I'm talking about downloading it from the official site: http://www.java.com/...d/win8.jsp
I had downloaded it onto the other computer 8 months ago, but we had to get rid of it because of the virus it gave us (at least that's what my dad said). I want to get it on my laptop so I can play Minecraft, but I'm kind of scared.
Java itself doesn't. But people can program viruses into java applications. I've had it without a problem though.
There's this thing called Javascript which some viruses are made with. However Java and Javascript are two completely different things. Java can be used to create programs whereas JavaScript is primarily used in most web pages to provide interactivity/make a web page look pretty.
If your Dad found a virus labelled "JavaScript" he may have thought that the program "Java" was responsible, which is a fair assumption to make. But in actuality, Java itself is safe to have installed on your machine.
Anyway, to answer your question; Java is safe!
Yes java apps can