What is Evil: A Response to J. Stapley

I was recently accused of exaggeration. The statement I made was this: “Diversity as an end (i.e. loving diversity and promoting it for its own sake) is evil because unity in truth can never be achieved.” I was referring to diversity of mind or opinion; and I later qualified the concept further. However, this post is not about diversity. The diversity post can be found below. Rather, this post is directed at defining evil (or defining good as an approach to defining evil).

My point is, I believe I was wrongly accused of being hyperbolic. This isn’t a personal attack on J. Stapley’s accusation, but it is my attempt at showing why I think many people, including J., are too quick to dismiss something because it may appear harsh to their sentiments.

I should probably state from the outset that I acknowledge some of my actions, thoughts, and oppinions are evil. In other words, I’m not trying to pin anyone down as evil because I lump the whole of humanity together as being in desperate need of salvation from the evil that surrounds us, and indeed is part of us.

Simply stated, it is my belief that something is evil if it detracts from, or in any way thwarts the purpose of another thing’s existence. I come to this conclusion based on the scriptural definition of “good”. If we know what good is, we can discern evil as its opposite.

From the very beginning, God teaches us how to discern what is good. He said: I, God, ended my work, and all things which I had made; and I rested on the seventh day from all my work, and all things which I had made were finished, and I, God, saw that they were good. What made God’s creations good? It was because they were filling the measure of their creation. In other words, God’s creations were good because they were in harmony with their purpose for existing. They were in harmony with their purpose as a result of their obedience.

If something is good as a result of being in harmony with it purpose, it is evil (or bad) if it is not in harmony with the same. A simple analogy illustrates the point. In music, there are keys which are composed of various notes in a scale. A note is considered “bad” if it is played out of key (the wrong note in the scale). The note is not in harmony with its natural position or purpose for existing (i.e. another key). So too, if anything is not in harmony with its purpose for existence, it may be considered evil by definition. Also, if a thing tends to detract or thwart another thing from its purpose, it is evil.

The purpose of human existence is happiness. (See TPJS p. 255). Ultimate happiness is only obtained by becoming like God. (Id.) God is God because he is unified with all truth or reality. (See DC 93:26). One cannot become like God without being unified in like manner. (Id. at verse 27).

Thus, a person is not all good until he is like God — or at least in harmony with God through Christ. Being in harmony with our purpose is goodness. Diversity of opinion as an end in itself and in regard to truth (at least for some) is evil because those without truth are not in harmony with their purpose.