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I use to watch Star Trek now and then, and liked particularly "Episode 5: The Enemy Within", where Captain Kirk's ego is split. His sensitivity, fear and good separated from his pride, confidence and aggressive nature. This 1966 episode strikingly revealed the dichotomy of the human nature, which in combination, yields the whole self in cohesion. The thesis of this episode by Richard Matheson, promotes that the healthiest personalities successfully integrates the psyche rather than try to kill the "evil" side. This is more in line with modern theories of psychology than it is with religious precepts. Cascading into our universe, evil is the balance of good, one does exist without the other, at least in our sphere of time-space. The spiritual conversion enviably transcends this physical duality, where only good or evil exists separate (heaven and hell), but not combined as we now experience.
At this point, some people would quote "Evil is merely the absence of good. Good and evil do not co-exist." They might continue with explanations like, "They are not buddies making room for each other. Good and evil can never co-exist on the same plane because they are always trying to destroy each other." I have heard other arguments like "It's like when you turn on a light in a dark room, what happens to the darkness? It is overcome and retreats into hiding places behind things and underneath things, the shadows."
Well... in truth, darkness does not retreat, it merely is penetrated, whereas darkness itself is the absence of light, not a substance overcome. The darkness of night is only a relative darkness, albeit there is less light visible at night than during the day. Light is electromagnetic radiation that has properties of waves that transverses space void of its properties. Equally, both light and darkness are spiritual forces in the present world, but it was not so from the beginning. God's first act of creation was to speak light into his formless, empty earth and into the darkness which lay on the face of the deep (Genesis 1:3). We learn from this, that darkness pre-existed light and darkness is a void without substance.
Additionally, when we say that something is cold, it is merely our perception of a lack of measurable heat. Heat is the thing that is measurable. Heat is actually the movement of matter at a subatomic level. If there is no movement, we don’t have really have cold, we have a lack of heat.
I don't think any rational Christian would ever imply good and evil co-exist agreeably as if to tolerate the other, but rather they immutably exist in the same dimension, while in contrast. The current widespread adherence to Absence Theodicy is the argument that as God is "goodness", anything not good such as evil and suffering, is simply the absence of God. Therefore, the Absence Theodicy (attempts) to excuse God's responsible for existence of evil. There are some serious flaws with the Absence Theodicy.
Theodicy is a theological or philosophical study which attempts to justify God’s intrinsic nature despite the existence of evil which would otherwise stand to refute God's existence. Absense Theodicy is a creative premise arrive at via a mythical story of a professor challenging Albert Einstein as a student who defended the Godhead (Story Debunked). This story is an urban myth created in 2004. Even so, it maintains a large following of duped adherents, ignorate of it being a creative deception. In 1981, Albert Einstein states in "The Human Side" with great zeal, he had no religious convictions.
Essentially, there are two kinds of opposites. One, is when two forms of existence conflict with one another, such as gravity and repulsion. Gravity is the tendency for objects to move toward one another, repulsion is the tendency for objects to move away from one another post-collision. Based on one law, these forces are opposed to each other, in another, they are complimentary, because if one were to dominate the other, the universe as we know it would cease to exist. If gravity existed and repulsion did not, the universe would eventually collapse in on itself. If repulsion existed and gravity did not, objects would never cohesively be bound with associated mass. Life, at least as we know it, would be impossible. Thus, it is presence of both these conflicting yet complimentary forces, in proportion and balance with one another, that make existence as we know it possible.
The same could be said of the substance of good and the causalities of evil. Could life exist without pain? what would keep us from accidentally injuring ourselves? In conclusion, evil is not the absence of good, and good is not the absence of evil. Like all opposites, we would do well to find the right balance between them in their order, not in the futility of trying to mystically eliminate one or the other by wishful thinking which lacks substance in any reality. Whereas in our current dimension, evil will not be eradicated until the Creator acts to destroy (or refines) the universe as we know it and create a new one (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:10,12; Revelations 21:1). The new universe will be a singularity derived from His own person, perfected in holiness.
At this point, some people would quote "Evil is merely the absence of good. Good and evil do not co-exist." They might continue with explanations like, "They are not buddies making room for each other. Good and evil can never co-exist on the same plane because they are always trying to destroy each other." I have heard other arguments like "It's like when you turn on a light in a dark room, what happens to the darkness? It is overcome and retreats into hiding places behind things and underneath things, the shadows."
Well... in truth, darkness does not retreat, it merely is penetrated, whereas darkness itself is the absence of light, not a substance overcome. The darkness of night is only a relative darkness, albeit there is less light visible at night than during the day. Light is electromagnetic radiation that has properties of waves that transverses space void of its properties. Equally, both light and darkness are spiritual forces in the present world, but it was not so from the beginning. God's first act of creation was to speak light into his formless, empty earth and into the darkness which lay on the face of the deep (Genesis 1:3). We learn from this, that darkness pre-existed light and darkness is a void without substance.
Additionally, when we say that something is cold, it is merely our perception of a lack of measurable heat. Heat is the thing that is measurable. Heat is actually the movement of matter at a subatomic level. If there is no movement, we don’t have really have cold, we have a lack of heat.
I don't think any rational Christian would ever imply good and evil co-exist agreeably as if to tolerate the other, but rather they immutably exist in the same dimension, while in contrast. The current widespread adherence to Absence Theodicy is the argument that as God is "goodness", anything not good such as evil and suffering, is simply the absence of God. Therefore, the Absence Theodicy (attempts) to excuse God's responsible for existence of evil. There are some serious flaws with the Absence Theodicy.
Theodicy is a theological or philosophical study which attempts to justify God’s intrinsic nature despite the existence of evil which would otherwise stand to refute God's existence. Absense Theodicy is a creative premise arrive at via a mythical story of a professor challenging Albert Einstein as a student who defended the Godhead (Story Debunked). This story is an urban myth created in 2004. Even so, it maintains a large following of duped adherents, ignorate of it being a creative deception. In 1981, Albert Einstein states in "The Human Side" with great zeal, he had no religious convictions.
Essentially, there are two kinds of opposites. One, is when two forms of existence conflict with one another, such as gravity and repulsion. Gravity is the tendency for objects to move toward one another, repulsion is the tendency for objects to move away from one another post-collision. Based on one law, these forces are opposed to each other, in another, they are complimentary, because if one were to dominate the other, the universe as we know it would cease to exist. If gravity existed and repulsion did not, the universe would eventually collapse in on itself. If repulsion existed and gravity did not, objects would never cohesively be bound with associated mass. Life, at least as we know it, would be impossible. Thus, it is presence of both these conflicting yet complimentary forces, in proportion and balance with one another, that make existence as we know it possible.
The same could be said of the substance of good and the causalities of evil. Could life exist without pain? what would keep us from accidentally injuring ourselves? In conclusion, evil is not the absence of good, and good is not the absence of evil. Like all opposites, we would do well to find the right balance between them in their order, not in the futility of trying to mystically eliminate one or the other by wishful thinking which lacks substance in any reality. Whereas in our current dimension, evil will not be eradicated until the Creator acts to destroy (or refines) the universe as we know it and create a new one (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:10,12; Revelations 21:1). The new universe will be a singularity derived from His own person, perfected in holiness.
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