Or is evil just a human construct?

Nature as mormons define it is not bad. As in the natural man. It’s just normal and human.
It may very well be that evil is a human construct. What else can it be if there is no god?? As such it is open to interpretation. It doesn’t make the notion any less important. Philosophical debate around this topic is probably ancient.
Either there are absolutes decided by god, or we decide for ourselves. After escaping mormonism which deals only in black and white, I’m very reluctant to fall back on absolutes.

I've seen our closest cousins in the animal kingdom, (98% genetically identical) Chimpanzees, invade their neighbor's territory and kill all the males and babies and then rape the females.

Is that evil?

I don't think it is.
It's just the way some species behave and reproduce. Dragonflies mate through forced sex. Is that evil?
No. I don't think it is.

I think it's just nature, that's running its course and will run its course and has run its course for at least 13.8 Billion years that we know of and there's NOTHING we can do to stop it or even change its course.

It's only evil, when it is humans behave more like Chimpanzees.
I mean, that's genocide, right? That's Rwanda 1994.

If we can't all agree that genocide is evil, then WTF is evil?

Well, sometimes, that's just how different species survive and thrive.

But that's what separates us from animals, right?
We have the ability to empathize and we have larger, more developed brains and communicate across the world and travel off the planet, right?

And not all of our close relatives behave like chimpanzees. Bonobos, who are just as closely related to humans as Chimpanzees, are just the opposite, behaviorally.
They're matriarchal instead of Patriarchal.

They're our "Make Love, not War!" hippie cousins,
who resolve their differences through sex,
con-sensually,
face to face,
like us.

Is that evil? No.

I think it's good, normally.

So what makes it bad or good?

I'd argue, religion, which has perverted what is perfectly natural.

With no God, there is no good or evil.
There is just natural or un-natural.

It's ironic that religious people argue against gay marriage because it's "Un-natural", when our closest cousins, the Bonobos are also bi-sexual. All sexes have sex, together, same sex, and opposite sex. They mix it up. A lot. So that pretty much defeats that theory, that homosexuallity is 'un-natural'.
Of course, but that standard, murder and rape are natural too.
That doesn't make them 'not evil' if you live in a co-operative, interdependent society.

I'd also argue that no religion goes as far as the Mormons, who actually believe in a God who created "The Natural Man, who is the Enemy of God".



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2020 05:56PM by schrodingerscat.

I don’t personally believe god created anything; we evolved over millennia from chimpanzees. Or apes. I’ve forgotten. But whatever, we evolved to have conscious awareness. That’s what makes us different from apes; it allows us to discuss such things.
The greatest evil therefore are organisations that tell us not to think.

Should the apex of human civilization, to be proper, be left with the lid up or down?

I think it important and I gotz ta know!!!

That depends on the position you take on the subject.....standing or sitting.

And there are far more important things you COULD be worrying about....like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? And don't use the old appeal to authority approach and say "3".

Roy G Biv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That depends on the position you take on the
> subject.....standing or sitting.
>


Aye, and there's the rub: 'point' of view!!

Suddenly, "rub" and "point of view" feels awkward in this conversation.

Maybe we should go to the source. Let’s ask Mother Nature.
Where’d she go?

Where the hell did Father Nature run off to?

And what about the twins, and that creepy little brother, the one always playing with lava?

The Nature Family, or as the stage hands call them, the Freaks of Nature.

:D

Is nature good or bad?

Is. Nature. Good. Or. Bad???

Really? You asked that? Wait till the Universe hears about THIS! You ever seen a galaxy doubled over in laughter, shooting stars right and left? And the black holes are going to pee their pants. (They are God toos, but you are Schoedie and obviously already knew that.)

I have to go laugh for a while, a long while, and then answer later.

Hope that "evil" sun doesn't give you skin cancers.

Mother Nature Wrote:
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> And the black holes are going to pee their pants.

They suck.

Laughing so hard they might shoot some gases as a loud even at their horizons.

But I hear they are scary hairy and therefore they are singularly furry. Something might get trapped near these odd holes.

Do you mean human nature or our physical earth? If you mean human nature, some are bad som are good. If you mean our physical world. I think it is neither. It just is, it is not like Walt Disney tho, Nature just is,neither bad or good. Is it divine I think so in the sense that it was created by God. Watch this short video. Very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt2OlMAJj6o

Are planets good or bad?

I don't think I'm out of line in pointing out that there are rogue planets!

So my hat's off to Terra, as Earth is known on the Federation's star maps.

It's their secret intentions that you've gotta watch out for.

If you don’t believe in transcendent evil, how can you believe in transcendent good?

We are animals, but animals that can transcend normal animal nature. That makes us God-like, so religious concepts provide a structure for living that saves you from having to figure it all out yourself. All explanations of God are destined to fail because of human limitations. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to build systems that make sense. Mormonism had problems long before the wheels fell off.

Neither.

Nature created one bad Joju.