Baron, from below, what is your definition of "evil" that is distinct from "fear"?
The question of "evil" has been haunting me for awhile, what is your take on this?
A couple of my thoughts:
1. The opposite of love is fear, I'm willing to add more dimensions to this, like perhaps good and evil and make it into a diamond. But what is the source of good or evil?
2. If we are to believe in evil, does that necessitate the belief in demons? And then if we believe in demons, don't we also have to believe in angels?
I'll leave it at that, your thoughts?
Replies to: Baron, from below, what is your definition of "evil" that is distinct from "fear"?
Sure...fear is not evil. Christ himself was fearful with the foreknowledge of what awaited him in
his Agony at the Garden at Gethsemane. He even asked God if there was any way that this cup could pass from his lips, but when it was made clear to him by His God the Father what must be done to undo mankind's original sin so that we would once more have the chance to enter heaven, he accepted his burden and went forward with not just the agony in the garden; but the scourging at the pillar; the placement and mockery of the crown of thorns; the carrying his cross up Calvary after all of this; and then finally crucifixion upon the cross. All for the love of us.
Jesus does not hate, yet even He had fear (as part of his dual nature of being both God and Man at the same time). This example shows that fear does not come from hatred (that claim which is a twisting of truth not uncommon from the evil one which can lead to later misunderstandings and blurring of what is right and wrong).
All love comes from God the Father/God the Son/God The Holy Spirit.
The opposite of Love is hatred which is the rejection of God's love. The devil is a fallen angel who rejected God's love and now seeks to bring as many humans down with him as he can. The Bible tells us that this is also in part due to outrage that God chose to make man in his image, but regardless, the devil is sadly quite real as is the evil that he attempts to immerse us in.
As humans we have been given a second chance at eternal life in heaven with God with Jesus' sacrifice. But we still have a choice to make and thus are capable of choosing either.
Yes Catholic doctrine (and my belief) teaches us that God is real, angels do exist as well, as does the Communion of Saints in heaven and unfortunately, the devil and Hell is real also.
The Rosary is a powerful prayer, and i would strongly recommend it to be prayed with reflection as often as you can.
The Prayer to St. Michael is another related to this topic.
The Prayer to our Guardian Angel is another (we each do have one).
Regarding "fear" and it's opposite "courage" - I guess that I would say that these are human emotions which are most often associated with evil or good respectively , but can be seen at times in either case:
Every rational person who truly understands what is at stake for us in our lives on Earth should be fearful of the consequences of choosing to reject God and His Will. Fear is a natural human response to danger and should not be considered a sin nor a source for guilt unless it is caused specifically by a lack of trust in God Himself. (If we accept God's Will and live a life with actions that correspond accordingly, we know that we need not fear).
Conversely, a shooter immersed in evil could show a fair amount of courage carrying out the mortal sin of murder with the knowledge that he is likely to be killed himself in the attempt.
Thus, "courage" and "fear" are not tied the same way to good and evil the way that "love" and 'hate" are because the former are human emotions while the latter are 1) a specific unique quality of God and our choice to accept Him and His Will (love), or 2) a quality of those who choose to reject God and His Will (hatred).
Thus the opposite of love is hate.
The opposite of fear is courage.
This is a strong argument from one position of faith.
I'm of the realm of Terrance McKenna's:
“Modern science is based on the principle: ‘Give us one free miracle and we’ll explain the rest.’ The one free miracle is the appearance of all the mass and energy in the universe and all the laws that govern it in a single instant from nothing.”
But your explanation, which I really like as the Catholic perspective, requires me to grant even more miracles
Consider these thoughts:
1. Love and hate are adjacent emotions, as they both involve passion, the opposite of both would be apathy
2. Courage is a measure of the ability to overcome fear. It isn't its opposite, in fact I think courage is inspired by love in the face of fear.
3. The opposite of courage is cowardice.
Looking forward to this conversation.
I was still adding when you posted this - plz reread my post to get my better effort. Re this -
I'm heading to ND game in AM so I'll take that rain check for now. Nice talking to you.
Food for thought...
What if the X Axis is Love/Fear and the Y Axis is Order/Chaos?
The Love-Fear dimension might be about mindset and the Order-Chaos dimension might be about circumstance.
Leaving open the possibility of additional axes/dimensions.
Here's some more 'Food for Thought'...especially on the issue of LGBTQ persons...
Pope Leo XIV has recently expressed his views, which he says is a continuation of his predecessor's thoughts as well. Note that the University of Notre Dame, and many other Catholic Universities share the concept of all human beings as children of God who should be welcomed and treated as such.
Link: https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2025/09/pope-leo-stresses-welcome-of-lgbtq-catholics-wont-change-teaching
Safe travels and enjoy the game.
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