Where does evil come from?

[uscitizen]

Acknowledging that Satan is the root of all evil does not somehow alleviate one of personal responsibility. We have free choice. WE chose to act in evil ways or we chose not to. Evil is not somehow a release from responsibility because one knows that Satan brought such into the world.

When Satan tempts us it is completely our responsibility if we succumb to his temptations.

Perhaps if you and others actually knew what you were bashing you might understand simple concepts like this.

Isn't it time you put away the childish scapegoat of satan "tempting" people?

Satan exists. Pretending otherwise helps no one BUT Satan.

Faith is strengthened by ignorance.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Evil comes from the basic human emotions we are born with. Greed and fear.
We have to learn the good stuff.

Or you can just blame it on the debbil and avoid personal responsibility.

Acknowledging that Satan is the root of all evil does not somehow alleviate one of personal responsibility. We have free choice. WE chose to act in evil ways or we chose not to. Evil is not somehow a release from responsibility because one knows that Satan brought such into the world.

When Satan tempts us it is completely our responsibility if we succumb to his temptations.

Perhaps if you and others actually knew what you were bashing you might understand simple concepts like this.

I understand. Faith requires NOT understanding.

You are a misguided fool. Understanding is required at all levels of faith. One can not have faith without understanding who and what they believe in.

 

[Truthmatters]

Self government is hardly no government.

Compulsion is not compassion. Nor is it good. It's quite evil.

The means are just as important as the ends.

Evil wins when good men do nothing, or expect their government to take responsible for any good they won't do for themselves.

What part of OF, FOR AND BY THE PEOPLE refuses to sink into yuour brain case?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Isn't it time you put away the childish scapegoat of satan "tempting" people?

Satan exists. Pretending otherwise helps no one BUT Satan.

Faith is strengthened by ignorance.

Faith requires knowledge and understanding. One must continually learn and grow in their faith no matter what that faith is in. Failure to learn failure to acquire more knowledge will see faith wither and die. Faith does not exist in a vacuum and ignorance is a hindrance to faith.

 

[chanel]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

 

[Wry Catcher]

Not partisan - unless you believe that only R's can define morality.

Wry - the article is essentially about Van der Sloot. They are discussing killing innocent people with dispassion. Can we agree for now that that is "evil"?

I googled the link and followed it to the original blog. Van der Sloot, if what is suspected is true, committed evil acts. Does this make him evil? Manson planned and had others carry out evil acts; and, during my lifetime a number of serial killers have made the news -some impriosned, some executed others never arrested.
[As a young adult in the SF Bay Area at the time of the Zebra killers and the Zodiac I wondered what motivated such behaviors and remember taking precautions, knowing the actions of those killers was random and quite likely stealth]
The presumed acts of Van der Sloot, the acts of of Manson, Zodiac, Son of Sam, and dozens of other serial / mass murderers is evil, but saying so does not answer the question of why. Bad seed, bad parenting/indolgent parenting; brain damaged - by injury or psychological trauma - the why is troubling. Having interacted with criminals who committed acts of violence (I never worked homicide, but worked domestic violence cases for over five years) the why of such behaviors continues to trouble me. It is easy to call such acts evil but the myriad of personality types who engaged in DV suggests that those we perceive as evil do not belong in one set, at least in my experience.

 

[Truthmatters]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

OK lets talk about Dick Cheney and GW Bush

 

[Sky Dancer]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

There can be a problem with brain chemistry that causes some human beings to act evilly.

Recent reports in science have found discrete locations in the brain that are used in intricate systems that serve as the human moral compass (1).Changes in the brain have long been known to change the behaviors of a man. In the famous example of Phineas Gage, an accident at his job caused an iron rod to pierce through Gage's skull. Gage was able to stand and speak a few moments later. His intelligence was intact, but it soon became clear that this once model young man had been changed by the incident. He now cursed, lied and behaved horribly to people around them. Gage's doctor, John Harlow, said that Gage was no longer Gage, and that the balance "between his intellectual faculty and his animal propensities" had been destroyed. Can this example of brain-injury be used to explain the 'animal propensities' of serial killers?
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web2/Solano.html

 

[chanel]

Thank you for that intelligent response Wry Catcher.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

OK lets talk about Dick Cheney and GW Bush

One could say the 'devil' of partisanship has taken hold of your brain.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

OK lets talk about Dick Cheney and GW Bush

One could say the 'devil' of partisanship has taken hold of your brain.

