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If God Loves Us, Why Does Evil Exist?


Homo sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to invest passion and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions. - Joyce Carol Oates
The short answer is: Evil does not exist! I doubt that I could find anyone who agrees with me, but please hear me out.
“Evil” is a word, a symbol of the type Ms. Oates is describing above. As a noun, it is the name of a set of activities that society deems to be “evil;” as an adjective, it is a description of certain actions of people. It does not exist by itself i.e., without people, any more than “beauty” exists without beautiful things, or for that matter, “goodness” exists without good things.
Although they make wonderful adjectives, striking the nouns “evil”, “beauty”, “goodness”, etc. from the language would eliminate much misunderstanding.
There is only one way to eliminate evil: Eliminate people. That's probably not a good idea.
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My books, “There Are Only Seven Jokes” and “The Spirit Runs Through It” are available in paperback, or at the Kindle Store.
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