i just wanted to expand on the heathens evil and good statement cuz i see the same clause all the time "without evil there is no good" so then evil has a purpose. evil is something defined by society. we think it evil to kill someone because that is what we've been taught to do. but if you were taught that killing was good then would there be an
imbedded impulse in you to object to this? you can argue both ways. ancient mayan societys use to do ritual murder and sacrifice and everyone in this society viewed it as sacred and good. if evil was universal then this society wouldnt exist. parents would offer there children to be killed because they thought it was good. there was this one festival were people would vote to give a mask to a citizen and he could pretend to be a god for a while and then they would burn him alive. this sounds evil to us but these people were actually hoping to be chosen because it was what they considered good. evil and good as we understand them do not exist. the reason i say you can argue both ways though is because the values and morals that were born from the hebrew religion are values that have governed most of societys through out history. and in trying to answer the question on a universal evil ask yourself; if you where taught to look at murder as good, would you look at murder as good or would there be something in you saying this was wrong, even though no one told you it was?

[Edited by blueboy on 10-12-2000 at 12:18 PM]