What is good and evil? The religions of the world have approached the subject of evil in different ways. The Western beliefs use Satan, created in writings of the Old Testament, as the personification of evil. The ancient Hebrew religion said that evil came from God, as punishment for man’s disobedience; but a problem in the Hebrew faith made it necessary to change their doctrine. Jerusalem surrendered to the Babylonians in 597 BCE , and the city was destroyed in 586 BCE; For half a century Jewish captivity and exile took place . It started looking as though Yahweh (the god of Abraham) was punishing the Hebrew people.
They began to believe in a “doomsday” attitude, and that God had broken his covenant due to the disobedience of the people. Decades of trying to appease Yahweh without success it became apparent that the religion, provided no hope to the believers. The Persian duality concept of good (ormazd) and evil (ahriman) led the Old Testament writers to develop a similar doctrine; and between 538 BCE and 518 BCE, the contemporary characterization of Satan was born
Satan, the enemy God, allowed the religion to blame what was perceived as punishment from God on a new and opposing figure, creating an Abrahamic form of duality. The name Satan only appears in four books of the Old Testament, and is prominent in only one {Job: written between 500 and 250 BCE), by the time Christianity appeared, adaptation of Persian duality had become widely accepted in Judaism. Christians expanded the role of Satan, and brought him almost to the same level as God with each having the ability to control a person’s mind (or soul). This now meant that God was only connected with good, Satan only with evil, and humanity were helpless pawns in the staged competition between the two entities.
To allow evil beings to override the intent of God, is to say that divine will is not omnipotent. To permit entities to afflict mankind as a test of virtue, is to say that God is not omniscient; for if God already knows whether you are good or bad, He is simply tormenting the innocent without cause, and is consequently evil himself.
Posts
3 comments:
I have come to the conclusion that all religion is of the same origin, an invention of man. Worship of the creator on the other hand, free from religion, is the correct goal.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Addendum to Commandment 2
The oppressed also include blacks, minorities, people of color, gays, the disabled and people of different religions. Give them all equal rights.
Posted by scott at 12:58 PM 0 comments
New Commandments
New Commandments
Here are some more commandments that we can ignore:
1. Heal the sick. All over the world. Not just America.
2. Free the oppressed. In Tibet, Burma, Palestine, America and all over the world. Free women too. Give them equal rights.
3. Help the poor. All over the world and in America too.
4. Protect the unborn.
5. Take care of the earth. All of God's art.
6. Have mercy on all. Including prisoners and criminals. No more torture or inhumane treatment of any kind. No capital punishment. We are all murderers and criminals. For example, most Americans killed 600,000 Iraqis over a lie.
7. Do justice to all. Including the weak and powerless. Including the victims of crime.
8. Try to be fair. Find the correct balance between mercy and justice.
9. Try to find the correct balance. In all things.
10. Be nonviolent. Violence should be the very last resort. Currently it is not and never has been. Maybe it was a last resort in World War II. But it was the harsh reparations after World War I that eventually led to World War II. Follow the examples of Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Aung Sung Su Chi and Corozone Aquino.
Religion is from man. But there is something far better than religion which is only a man made counterfeit of the real, and that's a relationship with Jesus Christ. Being connected with God is possible, not by rules, laws, rituals, traditions, but by Jesus.
Post a Comment