How do define "good" and "evil" in terms of religion?
An interesting thought was brought to my attention recently. Perhaps the "God" many theistic religions are taught to pray to could, in fact, be evil. Therefore, people who would do acts of EVIL would end up with the righteous god. Essentially, the idea is that conceptualized ideas like "good" and "evil" can be influenced greatly by religion.
The god of radical Islam promotes the jihad.
The god of Christianity promotes complete devotion and repentance of sins.
And it goes on and on.
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Well, there is a definite sense of good and evil in the Bible, however I doubt quoting scripture will hold much weight here, so rather I will make my petition based on reason. And indeed, as a slight confession, a literal, inerrant belief in the Bible does seem, at times, to promote evil. Isaiah 45:7 is sometimes even translated: "I form the light and create darkness, I create good and evil; I, the LORD, do all these things." Yet the Christian perspective of God is very different than the Jewish perspective. The Christian God is seen as more merciful, forgiving, and universal. The Devil is seen as the embodiment of evil, although evil itself is sometimes defined as the absence of God. Jesus' gospel is quite clear. Ignoring what others say about Jesus, but heeding only what Jesus actually says gives a very clear message of what is "good," humility, thirst for justice, peacemaking, etc. ("The Jefferson Bible" is a version of the New Testament that focuses exclusively on Jesus' teachings, without miracles, and without interpretation; a good read.) The irony of all this is, what Jesus preached has resonated throughout the world. Buddhism, Taoism, at the core, all have preached this same gospel. And few can deny that it is good. Side: Jesus' Gospel
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You are free to believe what you wish. Jesus was quite clear in His disdain for religion in the NT. Religion is a scourge since it tends to be nothing more than man's view of how things "should" be. I do find the Muslim "religion of peace" a joke since nowhere in any other religion I've studied does it state to kill those who disagree with you. Side: Jesus' Gospel
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the old testament (which jews, christians, and muslims all believe in) promotes the killing of gays, witches, stubborn children, people who work on the sabbath, and lots of others (including wiping out a whole town if people there are promoting other gods) not to mention all the people god kills himself including all of humanity because adam and eve ate apples, everyone on the planet except 1 guy's family because in less than 1700 years on the planet everyone on earth was corrupt and god regretted making them, all the first born of egypt because of the pharoh Side: Jesus' Gospel
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we make it up as we go along. the morality of religions evolve over time (and should) with the new circumstances facing society at the time. Side: make it up
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