Would you do away with evil and peoples freedom to choose to do it?

by DavidChristopher 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  DavidChristopher

  Could we do good of our own free will if there was no evil?

  Kinda like taking away the stove you cook your childrens meals on, so they cannot choose to touch it and get burned. Then trying to figure out why they are losing so much wieght.

  Seems to me..if you prove and show something to be "evil" or self-destructive and people choose NOT to do it. You get safety, security, and freedom with no trade-offs one for the other.

  Or you continue to trade and sacrifice freedoms for security, then wonder why and how the powers that be, now have the authority to define disagreeing with them as "evil" and you no longer have any choice in the matter. (and you are losing wieght)

  Any thoughts?
• 

  A Paduan

  That seems like a benign notion of evil - more like it would be the kid being misinformed by his parent, going and lying to another kid, so that the other one then comes and is burned

  what's the stove got to do with it?
• 

  drew sagan

  What is the opposite of Evil? No doubt the first thing we think of is that GOOD is the opposite of EVIL.
  We all have our perception of what evil is. Think about this. Is murder evil? We can all agree that the general opinion is that if one human takes the life of another human in pure anger and hate it is an evil deed. Lets take it further. What if an individual takes the life of an animal in a cruel and hateful manner? Is that evil? Many of us will say yes. Now what if a person takes the life of an animal so he can feed his family, is that evil. Of course we don't say that is evil, because we know the motives and situation to be differant.
  We all realize what we view to be EVIL is conditional upon what our moral compass guides us to feel is EVIL. Is it the society in which we live that pushes these values in us, or how about the higher power who was the first one to insert such things into the hearts of men? Believe it either way, my point is as follows.
  To remove EVIL is to basically remove the ACTIONS we consider to be evil. Would this limit our freedoms? I really don't think so. If the stove is on, and we all know it is hot and can burn our hands, will any of us reach out and touch? To me it seems we are all like little children who for the time being simply don't even have the ability to realize that the stove even exists, let alone realize is a burning fire that can devour us.
• 

  jwfacts

  Yes.
  
  This is related to the ridiculous sovereignty issue that the WTS claims to be the entire meaning of life and wickedness.
  According to the WTS concept, we have free will but are not allowed to do evil. In the new system anyone doing evil will be destroyed. In other words there will not be free will to do bad in the new system.
  So why did God not just create us to have free will, but with only the ability to do good? The end effect would have been the same, without the suffering in between.
  
  I think a more accurate summary of life is Yin Yang. Evil and good coincide.