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If you see the world as Evil

humble soul

humble soul

On Sabbatical from Rome
Member
Do you see the world as evil? So as a Christian you csn justify that perspective? In order to love God, you need to hate or reject the world?
I'm not so sure this is a healthy point of view , to be honest.
I love nature and animals and more than several human beings.
I love several sports like swimming and cycling.
I dont love capitalism but I dont hate it either. Its far better than communism. I probably hate communism but even more, the leaders who have used it to abuse millions of people.
Peiple can be annoying but they can also be angels ofmercy and compassion. Overall I do love the human race.
For me, the world is not evil.
 
It's such a broad statement to say the world is evil.
Like u said, nature, animals and most people, over 90% at least are not evil.

Hate is an emotion that we are not to indulge in. See i had a huge amount of hate for Satan and still do a bit. But then I learnt that it's the wrong attitude to have even towards the evil one. Satan thrives on hate, he uses it against us in our personal battles against him.

But besides our personal battles against the evil one, he also has much larger battlefronts as he battles a different kind of adversary... Society. Over the centuries Satan has been slowly making up ground against society. He's been successful in creating such divisions in Christianity as well.

In the past the devil's main tactic was to entice man into war with one another. But we live in the most peaceful era in history now. Sure there are little wars all over the world but there hasn't been a big war between powerful nations since WW2 now. Before that there was always conflicts between the big powers of the world.

And why are we in this peaceful era... Ironically it's nuclear weapons that has brought about such peace. All the countries know if they push the button they will not only destroy the nation they target but their own nation will also be destroyed.

But Satan found another way to attack society, through money. They say money is the root of all evil. It's an oversimplified version of the bible verse "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" 1 Timothy 6:10

Just look around every day, it's a rat race, people working all the time, it's the main priority of nearly everyone. It's not the way we are meant to be living. Materialism, secularism, modernism, capitalism, etc has people working like zombies to a strict schedule. Meanwhile God has been left behind by more and more people as Satan has diverted the attention of so many souls.

So to conclude id say that society is definitely controlled by evil
 
There is a difference between "world" and "worldly".

We can enjoy God's creation, and allow it to fill is with awe. There's nothing wrong with simple pleasures like enjoying a bike ride, caring for God's creatures, or spending time with good company.

The problem is being worldly, where one would follow the unbiblical, immoral sinful desires of the flesh that the vast majority are entwined with. Loving and abusing riches, other people, God's creation and design, etc. is being wordly with blind leading blind.

It doesn't mean the world is evil. The sinful actions of the ungodly are what is evil - and not every person is ungodly so the entire world isn't evil.
 
Luminous_Rose said:
There is a difference between "world" and "worldly".

We can enjoy God's creation, and allow it to fill is with awe. There's nothing wrong with simple pleasures like enjoying a bike ride, caring for God's creatures, or spending time with good company.

The problem is being worldly, where one would follow the unbiblical, immoral sinful desires of the flesh that the vast majority are entwined with. Loving and abusing riches, other people, God's creation and design, etc. is being wordly with blind leading blind.

It doesn't mean the world is evil. The sinful actions of the ungodly are what is evil - and not every person is ungodly so the entire world isn't evil.
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I just often see comments like this "we all know the world is evil."
I cant share that opinion. Maybe I'm lucky.
 
To my knowledge Muslims emphasise how evil the world is. This might be a tactic that a cult uses to keep them focussed and not distracted
Look i had a very "secular" phase in my life when my previous Christians values were conveniently ignored. It just proved my original Christian faith was too shallow. I got swallowed up by materialism and self worship. But if I examine that phase more closely, it wasnt all bad. I was committed to a serious career working hard each day.
I was very friendly so had lots of friends. I really loved people . More than I do now. I was at least was a trustworthy and loyal friend. I never prayed but I was loving my neigbour. Loving my neighbour because I had high self esteem.
 
Communist countries convince their own people that western culture is evil or on the wrong path (North Korea example).
Might Christianity be doing that to some extent? Saying how evil the world is?
 
Anyway my point is that we need to be careful saying the world is evil.
What we could say is that "the world is full of temptation". And that temptation can trigger a weakness in us. The potential for evil is really in us. So dont go blaming the world. Because that is just passing the buck.
 
What about my belief that society is full of evil?

By society i don't mean the people that live in it, it's the social structures and the the rich that are keeping us all in a state of life long servitude.
 
It is true that Satan has infiltrated parts of the world, but the world itself is not evil because there are too many good people holding down the fort. I don't know about percentages but I know as long as there are good people left they make the world worth saving.

I stopped watching the news because I was beginning to think ill of the world. Now I spend the day with people who have their finger in the dyke. For you young people this is from an old story about a young boy who spots a hole in the wall holding back water and decides to sacrifice himself to save the town.

I think it is a mistake to try to apply percentages to good and evil. Too depressing and I need my strength to fight Satan. He is everywhere but he cannot defeat God and I have to remember this. I also work hard to defeat him in my personal life by not letting him destroy my faith no matter what he does to me. He spends so much time trying to do this I must be really special. LOL

Finally, for now God wants me here on earth and if I do not believe the world is basically a good place I would be really depressed and become apathetic and impotent. Then Satan would win, at least in my little corner of the world.

