodness is an absolute. Is there such a thing as absolute evil?
Evil has been described as the privation of Good. (St. Augustine of Hippo) God is omnipresent so there can be no absolute privation or there would be somewhere that God is not. Therefore not omnipresent.

My personal opinion evil is a matter of perspective.
 
Ephesians 3:10
to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly.

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Principalities refers to angelic powers.
 
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