You're Not Evil Because Of Who You Are; You're Evil Only Because Of What You Do!

[CyberRaiden1987]

I am a big fan of the Animorphs science fiction series. I mention that because I recently read Megamorphs #3: Elfangor's Secret. In this book, the Animorphs begin this book in an altered timeline. They have to chase Visser 4 through history to stop him and restore their original timeline. About 3/4 of the way through the book, due to Visser 4 f*cking with history, The USA doesn't exist, Napoleon Bonaparte won that war, and WWII is being fought by other countries. Germany and France were allies. The Animorphs eventually encounter Adolf Hitler (in this altered reality, Hitler was just a low ranking soldier and jeep driver). Tobias took the form of a large blades alien and was prepared to slit Hitler's throat. The other Animorphs and Hitler's superior were like, "WTF???" One of the Animorphs demanded to know what Tobias was doing and not to hurt him. Tobias responded: "This is Hitler! He dies! End of Story." Jake (the Animorphs leader) had to tell Tobias this: "Tobias, someone isn't evil just because of who they are. They're only evil because of what they do." He then proceeded to lecture Tobias on how in their native timeline, Hitler may have been one of the most evil men of the 20th Century, but in the current timeline, he was just a harmless soldier.

 

I bring that up because this is the first time I read this book after joining this site. When I read that part, I thought back to how Christian doctrine states that how us humans are evil and bad--not for what we have personally/individually done, but merely for existing. How messed up is that? We humans are t evil, just because we exist!!!

[Ellinas]

The mental acrobatics needed to square this with human responsibility are actually quite funny, from a non-believer's standpoint..

 

They are also tragic.

 

I know Christians desperate to justify saying "unsaved" infants are not hell-bound should they die; on what basis if they're as evil as anyone else...?

[sdelsolray]

…

"Tobias, someone isn't evil just because of who they are. They're only evil because of what they do."

…

This is an example of the evolution of morals and ethics in human societies.  In modern civilization, this statement is accepted.  Two to three thousand years ago…not so much.

[Guest afireinside]

The mental acrobatics needed to square this with human responsibility are actually quite funny, from a non-believer's standpoint..

 

They are also tragic.

 

I know Christians desperate to justify saying "unsaved" infants are not hell-bound should they die; on what basis if they're as evil as anyone else...?

The Bible says ALL men are creatures of Gods wrath. Babies have no righteousness as righteousness is a gift acquired by those who trust Jesus. If babies don't need to be justified then nobody does, aren't we all just babies in God's eyes? Either were all sinners by nature or we're not, you can't say we all need salvation then say some don't, if you believe in sin nature you must say it is all who are worthy of hell, babies, handicapped, far away unreached tribesmen etc. All screwed according to God, he is not lenient, he makes it clear

[seven77]

God is a jealous god.

 

He had no regard for life, human or otherwise.

 

He is the one who judges his creations and the creations are nothing without his everlasting love, don't ya know?

 

In my old church, who you are was FAITH. What you did were WORKS. No one was saved aside from FAITH and there was nothing you could do to be deserving of his saving grace. No WORK was great enough to please the master of your soul. Eternal life was offered and given to those who asked; it could not be earned.

 

Babies were not people. You had no FAITH until you were old enough to choose to accept his gift of eternal life at the moment of baptism. (10 was considered young; many waited until they were teens or young adults. Re-baptisms were common.) Therefore if a baby passed, it was assumed that God took it to heaven. Same rule applied to heathens who didn't know of Christ.

 

That is quite a bit different from mainstream Christianity. They did believe that man was born of sin and in sin. However, infants and young children could not choose to follow God and no WORK (parental pushing, pastoral persuasion, whatever) could convince a child who did not have a fully developed conscience. A lot of this was tied to the Jewish traditions and customs of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and how a young person should choose to become part of the community at a certain age after a period of study, prayer and meeting with pastors and advisors in the church. They also did infant dedications and allowed those who wished to do so to have their infants and young children baptized in the Catholic church if the family wanted to do so.

 

I'm not really sure what my former church actually believed or if there was any consensus on these sorts of things, really. Too much diversity, imo.

[owen652]

Reminds me of this:

https://m.fanfiction.net/u/181593/Peter-Chimaera