Perhaps there is room for another lens-focusing re: your '...If you accept the spirit of evolu- tion, then you can justify agression and domination of others...' I can accept the possibility of evolution, God's using calamities and circumstances to effectuate 'progress' without perceiving it as evil/destructive intent which is behind the 'aggression/domination of others'. A thunderstorm is not 'out to get me'. I don't know about justifying an individual's/minority's oppression of others, however; that is vanity, not progress. We can accept/build on 'adverse results' (yes, an understatement, when referring to Hitler, but descriptive of all that seems less than joyful when progress is supposed to be the design).

There seems, also, to be a difference between loving an enemy and loving the evil that influenced them to BECOME our enemy. We are not told to 'love evil', but to remember that there is a human being in the cross fire of the struggle of conscience who is lacking love from within and from without. Love also means to not give up hope that a person's heart will change, to not hold his past against him if there is a true turn. Forgiveness.

So, when the song goes 'God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let NOTHING you dismay; remember, Christ the savior was born on christmas day, TO SAVE US ALL WHEN SATAN's POWER WHEN WE ARE GONE ASTRAY' it serves as a reminder that no matter how much evil there is in the world or within us by choice or neglect, our tickets to heaven are paid for. That doesn't mean it's ok to keep on doing evil, it just means our pasts won't be held against us for eternity if we turn our hearts away from evil.We are told to 'hate sin, but love the sinner'. Surely you know at least one person whom you'd prefer to be able to respect/love, though they seem really evil inside, and you can readily see their inner pain, that if that weren't there they might actually be nice people. It's a choice they have to make for themselves...

I compliment you on putting this so well: '...But we have to admit that both good and evil, God and the Devil in simple terms, has a place in our creation.'

• Re: Interesting post - yanniru - December 25, 2000 - 15:15 UTC
  • I agree with you - gwynj - December 25, 2000 - 15:48 UTC
    • Re: I agree with you - louielouie - December 26, 2000 - 15:04 UTC
      • wasn't even on the news - gwynj - December 26, 2000 - 23:38 UTC
        • Re: wasn't even on the news - louielouie - December 27, 2000 - 16:01 UTC
          • all talk and no action - gwynj - December 28, 2000 - 00:37 UTC
            • Re: all talk and no action - louielouie - December 28, 2000 - 10:47 UTC
              • it's funny - gwynj - December 29, 2000 - 05:33 UTC
              • Re: Re: all talk and no action - vaking - January 4, 2001 - 03:50 UTC
          • Re: Re: wasn't even on the news - vaking - January 4, 2001 - 03:36 UTC
        • Re: wasn't even on the news - vaking - January 4, 2001 - 03:33 UTC
  • Re: Re: Interesting post - equation - January 4, 2001 - 19:09 UTC
    • Re: Re: Re: Interesting post - gwynj - January 4, 2001 - 23:50 UTC
    • Re: Re: Re: Interesting post - equation - January 7, 2001 - 18:35 UTC
      • leaving - gwynj - January 9, 2001 - 20:14 UTC