Is anything inherently good or evil?

inquiry

I have read many places the statement that nothing in the world
is inherently good or evil. Why is such an idea so prevalent? To me,
that's obviously wrong, just as wrong as the statement that there
are no absolutes in the world. What am I missing here?

response

The answer to your question lies in the first few chapters of the book of 
Genesis.  In chapter one we see that God made everything and that "God saw 
all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen 1:31a).  So, 
inherently, everything is originally good.  Of course, we look around and 
see that things are not so good.  For instance, we observe that a bite from 
a mosquito can cause suffering and death, a genetic defect can be crippling, 
and a flood, fire, or earthquake can be devastating.  These problems have 
all arisen, not because there was inherent evil in some things and not 
others, but because of man's fall.  We see this in the second and third 
chapters of Genesis.  God incorporated into His creation of men the ability 
for free choice (see Gen 2:16-17).  Since the first man chose evil over good 
all of his descendants have had to live with the consequences.  These 
consequences include death, shame, pain, frustration, and the decay of the 
original order of things that were placed under man's management (see Gen 
2:17, 3:10,16-19).  A book you may want to look at that goes into this 
somewhat is C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain.

I hope that this has been helpful.  Don't hesitate to write us at the 
Paraclete Forum if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

first reply

P.S. An example of something in modern day culture that I consider to be 
inherently evil is the website

http://www.iconbusters.com/

Which, as I'm sure you are aware, has attacked not only you, but many other 
men of God. I'm not saying this man is THE antichrist, but he certainly is 
anti Christ. I pray the Spirit of God will bring him to repentance.

With love,

second reply

That's a good answer, but I guess what I meant to emphasize is that this 
statement is being made by people whom you think would know better 
(ministers of The Word). The fact is that there IS inherent evil in the 
world and it originates and is sustained by the father of evil, Satan. To 
believe that there is no inherent evil in the world can lead one into all 
kinds of error such as new age religion ("all is good"), the belief that we 
don't need salvation beyond our selves, and so on, leading ultimately to 
destruction. Yes of course God made everything good originally (as you 
pointed out), and yes everything began to decay from that perfection when 
original man listened to and acted on the beguiling of the evil one (again, 
as you pointed out), and that decay is continuing to this very day and hour. 
To not recognize that, and to teach otherwise, is a grave error I believe 
and as it is written, those who teach error will be judged harshly.
Thanks,