Sunday, April 6, 2008
H8
No pictures this morning. I have been ruminating about a license plate I followed. Below the mega size Jesus is Lord (the larger the proclamation, the more insecure?...slap my hands, it is not my job to make judgments...) was the license plate "H8 EVIL". And I commented to Scott, well, who doesn't? (I'll always remember Bop criticizing an article I wrote about a veteran which I started with the lead quote about his hatred of war, and Bop said, that's not a good lead, because who doesn't?) Muslim terrorists hate evil, they just have a different definition of evil, namely "American". A teacher I work with told me this week that she hates our current president and believes he is evil (I think that is giving him more credit than he has earned, foolish and arrogant would be closer to how I judge his actions...) And the girls at school this week started a variety of "Hate So-and-so" clubs. Now my friend Russ at www.thekingpin68 has been writing very scholarly investigations into the theology of evil, I am just writing about how it invades our daily life. If love is God, then hate would be evil. It is not the evil that is evil, it is the HATE. We throw around the word hate too casually, I believe that words do have power and this one has power we should avoid. So what did I do about the little girls who are hating each other? (Savannah said she would play with Shayla and then ditched her, so Shayla started the Hate Savannah Club, then Savannah started the Hate Aimee Club because Aimee played with Shayla...it's international politics on the playground level.) We talked about how it makes us feel when someone hates us, and how much more fun it is to be friendly and kind and caring. Do you think that will work with them? And if we told terrorists to just set their minds on love...? What is your definition of evil?
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I think evil is a stand alone thing, exists wheter it is recognized or not. It has only one purpose to hurt or destroy something or someone.Fancy new blog.
ReplyDeleteMom
You asked for it! Since God is love and we really don't have the capacity to understand who/what God is, then we really don't know what love is. All we know is the effect it has on us. Then, in the same way, evil is also something we can't understand. We feel and see it's effect but to define what it is would be like trying to explain what God is. So, basically I feel evil is one of those mysteries that we will one day know but not here on earth. We will only know the effect of evil and, in my opinion, hate is one of the effects. There you go! Gita
ReplyDeleteInteresting question! Maybe we're the ones that need to focus on love ... not everyone else?? If you can - rent the documentary "One" ... if you want a link I can send you one. It won lots of awards in 2006 and is a beautifully done piece about questions like this -- from perspectives of your everyday person to philosophers. It opened my world to something beautiful and I learn everytime I watch it.
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks, I just caught this comment.:)
ReplyDeleteRuss
Happy Weekend, Jennifer.