A commenter here at the blog said that, “A human being is a poorly organized mistake that couldn’t be destroyed because matter can’t be destroyed.” Is that all we are? Is to be a human simply to be a living mistake that can’t be destroyed? Isn’t there more to being a human being than this? That’s what we explored Tuesday night at The Corner Brewery.

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Two tables were pushed together as we gathered around a pint for a conversation on “To Be or Not To Be”. What’s that you ask? We were talking life and death, suicide to be exact. Because of the intensely personal nature of the conversation we won’t do our typical banter recap. 

It was as heavy and at times emotional. 

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For months we have had conversations around the tables of the Corner. For months it seems that we hit a road block in almost every single conversation when the question is asked, “Well what do you mean by good?”

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Doubt on Tap this week was a bit chaotic. Mostly because the moderator was horribly inefficient at moderating. So, our conversation went all over the place. 

Our topic of conversation was “What is evil?” The opposite of last week’s “What is good?”

There seemed to be a couple of key ideas floating around. The first was Kirk’s concept that evil is defined as whatever is outside the norms of the group in power. When people gather in groups they develop norms and standards. These norms and standards are considered to be “good”. Evil, then, is what happens when those norms and standards are broken. It is subjectively determined by different groups.

Papa Chris and The Todd weren't  totally buying. They argued that intent was the key factor. While they didn’t necessarily disagree that good/evil was determined by group dynamics, they felt that intent was necessary at determining evil. If someone makes a mistake and breaks a norm, it’s very different than someone intentionally breaking a norm. Kirk agreed.

The question about evil that also needed to be addressed, that we never landed on (because it was at this point that the moderator became an abject failure), is whether or not there are things that are evil “objectively” regardless of group dynamic?

What is the Christian perspective on all this? First, evil exists. It is real. Second, evil is to be understood in two categories. The first is social or natural and the second is moral or spiritual. The simplest way to understand these categories is to look at what are known as the Ten Commandments. At the basic level the social/natural evil is breaking one of these: honor your mother and father, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet, do commit adultery, and do not bear false witness. The moral/spiritual laws are: have no other gods before God, do not create images of God, do not take the Lord’s name in vain, and remember the Sabbath.

So, evil, for the Christian is something that is objective. The issue of intent is also critical. As you read the law in Hebrew Scriptures you see that intent is important to rightly understanding evil and how it works itself out.

This is a cursory, thumbnail sketch of the issue. It’s obviously much deeper and much more nuanced than the above paragraph. You could consider this the “abstract” or the “executive summary” of the definition of evil.

“Here’s the stark reality when it comes to the environment: nobody gives a shit!” exclaimed Mike.

If that’s the reality what was the question? Karen Armstrong wrote, “Unless there is some kind of spiritual revolution that can keep abreast of our technological genius, it is unlikely we will save our planet. A purely rational education will not suffice. We risk environmental catastrophe because we no longer see the earth as holy but regard it simply as a ‘resource’.” Do you agree or disagree, why? If you agree what kind of spiritual revolution? (from Pub Theology 101, by Bryan Berghoef)

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The beer was cold and tasty at The Corner Brewery last night. The conversation was even more tasty. The question at hand was this, “Are our ‘destinies or fates’ determined by something outside of ourselves or are they the resulting sum of all our decisions?”

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The Corner was packed Tuesday night with the release of Phat Abbot, the single greatest beer known to man. But, that didn’t stop the conversation from happening. We grabbed a table and dove into the deep end…

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As we gathered around the table at The Corner the question before us was about religion and whether or not the world would be better without it. Many say that most of the evil in the world is the result of religion. Would it not stand to reason that if you get rid of religion the world would be better?

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“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” 
― Joseph Campbell

So it began. A conversation about the meaning of life. Do you agree or disagree with Campbell? This was the question and the conversation grew as warm as the beer was cold. 

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The topic for this week’s Doubt on Tap was religious pet peeves. In a nutshell, what is the thing that turns you off the most about religion. Having found myself in a conversation earlier in the day about hypocrisy and religious people, I thought I would throw it to the group.

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