Evil does exist. I had always thought that evil was just something people did, a humankind invention, but not truly one that exists in the natural world. Oh, my naïve sense of self is shattered. I have discovered true evil. I will start the story at the beginning. I awoke early, as my better half wanted to go to the farmers market that morning. I drank my coffee, ate my pop tart, and prepared the car. We arrived well before the crowds and I was happy for that. My other half went off in search of some mysterious feminine item that smells much like a combination of rotted tomatoes and regurgitated pancakes. I wandered about, looking for nothing in particular. I found pastries, and oh what a delight. But then, I found the watermelons. I love watermelons. Glorious wonderful watermelons. A whole pile of perfect looking watermelons. I went on to start my ritual of tapping, listening, tapping some more; searching for the perfect one. And so I thought I had.

We arrived back home, and I could not wait. I set out the cutting board, got my knife, and sliced into the watermelon; my mouth watering at the thought of the treat inside. And this is where my world was shattered. Inside was not the beautiful pinkish red meat of a delectable watermelon, but instead a yellow mass of something that could only, should only, be found in an Alien movie. What in the name of Joan of Arc was my watermelon doing being yellow. What horror! What evil was this thing? What mad scientist had conspired to turn my watermelon yellow?

Abomination I tell you. I immediately donned protective clothing, gloves, mask, and grabbed some tongs. But first, I did show my dogs a piece of the yellow watermelon. Now, my dogs love a good wholesome red watermelon as much as I do, but my dogs recoiled in horror at the sight of the yellow evil I was presenting to them. Keep in mind that dogs are colorblind, but their fine canine instincts knew true evil when it reared its ugly head. I placed the foul yellow watermelon in a triple lined trash bag and took it outside, but I did not put it in my trashcan. Oh no, I wouldn’t want anyone to go through my trash and discover I had been in possession of some evil demon raised horror. No. I placed the contents of terror into my neighbor’s trashcan.

And the lady that sold it to me seemed so nice. Goes to show, you never really know a person. A very sad day for me indeed.

I know it seems wrong, but I don't know that yellow watermelons are evil. I've never eaten one, but from what I read, they're sweeter than red ones. My hubby says they taste pretty much the same. Maybe next times, try it and be happy it wasn't black. (those supposedly exist too).

But the real question is - when you poked and prodded the yellow mass: Did it scream?

You mean you hadn't realised that water melons are the spawn of satan and are set to take over the world?

You will have to for give me for taking a slight detour before actually telling you what the source of evil is.

Let us consider for a moment what it would mean if "Evil" was capable of being "objectified" whether it appears as a yellow watermelon or as the mythographic "Lucifer" or "Satan"... If one were to accept that way of thinking then they are accepting that there is more than one thing with "god-like" powers. Dualism [as it is called] assumes that there is a thing of "ultimate good" and a thing of "ultimate evil"-- but that is not monotheism which allegedly is the foundation of most of the "Abrahamic" religions.

"Satan" is a Christian abbreviation of a Hebrew "title" given to one of the Hebrew God's angels, "Ha Satan" which litterally means "The Accuser". It is his "job" to accuse "sinners" before the "Throne of Glory" that the sinners can not get away "unpunished". You might think of this Malach [Hebrew for 'messenger' or "angel"] as the Special Prosecutor of Human Evil. As time went along and Christianity re-interpreted the Hebrew texts, "Satan" took on a godlike sheen all its own as adapted from the Manichean and the Zoroastrian theologies.. But that is not what Monotheism means. Monotheism has only one power that being the "Creator-God"... there is no room for another "power".

So by now I'm sure you're asking 'Where did 'evil' come from then? The answer to that is simple: humanity created 'evil' in all its forms [See that paragraph in Genesis about God gave man dominion over the world]. Think about it for a moment: who created that yellow hearted GMO spawn of the garden? Humans. Who picked it and smiled at the idea of the money to be made selling it? Humans. Who did you buy it from? A human. No objectified entity other than a human was responsible for a watermelon of a different color.

Finally we return to a 'human duality" taken from the Hebrew. Humans have the power / intention to create goodness -- "Yetzer Ha Tov" and the power / intention to create Evil -- "Yetzer Ha Ra". You might think back to those old cartoons where an "angel" sits on the right shoulder and a "demon" sits upon the left... Most of those cartoons were created by Jewish Artist / Animators. That is as near as Jewish thought gets in regards to evil. Neither objects nor demigods create evil. Evil is created by people... After all who created "Soylent Green"?

[an aside: The four seasons of California (and everywhere else), that is, Rain, Mud, Fire, and Earthquake are not 'evil' -- they are just random events which happen. There is no punishment or retribution implied by these events they are just a part of the way the world must work for it to function properly-- with the exception of you got it - human induced Climate Change.]

[an aside: The four seasons of California (and everywhere else), that is, Rain, Mud, Fire, and Earthquake are not 'evil' -- they are just random events which happen. There is no punishment or retribution implied by these events they are just a part of the way the world must work for it to function properly-- with the exception of you got it - human induced Climate Change.]

Just playing devil's advocate here, but.....are not these things often referred to as, 'acts of God'?

TheBryster posted at 11:33PM Wed, 15 November 2017 - #4317409

Just playing devil's advocate here, but.....are not these things often referred to as, 'acts of God'?

Yes we know that God is a Bstrd [what was Its father's name?] but what makes It the one responsible for these events?

One might ask "Who created God?" or "who is this Devil guy really?" Or one might ask "How do you know that 'God' was responsible? Did 'God' tell the insurance companies that? (Imagine a story where an insurance company actuary has a conversation with God) or is this just the Human way of saying 'I don't know why these things happen but somebody must be blamed'? One might as well ask why does a Human choose to blow up a Federal building, fly a plane into a building, drive a car over peaceful protesters, kill four college students on the lawn of an Ohio university while wearing full combat gear, enslave people and then put up monuments commemorating their war to keep people enslaved, become a suicide bomber in Bagdad or Kabul or London with the intent to kill innocent people, commit suicide by intentionally flying their plane into Monterrey Bay while drunk as a skunk... let's not even talk about politics! Humanity is irrational enough with out trying to create theological bogeymen to change the subject...

We create explanations and rationalizations for things which are not rational acts. I'll see your advocate and raise him up! -- Are those explanations also 'acts of god'? Remember in Monotheism there can be no devil.. There is also a tendency to declare "God is only good!" Well if the only cause is God and if everything God does is good then Evil is not Evil -- it is good. It is God thinking its own thoughts and going Its own ways [Isaiah explained that but nobody really understood that God really cannot think like humans and Humans cannot really understand Its thoughts].

So now you've got a get out of jail free card--- For example: God made me write this post.

Gishzida: Interesting reply, but...... It seems to me that you question the existance of God. So, let me ask you this; Can you explain the existance of the universe? I'm not talking about the stars or galaxies, but the very space they reside in. Where did space come from? How long has it been there? How big is it? Can it truly go on forever? Is there no end to space?

I'll warrant that you can't answer these questions. So, if the very space we exist in exists, why can there be no God?

You and I live in a linear universe, where everything has a beginning and an end. Time to start thinking in more than 4 dimensions, my friend.