She is a broken record. EVERYTHING is a republicans fault. She must feel safe and cozy in her fantasy world.

 

[Avatar4321]

Isn't it time you put away the childish scapegoat of satan "tempting" people?

Satan exists. Pretending otherwise helps no one BUT Satan.

Faith is strengthened by ignorance.

Not true at all. True Faith requires certitude and knowledge. Faith is a knowledge of things unseen but which are true.

People seem to think faith is blind, but it's not. It's quite visible and clear to see and understand.

 

[Avatar4321]

Self government is hardly no government.

Compulsion is not compassion. Nor is it good. It's quite evil.

The means are just as important as the ends.

Evil wins when good men do nothing, or expect their government to take responsible for any good they won't do for themselves.

What part of OF, FOR AND BY THE PEOPLE refuses to sink into yuour brain case?

The government isn't the people.

We as individuals are the people. We are the ones who are called to be charitable. The government is called to protect us and our rights. Not steal money and buy votes with it.

However, if you want to continue this conversation, another thread might be a good idea since it seems we are derailing this one. I'd gladly talk to you indepth on the subject. I'm skeptical that you will attempt to understand, but I am more than willing to discuss it at length with you.

 

[Avatar4321]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

OK lets talk about Dick Cheney and GW Bush

And where is your compassion for them?

 

[chanel]

 

[CurveLight]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

There can be a problem with brain chemistry that causes some human beings to act evilly.

Recent reports in science have found discrete locations in the brain that are used in intricate systems that serve as the human moral compass (1).Changes in the brain have long been known to change the behaviors of a man. In the famous example of Phineas Gage, an accident at his job caused an iron rod to pierce through Gage's skull. Gage was able to stand and speak a few moments later. His intelligence was intact, but it soon became clear that this once model young man had been changed by the incident. He now cursed, lied and behaved horribly to people around them. Gage's doctor, John Harlow, said that Gage was no longer Gage, and that the balance "between his intellectual faculty and his animal propensities" had been destroyed. Can this example of brain-injury be used to explain the 'animal propensities' of serial killers?
Serial Killers

The Gage case has been greatly exaggerated.

 

[editec]

This article isn't talking about the pedestrian and venal evil that WE ALL COMMIT.

It's examining those truly demented people who in a previous age we might have said were possessed by the Devil.

One way or the other I think they suffer from brain damage.

Either they have a software problem, or they have a hardware problem (and probably both in most cases as the brain IS a biofeed organism ).

Now this might be because of somatic or psychic trauma, including neglect OR abuse.

I think it VERY RARE that anybody is born a sociopath or psychopathic personality.

It's like our old favorite sociopath, Chuck Manson tells us: I AM the product of your system.

And, if you look at HIS life, he most definitely is. He's been an inmate of our criminal justice system MOST of his life

If you find though terribly depressing, consider that many people live childhoods in HELL and still manage NOT to become complete monsters.

 

[Barb]

Evil wins when good men do nothing, or expect their government to take responsible for any good they won't do for themselves.

