Posted by Gremlin [12.253.238.245 - 12-253-238-245.client.attbi.com] on 02 September 2002 at 21.03.13 ZuluTime:

In Reply to: Evil exists, therefore the devil exists? posted by Fred Flintstonensis on 02 September 2002 at 16.24.01 ZuluTime:

A few facts on the matter....
     First of all: kleer_blu@yahoo.com is a known troll. We can excuse that as an ad hominem, I suppose.
     Aside from that fact, circular logic doesn't work with Ockham's Razor. Particularly when the 'fact' being launched from hasn't been proved.
     Evil exists. We have to start with that phrase. Evil is an adjective. To state that 'evil exists', to me, is the same as stating that 'happy exists' or 'stupid exists'. Or, if you like, 'stupid is as stupid does'.
     So: the phrase reads better as 'variable things exhibiting evil qualities exist'. I'll agree with that.
     That various things are inferred to be evil, however, is meaningless. Evil is subjective. Evil is the quality attributed to that which is worse than something else. It's totally relative. Depending on your perspective, Baal Zevuv [the devil, for those without brains] can be evil, or Yhvh can be evil; Osama bin Laden can be evil, or Pat Robertson can be evil. Evil is that which differs from the observer and appears to be more malevolent.
     Personally--having read the bible--I'm more likely to consider Yhvh evil [as well as unintelligent] for flooding a planet in a failed attempt to eradicate 'sin' than Zevuv for his aspirations of amelioration. Which is not to say that Zevuv wasn't evil in his own right; he was, after all, the universe's first known republican.
     That much determined, we now have to look at the original hypothesis: evil exists; therefore the devil exists.
     The problem with that statement is that it suggests that, in the event that 'evil' can be considered a noun [possibly a proper noun], then fictional characters exhibiting the subjective qualities of evil are to be considered equally real.
     So. If the idea that 'evil exists; therefore the devil exists' can be considered true, then the fact that things can be defined as 'evil' leads to the conclusion that, in addition to the devil's existence, we have the existence of the bogeyman, Hannibal Lecter, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Fred Krueger, and Darth Vader.
     Characters who fail to exist in reality, who are subjectively defined as 'evil', are all identical. Until or unless Baal Zevuv is supported by more evidence than any villain, the character remains exactly as factual as any given multimedia badguy.