what Do you believe is the cause of evil and why?

[Deleted member 45782]

Greed - without greed people won't go for more land, more wealth, more power, more a-lot-of-things, instead of taking just what is enough to sustain themselves so there could be some for others too.

Power - not necessarily with evil intentions, but a lot of people want feel in control of things, just power over others. but not many are actually using that power to do good, some to get more power while actually dishing out more damage. think politicians for example.

Fear - fear leads us to be afraid or hate things because some things/objects/subjects/people are not what we are comfortable of. fear can prevent people for trusting things, even if there are many studies behind it. Irrational fear can hold us up from advancing technologically, things we go to extreme lengths just to get around something.

Hatred - anger, fear, etc. Bad experiences. people have and then label all things similar to be of that category. Things that lead us to hatred of things/objects/subjects/others. Fear of things make us sometimes want those things to be taken out so we can feel more better for ourselves. Anger can be caused by lot of hurt a lot of things don't work out one way or being mistreated, as such - sometimes makes one feel unfair, sometimes make ones blood boil and want to take out vengeance on others or violently.

If the latter two sound repetitive, its bc fear and hatred can go hand in hand very often.

 

[DarkGodEM]

Insufficient distribution of headpats

*Pats you to hell and back*

Evil is no more

 

[AmnerisTenjo]

Hmm. Pride, fear, belief, jealousy, and love. People always do the worst things because of them.
But, at the same time, the world isn't black and white so yeah. Really it could be anything

 

[uenala]

A lack of empathy and dehumanization/"othering" of people who are different.

 

[WasatchWind]

what Do you believe is the cause of evil and why?

I believe it is greed & jealousy because

Well, this is a complicated answer for me.

I believe that it is an essential part of our eternal progression that we must go through a fallen world - a period of trials and testing. A place that has natural disasters. Poisonous plants. Diseases.

Then I do believe in the existence of satan, the devil. I believe he refused the plan that God proposed, and stirred up rebellion against him. Thus, everyone that sided with satan was cast out of heaven, while all those who supported God's plan came to earth.

On earth, we have agency. Because of the fallen world we live in, our mortal bodies, and our inexperienced state, we feel our body's natural desires pull us certain choices. We need, and enjoy things like food, water, companionship, and intimacy.

Poor choices or lack of restraint in managing these desires can lead to evil.

Further, Satan and his followers may tempt us, exploiting our desires for these natural things.


This I think is the reason why evil exists. I believe though, that misfortune, and even evil, are necessary for us to endure to grow to be better people. I do not care about whether humankind is inherently evil.

I believe we are all the children of Heavenly Father, Him being the Father of our spirits, as our earthly parents gave us our bodies.

By this definition, one could say we have a seed of divinity in us.

What I will say, is that we currently are not purely good. We have the potential to become greater than we are, but are given the choice between doing that and doing what is easier.

 

[WasatchWind]

Well, you could say religion. Because God isn't really real is what I think

I hear this a lot. I don't understand why. Religion, in the sense that you are referring to it is used as a justifier. One needs a reason to do something bad.

"God said they're evil" works just as well as "they did this bad thing and we need to stop them to protect humanity."

It is the manipulation of something people care about to use for selfish, or at least your own personal ends.

Objectively, religion is a cultural tool. It is used by people to accomplish some purpose. Like any tool, physical or not, it can be used for productive and destructive purposes.

This is why I find it rather odd that the idea of believing in a higher power is treated as an evil one. There have been bad uses of the tool, such as the myriad of religious conflicts in the middle ages and reformation.

But there have also been just as many examples of religious views pushing people to defy what they considered evil. Examples of people claiming to be inspired to invent, create, discover, and explore because of motivation from their belief in a higher power.

 

[CadmarLegend]

what Do you believe is the cause of evil and why?

I believe it is greed & jealousy because

I believe "evil" is caused by "good". If we didn't have "good", then we wouldn't be able to judge "evil".....

 

[Spica66]

Knowledge is the source of both good and evil, and the absence of all three is innocence. We are born without knowledge, and without capacity of logic, without the freedom to choose, without even the ability for voluntary movement. But we grow, we learn about ourselves. We learn about other people and creatures, and the world around us. Soon enough we are a child, developing the ability to discern good and evil, and the ability to choose right or wrong. We are all still only children in the eyes of science, and in the eyes of heaven. We have a lot of innocence left to reveal into good and evil, and then we need to grapple with how to choose good from between them. Its because we are learning so much, so fast, more than ever before in history, that things seem so bleak right now. There is a lot of evil today that we newly understand, but haven't figured out how to put behind ourselves yet.

In my opinion, I would say it's one of the requirements for evil.

I don't have solid answer for this because it's subjective, but I believe it's because we're social creature.

Imagine what's evil in the stone age can show fundamental requirements.

Firstly, emotion, what feels good or what feels bad, and curiosity also plays the big role in seeking knowledge. Next, knowledge is both tool and gate. Then, society who sets a standard and judges you (for example, rules or religion.) Finally, the intent.

Good and evil differs in each person. I hope you enjoy reading my point of view. To be honest, I think there are 2 types of evil. What you considered evil, and what society considered evil.