The Battle Between Good and Evil Exists: It's Inside You

[Anonymous]

I don't believe in God or the Devil. I believe in good and evil for sure though.

I believe everyone is born with a set of commandments from within. If you broke your inner rules then it would tear open holes within you that evil filled. Some people call it guilt, but guilt is something that other people impose upon you.

The feeling I'm talking about comes from within and it's impossible to heal until you correct the wrong you have committed. You all have felt it: when you did something that little voice was telling you not to, but in the end everything turned out OK, right? WRONG. Yeah you can push that feeling away but it's still there and the next time you do something wrong, it will grow and continue growing until you don't even notice it anymore.

You make yourself believe a lie like "it doesn't matter" or "this was the best choice I could make" when deep down you know that's not true. This acceptance of the break in your moral code makes the hole in you even wider and that's when you start treating evil things like it's fine. It may start small, a lie here or there, or you cheat on a test, or you could have just stole the last piece of your friends gum, but what if it doesn't stop there!?

Now now people aren't all bad. Yes, some of us make bad decisions here and there but either we correct them or do something good that cancels out the the evil. Life must have balance and everyone does some small evil now and again but everyone also does some good whether they know it or not.

I'm too lazy to finish but the point is people do good and people do bad. It's all about YOUR perspective. Just stay true you yourself and never give up on what you believe and every thing else will fall into place.

Thanks for reading!

[G-Daz]

You didn't really substantiate your title which you ran with as a statement of fact.

You said you do not believe in God. But then say you believe in good and evil. Which i presume you believe is objective...

If that's the case. What objective basis do you have to lay foundation to there being such a thing as good and evil? "good" in an atheist materialistic sense is completely immaterial, you're going to have to pull some pretty strong strings from Christianity in order to make that argument of something different.

Christianity claims there is such a thing as "good" and "bad" because we were endowed by God with an innate moral compass (that goes for anyone... christian or not, doesn't matter). Objectivity comes from a moral law which can only exist in an immaterial objective law giver.

Now... as i shall presume, because you never stated. I presume you are an atheist. So your basis of objectivity is a bit mute. No one is any more right than another because everyone is equally wrong. If someone feels compelled to do something because their DNA compells them too.. You can't claim that it is "evil" whether it be rape, homicide or worse. If you do... you have to give a valid objective basis in order to condemn them. After all, in an immaterial world. The reality is "you are nothing more than a collection of molecules, dancing to the tune of your dna" - Richard Dawkins.

Splitting someone in half is no different than splitting a grapefruit in half... in either case, you aree simply rearranging the atoms of the universe, neither good nor evil

[kittykatbrat]

I totally agree with the title of your post.

[myTake Owner]

Thanks to @Fathoms77

[Fathoms77]

Well, you wrote it; I just put your idea in the headline. :)

[somebodysaycheese]

You dont beleive in god or the devil. But beleive in good or evil and a set of commandments from within. Huh, ok so how can you measure good and evil and where did those commandments come from?

[myTake Owner]

Think of it as a "moral compass" You know what you feel is right and wrong don't you?

[somebodysaycheese]

so how does this moral compass come about? who gives it to you?

[myTake Owner]

You are born with it.

[somebodysaycheese]

how? Morals are subjective. Infact we would call most societies barbaric predating christianity. But their morals said it was okay to rape, kill, bgeat, torture, mutilate children... etc there morals said that is ok. So how can you measure morals? Is it subjective? if its subjective there is no such thing as rigt or wrong.

[myTake Owner]

@somebodysaycheese If you really want to look at it that way, yes you're right. No such thing as right or wrong. Is the cat evil because he eats the mouse? Well i bet the mouse thinks so. Like i said at the end though its all about YOUR perspective. Things like morals rise with society. They shift and change depending on a lot of things. Would you say mutilating a child is ok today? No of course not, but back then who knows? It's easy to say something when you aren't living the situation. Right and wrong are human constructs so they change as we change.

[somebodysaycheese]

No it has nothing to do with society then if its subjective. Its individual. what you see as right i see as wrong. But then how are we born wuth morals if we are born knowing nothing?

[myTake Owner]

You aren't born knowing nothing. You can breath right? lol but no seriously though everyone is different and everyone has a different view of what good and bad is, the point is that you live your life according to those views. For example, when your growing up your parents tell you its bad to have friends (bad example i know) but then you make a friend and decide for yourself that it isn't a bad thing.

[somebodysaycheese]

right. So then you aren't born with a moral compass. Your told by your parents or society how to act. Therefore your essentially a zombie?

[myTake Owner]

woah woah woah. You most definitely are born with it. You just need grow and experience things to form your own informed decisions. Babies don't "know" anything yet because they haven't seen anything yet! They don't pop out the womb like "THOU SHALL NOT RAPE, KILL NOR STEAL" They don't even understand it yet lmao but as they grow then will decide for themselves if they are wrong or right.

