Dualism
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Theological dualism is a philosophy or religious outlook that claims that the world is influenced by opposing forces of good and evil that are of approximately equal strength.
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Underlying rationale
The apparent motivation for developing dualistic ideas is to explain the existence of evil. Since good rejects evil, the continuing existence of evil is attributed to good's inability to eliminate it. Similarly, good's continuing existence is attributed to evil's inability to destroy it. Hence the idea that the opposing forces are of equal strength.
Dualistic religions
Zoroastrianism is a dualistic religion; more importantly for Christianity, so are the various forms of the heresies of Gnosticism. Christianity is completely incompatible with any kind of dualism, since God is all-powerful and no other being can rival him in any way. This is both implicit and explicit in the doctrine of creation, since it is evident that the creator of all things cannot in any way be rivalled by his creation.
Culture
Dualism is a powerful idea in popular culture. There is a longstanding dualistic belief that attributes more power to Satan than he actually has. The effects of this were seen in the witchcraft scares of the seventeenth century and in much superstition around the world. Dualistic ideas are strong in Science Fiction and Fantasy, such as the idea of the two sides of the "Force" in the Star Wars films and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
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