When we think of God, we associate good, light, force, and entity. Basically every good thought or anything associated with good is directed towards God. Likewise, when we think of the Devil, we automatically think of evil, and darkness. Every negative thought and bad emotion is linked with the Devil. This thought process is similar to the notion of dualism. The literal definition of dualism is the division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects, or the state of being so divided. For example, concepts of dualism would be good v. bad, ying v. yang, light v. dark, and purity v. impurity.
When asked the question, “What is the opposite of God?” most would answer the devil. Although these are two opposing forces and scripture always mentions a righteous one referring to God, while the other one is evil referring to the Devil, this view would be controversial to orthodox thinkers. For starters, in order for God and Satan to be two opposing forces, they would first have to be equals. Their equality would be equals in all sense meaning their force, qualities and powers are the same. For many orthodox thinkers they would clearly deny this. For them, God is above Satan in every way possible. God and Satan cannot be equals. So when asked the question again, “What is the opposite of God?”, the correct answer would be “No God” because that would be the true opposite of God. “The opposite to force is not another force, but the absence of force”. In other words, the opposite of God is the absence of God.
One proponent for dualism was the Gnostics. This group promoted the concept of dualism by stating that reality is broken down into two “equal and opposite forces of good and evil”. In addition, the Gnostics used the...
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...ood v. evil, light v. dark, basically God v. Satan. However in every battle, the humans are merely pawns between these two forces. Although this is based on a dualistic view, orthodox thinkers would disagree. No entity especially Satan is equal to God. Although Satan is a fallen angel, the Devil still carries out God’s will when God allows him to. Basically, “the creation of God is good, but fallen.”
Works Cited
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At times he becomes torn with conflicting emotions. His inner debates and self-criticism reveal him as a dynamic being. Satan flows through his heroic story, allowing himself to be the anti-hero the story. The authors believes that Satan is created as “an example of the self deception and the deception of others which are incident to the surrender of reason to passion.”
It is perhaps the most difficult intellectual challenge to a Christian how God and evil can both exist. Many of the greatest minds of the Christian church and intellects such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas spent their entire lives trying to solve this problem, and were unsuccessful (Erickson, 2009, p.439). However, this dilemma is not only an intellectual challenge, but it is emotional. Man feels it, lives it. Failing to identify the religious form of the problem of evil will appear insensitive; failure to address the theological form will seem intellectually insulting. This conundrum will never be completely met during our earthly life, but there are many biblical and philosophical resources that help mitigate it.
Layton, Bentley. "The Gnostic Scripture." The Gnostic Scripture. New York: Doubleday, 1987, 1995. 9. Paperback.
"EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Everett F. Harrison, editor-in-chief, Baker’s Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1960, pg. 356.
Duality has an impact on everyday life. Every action one takes could be intended to be a good action, but others might think of it differently Duality means things that appear to be purely good have a dark side. It could be good or evil, black and white.
Evil and God have been topics that people put together and discuss about. Many think that evil cannot exist if God exists, but others think that God still exists even with evil in the world. The problem of evil has been debated by many people, and one of these people is Gottfried Leibniz, with whom I agree with.
Livingstone, E.A., ed. 1997. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3 ed. Ed. the late F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
Reese, William J., Emily Dykman, Michael Lopez-Kaley, and Laura Nettles. Christian Theology: Scripture, Tradition, and Practice. Kearney, Neb.: Morris Pub., 2012. Print.
King, Karen L. What is Gnosticism? London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.
second in line, in a position of subordination. So, Satan chooses to be evil, if God is
To understand evil we must first understand the concept that good and evil are term or words referring to what one given individuals believes to be the right and wrong thing to do. Good, many times symbolized as god or light, is usually associated with an action that many individual see as helping one or many people. This definitions is again very hard to define due to it bias and opinionated nature. But many and most people will agree that good, is what helps not only the common people become a stronger as a community but also become stronger as in...
This is the understanding of a God which includes moral perfection; a God that simply created the universe and left is not whole enough for most theists (for if this were the real God religious morality would have an unsupportable foundation) (Blackburn, 2001: 169). This is the God of the Abrahamic religions. A God that is all knowing (omniscient) all powerful (omnipotent) and, as emphasized above, all caring or omnibenevolent (Blackburn, 2001: 169). Thus the Problem of Evil arises, as formalised below.
Throughout the modern age the subject of Gnosticism has stood in contrast to the concepts of traditional, orthodox Christianity. The subject of Gnosticism has served to represent the ideas and practices of Christianity that were not sanctioned by orthodox Christianity. Generally, we have come to understand that the world of Christianity has been assembled and constructed in the first five centuries after the death of Christ. In a sense, events such as the Council of Nicaea represent arbitrary decisions to compile the official church-sanctioned version of Christianity. Any writings or practices that fell outside of the formal circle of Christian doctrine became candidates for the label of Gnosticism.
Organ, Troy Wilson. Eerdmans' Handbook to The World Religions. Woodbury, NY: Barron's Educational Series, 1974. Print.