[somebodysaycheese]

see you seem very confused. You can't be born with morals if someone didn't put them there. Evolutionarrily we are animals. Animals kill, rape... etc why dont they have morals but somehow we have them? So therefore ywhat your saying is your taught morals. there is no dna for morals

[myTake Owner]

Yes we are animals. Yes animals kill, rape, etc. What makes us different though is that we have society. We can live without having to worry about just surviving so we can AFFORD to have morals. Look if i wanted to look at life with a totally scientific and semi-pessimistic view of things i would say laws are stupid, time doesn't exist, and our lives have no meaning. I choose to give my life a meaning though. Morals exist for those who want them too. You CAN be taught morals but the idea of morals is enough for people to form their own. Even without being taught about morals you would eventually form your own view of right and wrong.

[somebodysaycheese]

Again your not making sense. Where does society get the morals they teach you. no offense but you just sound ocnfused. But hey you do you.

[myTake Owner]

OK i see your point but explain how im confused

[JenSCDC]

Good is when you make the world a better place for other people, and evil is when you make it a worse place.

Those commandments are the result of game theory and natural selection. Those people who didn't have the traits to be nice and interact with their peers in a way that would benefit their society tended to leave fewer offspring. If you have trouble accepting that math can force us to be nice people, look up the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, which is a perfect example of how being a nice guy makes you win. Does this rule out God as the source of morality? I don't think so. If God is all wise and all powerful, would he make his will be known in the rather crude methods related in the Bible, or would He act by fine tuning the Universe to make what he wants to happen occur automatically?

[JenSCDC]

"Morals are subjective". Game theory shows that they aren't. And one could make a strong argument that Christianity has been a barbaric religion.

[JenSCDC]

"You can't be born with morals if someone didn't put them there. Evolutionarily we are animals. Animals kill, rape... etc why dont they have morals but somehow we have them?" Who says animals don't have morals? Many species act cooperatively.

[somebodysaycheese]

@JenSCDC um , i dont know what she said i skimmed cause this is a novel i dont have time to read. But i do know that your just as confused in your feelngs as this guy

[JenSCDC]

Confused how? I know that evolution is an amazingly powerful thing, and I know that mathematics (Game Theory, to be precise) can explain how cooperative behavior - a more general term for what some might call morals- has been created by evolution.

[somebodysaycheese]

@JenSCDC lol. One evolution isn't a powerful thing when its just a theory. A theory that only 2 percent of scientist actually beleive in but have been forced into a consensus over it. Again, evolutioin has abosiluely nothing to do with morals. You know places that rejected european culture and abrahamic religion dont beleive in our morals or morals at all. You need to get out of your eurocentric lenses and look at aethiest countried not influenced by eurocentric views to understand the world.

[JenSCDC]

By saying that evolution is just a theory you have shown yourself to be either willfully ignorant or simply incapable of having rational thoughts, and thus it's not worth my time to try to explain anything to you, because you will continue to believe what you believe because you want to believe in not, not because you have had any rational thoughts about it that involve actual facts.

[somebodysaycheese]

@JenSCDC Ignorance is a lack of education. the simple fact that you use the word wrong shows you dont understand basic English. Once again, 2 percent of scientist beleive in evolution. Keep in mind those same scientist who claimed evolution is real now say " Hold we came from Mars". You are the ignorant one here (again it means lack of education). You need to be aware and question things. Break out your conditioning

[JenSCDC]

To use Merriam-Webster's definition ignorance is "a lack of knowledge, understanding, or education". And in terms of education, I went to Yale, so only someone who went to Harvard would say that I have a lack of education. And by the way, you have the 2% assigned to the wrong group of scientists- it's 2% of scientists that _don't_ believe in education. www.pewresearch.org/.../

[somebodysaycheese]

@JenSCDC Yale.. the same people who protested their schools because they didn't have safe spaces. lo I dont care what ivy league school you went to. It doesn't teach you to think for yourself but how to conform. And no, I have 2 percent assigned to the right group. reeducate yourself. lol

[JenSCDC]

a) Unless you went to one of the Ancient Eight you are unqualified as to what sort of education they provide. b) Can you supply a citation for your 2% number? c) You have no freaking idea how much alumni hate "safe spaces", "trigger warnings", etc.

[somebodysaycheese]

@JenSCDC lol. What why are you getting all touchy. I m just stating a fact. A fact that is sweeping the nation.. lol
Anywho girl, you can keep that mindset of yours that you want. You have been conditioned well and not a free thinker. But that is a choice you make
So , tschau im done with this shit.

[Anonymous]

You should believe in the devil because he is real and his goal is to drag as many humans to hell with him as he possibly can.

[JenSCDC]

How do you know that the devil exists? And how to you know that we aren't already in Hell?

[Opinion Owner]

@JenSCDC I know the devil exists for sure. Hell can feel like a place on Earth but the real hell is worse than anything we'll encounter alive.

[JenSCDC]

Umm... I didn't ask if, I asked how.

[Opinion Owner]

@JenSCDC Ummm don't get an attitude with me with some demanding tone like I owe you an explanation.

[Hjominbonrun]

A disproof of your claim that everyone has 'commandments built in to them' = Psychopaths.

[adsfdfafdadsf]

Who's the guy with the beard? he looks like a terrorist.

[Thrifty]

Everything is good with except when it comes to thinking with my dick

[TheEnd2]

People are not born good or evil but neutral.