Okay.The second sentence is purely bullshit.
Individual acts are beneficial on an individual level, but government policy is the collective expression of what a society holds as valued, valuable, and worthy of collective investment, not merely to benefit certain individuals, but the community as a whole.
How does health policy benefit you?
You or your children eat out in restaurants?
The cook or dishwasher, no matter their lowly status can access health care. One or the other was feeling run-down and on a visit to the doctor found out they had hep c (incurable and highly transferable). You or your kids ate at the place after they were diagnosed rather than when they were bullying through the flue because they couldn't afford to see the doctor.
How do education initiatives help you, personally and society in general? A kid has access to head start. Twenty years later, feeling valued by his or her community, enters college to be a teachers assistant in order to help other kids (maybe your grands?), or a doctor that provides services at a clinic, or a pro bono attorney. Without the investment, maybe that same kid would grow up to feel less valued, and less careful of what he or she contributed.
How does regulation help you and yours who need no government baby sitters?
Well, for one example:
Lead, released, as particulates from automobiles, does not degrade. Exposure to lead particulates is most intense in inner cities, and the ones most vulnerable to exposure are short people, children. One in five children living in urban poverty between 1976-1988 had levels higher than 30 micrograms per decimeter. High levels of lead in children’s blood, 30 micrograms per deciliter, cause lower IQ scores and learning disabilities by induced restlessness and inability to concentrate.
Where do those kids end up? McD's, if they were lucky. Prison, not so lucky. Dead, unluckiest of all.Bottom line, they were not allowed to be productive members of society because of the profit to be had by NOT regulating industry pollution, and that lack of productivity and potential COSTS each and every one of us.
I am SO sick of hearing about how gubmint is ineffective by people who, with every breath they take, benefit from a host of government actions and policies they can't be bothered to educate themselves about.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

There can be a problem with brain chemistry that causes some human beings to act evilly.

Recent reports in science have found discrete locations in the brain that are used in intricate systems that serve as the human moral compass (1).Changes in the brain have long been known to change the behaviors of a man. In the famous example of Phineas Gage, an accident at his job caused an iron rod to pierce through Gage's skull. Gage was able to stand and speak a few moments later. His intelligence was intact, but it soon became clear that this once model young man had been changed by the incident. He now cursed, lied and behaved horribly to people around them. Gage's doctor, John Harlow, said that Gage was no longer Gage, and that the balance "between his intellectual faculty and his animal propensities" had been destroyed. Can this example of brain-injury be used to explain the 'animal propensities' of serial killers?
Serial Killers

The Gage case has been greatly exaggerated.

It's an example. No more, no less. There are others.


50% of prison inmates who are classified violent and dangerous have some form of brain disorders whereas only 7% of prison inmates who are in less dangerous group have the brain disorders. Also, most of the violent prison inmates show different brain-wave patterns
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0126536/main.php?currentchap=6&currentsect=crim.htm and brain chemistry than the norm.

Researcher Dominique LaPierre believes that the "prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in long-term planning and judgment, does not function properly in psychopathic subjects." Paleopsychologists also believe that there is some sort of malfunction in the brain of serial killers, that somehow their primitive brain overrides the "higher" brain: reason and compassion take a backseat to lust, aggression, and appetite. A study by Pavlos Hatzitaskos and colleagues reports that a large portion of death-row inmates have had severe head injuries, and that approximately 70% of brain-injured patients develop aggressive tendencies.
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/tick/9b.html

 

[Truthmatters]

Note to truth: Let's get back to serial killers. I am trying to understand this in a PSYCHOLOGICAL/SCIENTIFIC way. Can we put politics aside?

OK lets talk about Dick Cheney and GW Bush

And where is your compassion for them?

My compassion for them is still intact.

I have compassion for their pain and suffering and dont wish either of them pain. I do wish them to be in prison for their actions that caussed the deaths of thousands of Americans alone.

Cheney had a energy meeting that NO Americans were allowed to know about. We were not even allowed to know WHO he talked to. It turns out he met with all the top energy CEOs and handed them the paper to write our energy program. Cheney is not stupid, he knew full well the policies would result in miners deaths. It did. He is culpable for the 11 dead oil riggers. Those men tried to warn theoir company of tgeh dangers and ended up dead anyway because their was no recourse for them. By hiring inspectors whpo would **** and suck the lobbiest of the oil industry instead of policing them they further insured the deaths of workers.

Cheney is a big serial killer and beats out Manson in his death toll.