Is the Devil part of "Intelligent Design" and how "intelligent" is it to create such a foe?

[Winterblues]

:shrug:

[Fumesucker]

1. Seems pretty smart to me to have someone to blame all the bad shit on.. n/t

[KittyWampus]

2. wrong forum (try philosophy/religion). In Qabala the "Devil" is Ignorance or what we repress.

And therefore, it is beneficial since it prompts us to expand our horizons and seek information.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. God created the devil so God could torture most of humanity for all eternity...

God makes Bush look like a Saint.


Assuming you believe in such stuff.

[roguevalley]

4. I think he grew out of duality: if there is bad, there must be good.

if there is a God, there must be a Devil.

[ZombieHorde]

5. "I think he grew out of duality: if there is bad, there must be good"

"if there is a God, there must be a Devil."

Good and bad only exist in the mind. They are feelings and/or labels, so if there was a God, there is no need for a Devil.

[roguevalley]

7. actually, given the times, people believed that good was embodied

in God and that evil was embodied in the devil. Maybe they are feelings and labels now, they weren't just that then. Personally, the devil means nothing to me.

[ZombieHorde]

8. "Maybe they (good/evil) are feelings and labels now, they weren't just that then."

Then what were they?

[AlecBGreen]

10. This is a question as old as humanity

Is there such thing as good and evil or are these human-created ideas that have no basis in reality? I suppose the answer is: "How do you define good? What is evil?"

As a Christian, I define good as that which is in accordance with God's will. Evil is not something that is intrinsically real, rather it is the LACK of goodness. Light is real, darkness is not. What we call darkness is simply the LACK of light. Thus, evil can be called the lack of good, or in other words (according to my definition) things which deviate from God's desire. Am I right? Probably not, because no one has a lock on the "truth." This is just how I think of things and how I try to interpret the world and my place in it.

[Jim__]

6. "Intelligent Design" is supposed to be a scientific theory.

It claims to be a theory based on observations of the natural world. As such, it wouldn't address any questions about the devil.

It is, of course, rejected by 99.9% of the scientific world.

[AlecBGreen]

11. "Intelligent Design" is supposed to be a scientific theory.

I like your use of "supposed." People in the ID camp and creationists have a tall order to fill. They must accurately describe both historical events and present reality using scientific evidence that conforms to their narrow interpretation of the Bible. So far they have failed miserably. The first thing you learn in science: YOU DONT CHERRY PICK DATA TO FIT YOUR HYPOTHESIS! YOU CHANGE YOUR HYPOTHESIS TO FIT THE DATA! ID proponents seem unwilling to do this, and as such, they are not involved in real science. ID is pseudo-science at its worst.

[AlecBGreen]

9. I think you are confused about the term "Intelligent Design"

ID is the hypothesis that nature shows signs of a higher power. One of the ideas supporting this is the idea of "Irreducible Complexity," i.e. some things are so complex, and with so many interrelated parts, that it could not spring up spontaneously through natural forces such as evolution by natural selection. Examples include the human blood-clotting stairway, the eye, the immune system, etc. I have seen several articles soundly refuting this hypothesis.

As to the Devil, and the larger question of God's purpose in creating him, that discussion will have to wait for later today. There are chores to be done :)