{"id":43127,"date":"2017-02-14T11:39:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T17:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=43127"},"modified":"2022-02-14T11:44:32","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T17:44:32","slug":"on-the-relationship-between-good-and-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/on-the-relationship-between-good-and-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Relationship between Good and Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n<p>Evil implies good, but good does not necessarily imply evil.<\/p>\n<p>Some have the mistaken notion that good and evil must be necessary counterparts. That is, if there is good, then there must be evil. Some worldviews are founded on this principle, but it is not so.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/good-and-evil-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/>Good does not in itself imply evil. Good is its own measure, and good, we argue, is grounded in none other than God, who would have existed at one time without evil. Evil is not a thing that is coeternal with good; Satan is not coeternal with God. Good is not measured by evil. We do not determine how good something is based upon an evil standard. Good exists because God exists, not because it deviates from an evil standard. Evil may highlight how great good is by way of contrast, but evil can never be what defines the good.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, evil is measured by good. Without a good standard, to begin with, there is no way we can call something evil. To call something evil, we must know the good. Evil exists because it deviates from the good standard. Evil is the consequence of falling from the good standard. But without that standard in the first place, speaking of evil would be meaningless.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s the point? If people are going to complain about a problem of evil, then they need to recognize that they are fundamentally acknowledging a good standard. The fact of evil is a demonstration of the truth that a good standard exists. Contrary, then, to the popular atheistic notion that evil disproves God, evil is an indirect proof of God in that it is the manifestation of a failure to meet the ultimate standard of good. Unless such a standard is divine in nature, then it holds no ultimate authority. If that ultimate authority does not exist, then any discussion about good and evil has no ultimate meaning.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Doy Moyer Evil implies good, but good does not necessarily imply evil. Some have the mistaken notion that good and evil must be necessary counterparts. That is, if there is good, then there must be evil. Some worldviews are founded on this principle, but it is not so. Good does not in itself imply&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[183,90,1281,238,179],"class_list":["post-43127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-evil","tag-god","tag-good","tag-righteousness","tag-sin"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43125,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-evil-in-this-world-makes-me-want-to-be-a-buddhist\/","url_meta":{"origin":43127,"position":0},"title":"The evil in this world makes me want to be a Buddhist","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your response to the person asking questions about theodicy. I don't feel you did a good job answering: Inasmuch as I can understand God \"letting\" a bad person hang themselves, it makes no sense that innocent, good, sincere people should suffer as a result. A young couple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62348,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-john-the-baptist-prove-that-fetuses-know-good-and-evil\/","url_meta":{"origin":43127,"position":1},"title":"Does John the Baptist Prove that Fetuses Know Good and Evil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton While it is true that John the Baptist, while yet unborn (what people call the fetus stage), leaped in his mother's womb when Mary came and greeted Elizabeth (Luke 1:41), it is not true that this means that all infants are aware of sin or aware\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2092,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-god-allow-evil\/","url_meta":{"origin":43127,"position":2},"title":"Why Does God Allow Evil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton No doubt, sin and the evil accompanying it exist in this world. When atrocious examples of evil come to our attention, people commonly wonder why God allows such evil to happen. Atheists will use the very existence of obvious evil to argue against God. \"If God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91643,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-god-immoral-for-killing-the-canaanites\/","url_meta":{"origin":43127,"position":3},"title":"Is God Immoral for Killing the Canaanites?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Judge of All the Earth God is the Judge of all the earth. He does not kill anyone arbitrarily, and when He does take a life out of this world (Genesis 15:16), it is always just and right. If God commanded the killing of the Canaanites,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37714,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-have-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil-and-not-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":43127,"position":4},"title":"How can God have the knowledge of good and evil and not sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I really liked the answer given regarding God keeping man from living forever since they now would choose to sin of which I found on your website. But I have two more questions: If the tree of life stops us from living forever in the flesh, what of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15479,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-adam-and-eve-not-know-of-good-and-evil-until-they-ate-a-fruit\/","url_meta":{"origin":43127,"position":5},"title":"How could Adam and Eve not know of good and evil until they ate a fruit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, How does one respond to someone who mocks the Christian faith by saying, \"The first human did not have knowledge of right or wrong and only got such ability after eating a fruit.\" He says that sounds like a far-fetched fairy tale. Answer: What changes between childhood and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}