The idea that evil is evidence that God gives us free will is contradicted by the existence of evil. I identified some potential unreasoned assumptions in this view:
Unreasoned Assumption #1: Evil people want to be evil.
Unreasoned Assumption #2: Evil people have the ability to change that they’re evil.
Unreasoned Assumption #3: Evil people know they’re being evil.
In my experience most people who do bad things do not know that they’re being evil, don’t want to be evil, or can’t change the fact that they’re doing evil things. However, if they were made evil and don’t want to be, they are evil against their will—this is not in support of free will. If they’re not able to change that they’re evil, they don’t have an alternative to evil, so they’re not choosing evil of their own free will. If they don’t know they’re doing evil then they weren’t even given the proper opportunity to choose whether or not to be evil, which is not a situation most people want, so they can’t be said to be evil of their own free will.
I can’t tell myself “Being evil is so much fun that God just wants us to be free to do it.” That does not seem to be the case.
And even if that was the case, why the heck did God make it fun to be evil? Why would you ever call it free will to enjoy evil and wish you didn’t and be unable to change it?
How many people who find evil things fun would, of their own free will, prefer it if they did not find those things fun?
Most of them, in my experience.
For the free will idea to be supported, it would require that everyone has all of the following:
In my experience most people who do bad things do not know that they’re being evil, don’t want to be evil, or can’t change the fact that they’re doing evil things.
That isnt a straightforward piece of evidence. Many would describe evil as the deliberate commital of harm. By that definition, there’s simply no such things an unwilling or unknowing evil.
No, I don’t think that’s necessary. Sometimes, indeed often, evil is caused by people who simply don’t care whether a given course of action is evil or not. Take, for example, the example of the owner of a factory. His factory produces chemical X during its production processes; nobody wants X, nobody likes X. If he dumps it in a lake and hopes that no-one notices, that’s definitely evil (especially if people downstream will be drinking the water), but that’s not out of a desire to be a moustache-twirling evil villain—that’s out of a desire to save on the cost of disposing of it properly.
Evil people have the ability to change that they’re evil (If they don’t, the evil is not due to free will).
True. A lot of evil can be changed.
Evil people know they’re being evil.
Again, not necessary. It merely needs to be reasonably possible for evil people to find out whether or not they are being evil. Sometimes, this requires a fair amount of study. Take the example of a large corporation that’s looking for a factory to produce some goods for them. Factory A in Europe says it can produce it for a hundred Euros per item; factory B in China says it can make the same item for fifty Euros per unit. The corporation picks B, and doesn’t go and have a look at the apalling conditions that the factory workers are enduring in a very aggressive attempt to cut costs. (Factory B’s managers will probably claim that it is a wonderful place to work unless someone actually goes there and looks).
I’m not saying that being evil is at all fun. I’m saying that it’s something that some people do; usually, I suspect, because there’s something else they care about more. Most of the time, they’re either not aware that they are being evil (usually because they never bothered to just sit down and think through the consequences of their actions) or the potential benefit to them is high enough that they don’t care about the negative consequences (any action that a company takes to protect a monopoly on a given product or service from fair competition probably falls under here).
The idea that evil is evidence that God gives us free will is contradicted by the existence of evil. I identified some potential unreasoned assumptions in this view:
Unreasoned Assumption #1: Evil people want to be evil.
Unreasoned Assumption #2: Evil people have the ability to change that they’re evil.
Unreasoned Assumption #3: Evil people know they’re being evil.
In my experience most people who do bad things do not know that they’re being evil, don’t want to be evil, or can’t change the fact that they’re doing evil things. However, if they were made evil and don’t want to be, they are evil against their will—this is not in support of free will. If they’re not able to change that they’re evil, they don’t have an alternative to evil, so they’re not choosing evil of their own free will. If they don’t know they’re doing evil then they weren’t even given the proper opportunity to choose whether or not to be evil, which is not a situation most people want, so they can’t be said to be evil of their own free will.
I can’t tell myself “Being evil is so much fun that God just wants us to be free to do it.” That does not seem to be the case.
And even if that was the case, why the heck did God make it fun to be evil? Why would you ever call it free will to enjoy evil and wish you didn’t and be unable to change it?
How many people who find evil things fun would, of their own free will, prefer it if they did not find those things fun?
Most of them, in my experience.
For the free will idea to be supported, it would require that everyone has all of the following:
Ability to change evil behavior.
Ability to see own evil.
Ability to stop enjoying evil.
That isnt a straightforward piece of evidence. Many would describe evil as the deliberate commital of harm. By that definition, there’s simply no such things an unwilling or unknowing evil.
No, I don’t think that’s necessary. Sometimes, indeed often, evil is caused by people who simply don’t care whether a given course of action is evil or not. Take, for example, the example of the owner of a factory. His factory produces chemical X during its production processes; nobody wants X, nobody likes X. If he dumps it in a lake and hopes that no-one notices, that’s definitely evil (especially if people downstream will be drinking the water), but that’s not out of a desire to be a moustache-twirling evil villain—that’s out of a desire to save on the cost of disposing of it properly.
True. A lot of evil can be changed.
Again, not necessary. It merely needs to be reasonably possible for evil people to find out whether or not they are being evil. Sometimes, this requires a fair amount of study. Take the example of a large corporation that’s looking for a factory to produce some goods for them. Factory A in Europe says it can produce it for a hundred Euros per item; factory B in China says it can make the same item for fifty Euros per unit. The corporation picks B, and doesn’t go and have a look at the apalling conditions that the factory workers are enduring in a very aggressive attempt to cut costs. (Factory B’s managers will probably claim that it is a wonderful place to work unless someone actually goes there and looks).
I’m not saying that being evil is at all fun. I’m saying that it’s something that some people do; usually, I suspect, because there’s something else they care about more. Most of the time, they’re either not aware that they are being evil (usually because they never bothered to just sit down and think through the consequences of their actions) or the potential benefit to them is high enough that they don’t care about the negative consequences (any action that a company takes to protect a monopoly on a given product or service from fair competition probably falls under here).