Matter and evil

  • Thread starter Thread starter newbiefound
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
N

newbiefound

Guest
I have a friend who seems to be bordering on the Manichean heresy that treats matter as evil. Only my friend apparently thinks that anything which ¨necessarily¨ harms man is evil. Sounds of certain pitches included I think. I would imagine something like poison, or perhaps certain frequencies of light? I can´t think of any solid examples at the moment, but could someone refer me to a document with strong credibility on the issue? Thanks very much,

newbie
 
newbiefound said:
I have a friend who seems to be bordering on the Manichean heresy that treats matter as evil. Only my friend apparently thinks that anything which ¨necessarily¨ harms man is evil. Sounds of certain pitches included I think. I would imagine something like poison, or perhaps certain frequencies of light? I can´t think of any solid examples at the moment, but could someone refer me to a document with strong credibility on the issue? Thanks very much,

newbie
Click to expand...
That idea is obviously nonsense. Are the drugs used in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) evil? They are an effect means of combating the HIV virus in afflicted patients, but unfortunately have notable detrimental sides.

What is evil? I think this definition can only be provided by an observer (e.g. a human) and “evil” is not an intrinsic property of molecules, atoms, matter, etc.
 
X-rays then would be seen as evil yet they are used in medicine.

I would suggest that ‘evil’ is the product not of matter but of consciousness.
 
Evil is considered a privation of good. It means that something is missing goodness that its natural form would provide. Evil comes from the fall of humanity and evil will.
 
newbiefound said:
I have a friend who seems to be bordering on the Manichean heresy that treats matter as evil. Only my friend apparently thinks that anything which ¨necessarily¨ harms man is evil. Sounds of certain pitches included I think. I would imagine something like poison, or perhaps certain frequencies of light? I can´t think of any solid examples at the moment, but could someone refer me to a document with strong credibility on the issue? Thanks very much,
Click to expand...
St. Augustine is your champion on this subject. His refutations of the Manichean heresies are scattered throughout his writings, with perhaps the most concise piece in “The Nature of Good.” This can be hard to find, but I found a nice summary on this link:

catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Faith/MARAPR99/augustine.html
 
Thanks for the link, I certainly made use of it and Saint Thomas Aquinas´ proofs for the issue also. Is there an official church statement on the fact that matter cannot be evil? If so, could someone share with me a link? Thanks,

newbie
 
newbiefound said:
Thanks for the link, I certainly made use of it and Saint Thomas Aquinas´ proofs for the issue also. Is there an official church statement on the fact that matter cannot be evil? If so, could someone share with me a link?
Click to expand...
Two papal encyclicals you might find helpful (or at least interesting reading on this subject) are:

Ad Salutem, by Pope Pius XI “On St. Augustine” and
Aeterni Patris, by Pope Leo XIII, “On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy,” [Item 13].

which can be found here: papalencyclicals.net/
Neither was written as an official Church condemnation of Manicheism, but both reinforce St. Augustine’s refutations as an accurate description of Church teaching.
 
What about the Book of Wisdom, 1:12-16?

*Court not death by your erring way of life, nor draw to yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.

Because God did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living.For He fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is not a destructive drug among them, nor any domain of the netherworld on earth, For justice is undying.

It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death, considered it a friend, and pined for it, and made a covenant with it, because they deserve to be in its possession…*

This doesn’t mean, of course, that nothing that exists in the world is capable of killing us. But plants aren’t toxic to us because they hate us; toxins have a good and protective purpose for those plants. If we are silly enough to eat things that taste bitter (unlike animals, which have better sense), that’s our problem. And if we brew those plants into a poison, that’s definitely our fault, not Creation’s. And so on. Nothing in Creation is naturally evil.
 
How does your friend “know”? Who is he to judge, what knowledge base is sufficient for this determination?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top