evil as higher power and intelligence or does it have a mind of its own?

Jesus said that a person who is evil is in fact a slave to evil. This treats evil like it was some kind of controlling power that knows what it is doing. That type of thinking leads you to not seeing that anybody is evil but as a sort of puppet. And yet if evil is running them and they don't even see it you cannot say, "John steals but I don't think he would steal from me." If evil is so good at fooling it will fool him and it will be a surprise if he does not steal or even murder.  If evil is the master you cannot say what anybody can or will do.

Christians hold that one of God's top angels Satan turned against the goodness in himself and went off the rails and became permanently evil.  He is not just a rebel against God but extremely dangerous and Jesus calls him a murderer.  Satan inspires people to sin and educates them in evil and fools them.  If Satan is manipulating or controlling (or both) people as much as evil is then that is another added concern. He helps evil do its job as if it needs help.

You are lying to yourself that evil is to blame not people.  What is the point of any force or demon getting people to do harm for what it really wants is the heart of the evil person.  When you say  evil acts like a person possessing you, then maybe it is a person. Maybe the person is you!! If so then there are evil people after all! So why are you trying to make out that evil is like some puppeteer ghost? Why are you trying to get the bad man or woman off the hook? Are you even trying to get sympathy for the Devil? Is he the biggest victim of all?

If evil is a real power as those people say - though they deny they say it - then atheism is true. It is real so then it defines itself and we don't need to struggle with how to define it.  Does the sun need a definition?  It is real so it does not.

God has made evil powers and so cannot be called all-good. Religion says God does not make evil for evil is just good in the wrong place and time so it is a lack and not a power so it does not need a creator.  The worship of God is a clandestine nod to evil.

Religion is never that clear on what it means by evil.  That could well be a scam to avoid a precise definition for religion has always furthered and fostered evil in a subtle way in the name of righteousness.

Why are you saying that evil is not real in that way when you turn it into some kind of real god? It contradicts the notion that evil people such as rapists and murders and child molesters damage themselves more than the victim for they make themselves bad and filthy and degrade themselves thus even if they feel good about it. The good feelings are adding to the degradation. It in a sense then tells them they are good deep down and thus this damage is not real or true. It in a sense is evilly telling them that they can do evil and remain basically wonderful and good deep inside. Evil is like a cloak over how you shine so angelically.

That is not evil at all but playing with words.

Christians say that God is always for us and what is best for us so God did not curse us with death and punishment for sin. Sin does that. That idea tells us that sin must be an intelligence and a power after all. It is like God when it can punish and kill those who serve it and "reward" them like that. Sin is turned into a higher power so if it is that clever we cannot really think our love is true and genuine for thinking that could be a trick.  Sin wins now - looking at how it will fail tomorrow does not change the fact that it wins now.  It is as God now.

Religious people say the person with a dark soul thinks they are not effected and can be happy. They are supposed to be damaged at their core and the not realising is part of the damage. This dreadful argument implies that the child molested by a rapist has no deep and profound damage inside - their "soul" is okay. It is the soul of the attacker that is in question. The attacker is the one worse off. This seems to mean that you need good values to be a true human being and if you choose to push them out of your soul you are less than a person. Your dignity and potential are damaged.

There is something callous about saying that the abuser can't get to the child's soul as if that matters more than what is done to the body and mind.  Harm is more identifiable and obvious than this kind of nonsense so the harm should come first.  Nobody is very clear or precise on what exactly they mean by the damage.  It seems to have something broadly to do with our core relationship forging self. You damage your trustworthiness and suitability for relationship. The damage is done to your relationships with others to yourself and to God. You don’t need the idea of a soul or purpose in life from God to think that the damage is there. Those ideas are about trying to make out the damage is worse than what you realise. 

The damage then is not plain and obvious harm.

Does the harm refer to God actually making sure there is damage? If that is so then God's intervention is needed.  The real problem is God!  If the harm done to  your inner self need not happen and it happens then something or somebody is to blame.  God as creator would be the worst.

Thinking the damage is worse than what it is or people trying to get you to see that it is worse than what it is leads to you being more likely to do more harm in the future.  An alcoholic with 40% liver damage will probably keep drinking if he thinks the real number is 50% or worse.

It is a warped compliment to the abuser to tell her or him that they hurt themselves more than the victim in some way.  It is what they want to hear for all evil people like attention.

The damage done by the bad person to himself or herself is a side-effect of attacking the victim and yet the victim is not paramount.

The damage is said to be there even if we swear it is not and we may be accused of knowing deep down it is there but denying it.  So the bad person is accused of being a liar to himself or herself and everybody else.

Fear is more important than hate.  There is no hate unless fear is there to give birth to it.  The doctrine that sin manipulates and acts like a crafty person and even enslaves the Devil himself enforces fear of the sinner.  Looking at wrongdoing gives exactly that impression.  So the fear of the sinner who is the one giving evil some force is the seed of hate.  It is hate in embryo.

The damage can be at work when we think we are acting with love and dignity for it is very manipulative.  Surely the more wrongs you have done in life the less people should accept your conversion!  Love rules out evil regardless of whether it is an opposite or not. The religious say that if you do harm you harm yourself in a way you cannot harm the victim - you damage your dignity and your ethical self. It is like you become bad energy that fools even you and manipulates you. This makes forgiveness a pile of foolishness and irresponsible and yet without forgiving there can be no love so love is suspect. 

Love says the dignity of a person cannot be taken from them not even by themselves so we see another contradiction. Love is actually passive-aggressive in its view of evil-doers.

The flaws of atheists and atheism cannot subtract from its majesty - atheism can be summarised or paraphrased as the attitude that causing hurt to a person is as bad as and often worse than damaging their ethical concept of self or what they are on the ethical scale.  In other words, we dismiss notions that evildoers harm themselves in some mysterious way more than they harm the victim.  Such a doctrine is trying to make the victim feel revenge takes care of itself and good luck to it.

It looks more like people of faith are the damaged ones and they project this damage on to others!

Religion says it is wrong to say evil is a power. It says it is calling God the creator of evil for all powers are made by him and implies that good cannot really overcome evil if it is a power in its own right for it will always exist in some form.  But even if evil is not a power this is rendered meaningless for evil is invested with intelligence as it were and a power to enslave people.