Humble Soul. As long as people like you are on earth, this is a good place to live.
 
I remember that trip to Honduras...picture is my avatar...
We gave away these sacks full of toiletries. Toothbrush, comb, washcloth, soap, and etc. Nothing $5 couldn't get and go home with change.
These people would try to "game the system" to get ahead in line, get a second bag, do anything to get more and one up on their neighbors. They weren't sophisticated enough to hide their ridiculousness in their exploits either.

We're not different. The difference being that the pricetag is usually higher on our stuff.
The recent run on toilet paper tells us that. We are creatures who always want more... whether we need it or not
 
Christ the King said:
What about my belief that society is full of evil?

By society i don't mean the people that live in it, it's the social structures and the the rich that are keeping us all in a state of life long servitude.
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sounds like you envy the rich. not so sure they are happy either.
 
Who Me said:
What is 'evil' ?
Evil is not serving God with all one's soul, body and mind.
So by that definition a world where 95% of people do not serve God, but do hate him is evil.
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with all our heart soul and mind?
then we all qualify for being evil
 
Susannah said:
I stopped watching the news because I was beginning to think ill of the world.
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Yes that's a good idea, i don't watch the mainstream news I just a a look at the headlines on the internet every few days.

Susannah said:
I need my strength to fight Satan. He is everywhere but he cannot defeat God and I have to remember this. I also work hard to defeat him in my personal life by not letting him destroy my faith no matter what he does to me. He spends so much time trying to do this I must be really special. LOL
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LoL, u r special in the fact that u are able to identify Satan's attacks, u know where the battle lines are. I think most Christians are unaware of him.

I've also got this theory that Satan builds his kingdom within us when we are away from God. We disregard God's will and operate instinctively on Satan's will. I was away from Him for about 20 years, you were away from him as well right. When we finally did come to Christ we are deep behind enemy lines and have to battle to get out.

Notice how it's only Paul that wrote about spiritual warfare. It's only Paul that writes about his struggles with sin, his battles with Satan, to put on the armour of God. We don't read that from Peter or anyone else, why...

The other apostles, likre many people, never left Christ and so don't seem to have the battle we do. Paul however wasn't with Christ. Furthermore he was violently opposing Christ by persecuting his followers. Satan loves hate and violence and so easily built a fortress in Paul as well. He even says that evil is with him every step of the way.

Susannah said:
Finally, for now God wants me here on earth and if I do not believe the world is basically a good place I would be really depressed and become apathetic and impotent. Then Satan would win, at least in my little corner of the world.
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It's easy to get discouraged, that's why we can't get caught up in his awful work against society and our churches. They are battles we can do nothing about. We can only defend against his personal attacks. Every ill thought or doubt or negative feeling I attribute to him. And he will always work on us when we are physically or mentally weak. He knows us all too well.

Everything that was created by God is beautiful and amazing
Most people are genuine and have good intentions
Satan will be with us every step of the way just like with Paul
I see it as the cross i have to pick up, the cross i have to carry to walk with Christ.

So I pray for everyone one who left God and are now fighting their battles behind enemy lines. Give us all the strength to stand up against the evil one. Amen
 
Broken is the word I use the most, instead of evil. But even that has cause some strong disagreement among atheists who don't like the termology "the world is broken, and continually breaking."

Even after a long tangent of trying to disprove God exists because of the hardships, sorrow and evil that exists in the world, when I've brought up that we live in a broken world they change their tune real quick. Saying "no the world is awesome, look at where we are and what we've achieved." I don't understand that huge switch in perspective focusing on the evil in the world to a dramatic switch that everything is awesome. My best guess is that it's something else like small philosophies stuffed here and there to be a buffer against Christianity if and when it's introduced to someone infected by satan's schemes and traps throughout society.

In either case, I disagree with the idea of conforming our perspective to meet the world's shifting standards. Call a rock a rock and a rose a rose. The world is full of evil in it that we have to try and defend ourselves against that. It's so ingrained in us that we don't notice it when we protect ourselves from trouble. Like when we lock our doors when we leave, or to travel in groups. Small things we do to protect against the chance of harm that people do constantly so they can live in tye world protected from the potential harms and enjoy all the good things in the world.

The world is evil though. It has a lot of good in it that we forget that we do a lot to protect ourselves from the what could harm us.
 
2 Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

1 Corinthians 10: 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

The world is a beautiful place to live in if you are in Christ and He in you, but be aware of the wolf in sheep's clothing that will always tempt you in destroying your faith as we need a healthy respect for our enemy.

Any battle there is with Satan, Jesus has already overcame it and has given us the victory over the principalities of this world. We can not fight Satan on our own, but overcome him by the power and authority through Christ Jesus by putting on the full armor of God, Ephesians 6:10-20.

Personally I concentrate on the beauty of God's creation that surrounds me where I live and separate myself from the evil that is in the world by that of evil people, but also pray for them that they would hear the Gospel message and turn from their evil ways.
 
The Catholic Church has a poor record in suggesting that evil is only in the world. It is also in the Church. Most of the predatory priests now removed thankfully.
A more sinister evil lurks in many Christian Churches. Hypocritical hierarchy who put money first and not Jesus Christ. These very people are the ones who will point to an evil world. As if the evil is "out there". They dont want us to be focussing on their deception.
 
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