/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.16831251]

>evil is the lack, the negation of something
>evil doesn't exist except accidentally
What's with this brainlet argument christians use to define the concept of evil?
Is happiness evil because it's the negation of sorrow?

[Anonymous No.16831253]

gg

[Anonymous No.16831270]

>What's with this brainlet argument christians use to define the concept of evil?
Christians BTFOed by 4chan poster. 20 centuries of theology down to the sink. We're making history, boys.

[Anonymous No.16831328]

>>16831251
it's important to know that the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil is an inferior reality to the Tree of Life. Sorrow can be good or evil depending on its interior state of being.

[Anonymous No.16831412]

>>16831270
lmfao
I can't believe dis nigga disproved it in a shitpost, insane

[Anonymous No.16831421]

>>16831251
so all those stupid negative people are evil? knew it

[Anonymous No.16831445]

>>16831251
Only if you define "sorrow" as "what really exists", then yes, happiness might be called non-existent (not that this is a decent analogy anyway as happiness and sorrow can very well coexist).
That evil has no substance of its own but is a parasitic deficiency did not begin with Aquinas though. Although I see it being attributed to Augustine, Irenaeus of Lyons already made this argument against the dualism of Gnosticism in the 2nd century.
In his case it leads to the conclusion that those who embrace evil erase within themselves the gift of existence that God gave them, and the last judgment for them consists in God simply revealing this fact and abandoning them to their non-existence, not as an active punishment but as the logical result of their own choice, again against the Gnostic idea that humans are not really responsible for their acts and the Demiurge is personally punishing some while Bythus is personally rewarding some.
Although annihilationism would lose popularity, that the punishment isn't actively from God (with the analogy of the Sun not actively coming down to burn you personally when you go outside unprepared and get blinded) would remain the mainstream position and might help you understand better what is meant by "evil doesn't exist". The point is that what does exist is God, and evil is simply a movement away from God, not toward another evil god (as the Gnostics posited) but toward nothing at all in fact. As to what -is- good, what -is- God, well, it was the job of the bishops of the Church to guide people on this matter, based on the Bible and the example of the saints.

In any case, you didn't understand the argument. I don't know how Aquinas puts it, but evil isn't merely the negation of something, but the negation of God. Those who sin turn away from God. The last judgment will simply destroy all sin and God will be "all in all", but different people had different opinions of what that would imply for those who were stubbornly attached to sin (annihilation together with sin? purification from sin which leads to desiring God? purification from sin which leads to endless torment due to still desiring said sin?).

[Anonymous No.16831461]

>>16831445
I'm sorry this devolved into speaking of the last judgment, but that's closely tied, at least in Irenaeus, to what sin is.

[Jesus No.16831490]

>>16831270
christians btfo by boi on the pic. actually he btfo all philosophers, all moralfags, all believers. you all are very stupid pederast.

[Anonymous No.16831509]

>>16831445
>In any case, you didn't understand the argument
I said that evil doesn't exist except accidentally, so it naturally follows that everything that exists is good and comes from God according to Christian theologians. Aquinas just says that evil can exist "accidentally" due to a secondary agent which is ruled by the primary agent (God) tries to act on its own or fails to conform to the principles of the perfect good. Then he adds that pride was the first sin of the devil because Satan refused to be subjected to God prior to its fall.

[Jesus No.16831547]

they all are victims of original sin, larping mind, very toxic society. this thomas would wear covid mask, no doubt. too much to explain, basically he was still moms toy, infantile incel, not a warrior. he was a priest, that is celebrity, clown. not the power itself corrupts, but attention. today such performers like teachers, artists, musicians, actors, doctors fall in this trap and become narcissistic lefists. just like with pretty women and little spoiled children, lack of feedback, lack of punch in stupid face make them detached from reality, from responsibility, from important decisions, from pain and understanding.

[Anonymous No.16831557]

>>16831547
Pretty sure he had a huge ego and a unhinged superiority complex given that he wants to help a sinner out in a page and call him a subhuman and burn him on the stake in the other

[Anonymous No.16831579]

>>16831509
Right, everything that exists is good and from God, and evil is only a perversion of it, which is temporary and will be corrected by God at the last judgment. What is the issue here? I'm not saying there isn't one necessarily, but rather I'm not sure I understand where you see one.

[Jesus No.16831587]

>>16831328
what you call sorrow is result of depression, lack of health, lack of dopamine, result of psychological traumas, result of shame and guilt, sin. the primary cause of sorrow is society as parents, who start sex shaming children as they grow, teach them fear, teach them hiding their body. that is children start to feel that they are wrong, bad by nature. sex cures this disorder temporarily.

[Anonymous No.16831590]

>>16831579
If sorrow comes from God then it becomes good?

[Anonymous No.16831652]

>>16831251
No. I understand that this is bait, but on the off chance it isn't then I hope this helps.
Evil is a lack or privation of something that should be there. Happiness and sorrow aren't good or evil unless they should be(like when your day has been great, or when your parents are dead). In those case of having an excellent day it would be good to be happy(if you exclude any other possible negative conditions). Now, this wouldn't be a moral good, it would be a natural good. A moral good is just this idea of what is proper to something when applied to human action when choice is involved.

[Anonymous No.16831698]

>>16831590
Jesus certainly had godly sorrow, for Lazarus for instance. Then there is the concept of "joyful sorrow" which is especially prominent in Orthodox Christianity (I don't know about Catholicism). But as I said, calling sorrow the antithesis of happiness isn't necessarily correct. Maybe "despair" fits your argument better, but in that case, despair is precisely a deficiency of hope and happiness, it's not something in itself, and so it will be gone forever at the last judgment.