Epicurus

To offset all the scripture, lets ponder the following...

Epicurus (341–270 B.C.), Greek philosopher

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

I don't believe God is able to be defined by man's appraisals, or judgements. I think that God will be what he will be ( I am almost bordering on denominational dogma).

Brien

An objectivist would say that there is no such thing as good and evil, that they are artificial constructs, words to describe a range of experiences and actions. If what we define as "evil" were eliminated, then whatever the next-most-unpleasant thing remaining would be defined as "evil".

A free-will advocate would simply say that since evil is a descriptor for certain actions of men, that to deny evil would be to deny free will.

A religious person would say that to create us with no such capacity for evil would be to create us more or less perfect, and we would be as gods ourselves.