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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Larry Hoover on December 25, 2004, at 10:54:08
Maybe this post should have been to this board.
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041217/msgs/433996.html
Posted by rayww on December 25, 2004, at 15:06:06
In reply to Does evil exist?, posted by Larry Hoover on December 25, 2004, at 10:54:08
Why not ask "does Satan exist?" Is Satan real or imagined? If a being exists it/he/she is real. If the sole reason for the existance of Satan is to persuade men and women to do evil, then "persuasion", which neither does nor can exist without evidence of choice and accountability, is all that can exist. Man has power over persuasion. Therefore, evil does not nor cannot exist on its own merrit because evil is powerless in and of itself. Although Satan exists, he can be overcome by man refusing to submit to his enticements.
Some Christians believe Satan's purpose is to keep man from God. Clever Satan thinks if he can destroy the heart of the earth, he will win. What is the heart of the earth? Who is the heart of the home? What is the heart of government? Heart of the church? etc. What is inside your own heart? The heart of the earth is "you" and "me".
To your question "does evil exist?" I would agree with Ab and say evil is an absense of God. I would take it one step further and ask, since evil does not exist without an accomplice, how then can we overcome it?
My answer would be focus on the family and protect the heart of the home. Guard her, love her, cherish her, treat her with kindness and respect. Evil will decrease to the degree that we heal the homes of the world. We have an obligation to our children and it is best fulfilled by mother, supported by father, reinforced by grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Together we are strong. Divided we fall.How hard is it to focus on the family? or respect the sanctity of marriage? If government could align itself to the heart of the home, righteousness would prevail. We're in a mess and if we aren't careful we will dig a pit that all of evil will fall into. Evil will self-destruct in the end, and the family will prevail. But we don't know what we'll have to go through to get there. It appears we're on the home stretch, beginning a steep uphill climb. We're at the women's pull (a pioneer trek youth camp experience where all the men let go of the hand cart and the women and girls pull it up a steep hill alone in silence). And, we can do it. Evil will be overcome.
Evil is always a possiblitiy, but it needs you or me to make it a painful reality.
Posted by Simus on December 26, 2004, at 21:02:47
In reply to Does evil exist?, posted by Larry Hoover on December 25, 2004, at 10:54:08
That was awesome. Thanks for sharing, Lar.
Simus
P.S. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas with the boys.
Posted by alexandra_k on January 16, 2005, at 1:31:40
In reply to Does evil exist?, posted by Larry Hoover on December 25, 2004, at 10:54:08
That was cool :-)
I guess evil could be
(a) the absense of god
(b) the existence of satan.If it is (a) then god can't be all or ever present though because there would have to be 'absences' of him for evil to exist.
In fact, this would have to be the case for (b) as well...
Posted by Greenhornet on February 18, 2005, at 10:28:02
In reply to Re: Does evil exist? » Larry Hoover, posted by alexandra_k on January 16, 2005, at 1:31:40
God originally created mankind for good -- however man fouled it up (at satan's leading) and therefore today we live in a fallen world. Now there is a way out of this for us humans, but if I attempt to explain it I'll probably get in trouble with Dr.Bob. So see, God didn't cause evil -- man did, and still does today.
This is the end of the thread.
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