Is there a thin line between love and hate?

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Gaven

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I have a question that I would like everybody to weigh in. God loves everybody but still some people don't cherish that and have hate in their hearts. Why????
 
Simply put (from an Islamic standpoint) many have lost the belief or adherence to the teachings of the creator (Whatever name you choose to give him). Some become befuddled in whatif's until the point they cannot know the right path, then when shown it, or told their path is insufficient jealousy reigns. Without delving too far into religious doctrine, the answer is simply, 'not knowing'.
 
If I were to be provocative I would say that if we are talking about the Abrahamic God, we are made in his image. Therefor how we act is a reflection of that God. That so many of us act in hateful ways, and most of humanity has done so down thru the centuries, seems to me that all of that negativity is contained within God too. Or we wouldn't be so adept at it.
 
Devils' Advocate said:
If I were to be provocative I would say that if we are talking about the Abrahamic God, we are made in his image. Therefor how we act is a reflection of that God. That so many of us act in hateful ways, and most of humanity has done so down thru the centuries, seems to me that all of that negativity is contained within God too. Or we wouldn't be so adept at it.
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That is a common argument of the non-believers, but doesn't really hold true to religious teachings (scriptural speaking). Yes we are created in God's image, that doesn't mean we are just like him. just as no Abrahamic faith believes God's powers are achievable by man (ok I admit, there might be a few sub denominations that differ), we don't believe we inherit all of his attributes nor all of his power or wisdom. it's easy to make that blanket statement, but seeing the underlying meaning is much more simple. We are all made with his word, the difference in mud and life is his word. His word is a part of him. His "Image" in this case is like a piece of his power (aka life) which he gave. That phrase has been used to cover everything from sin to art, yet we know from the same book, that God has no physical image.
 
Gaven said:
I have a question that I would like everybody to weigh in. God loves everybody but still some people don't cherish that and have hate in their hearts. Why????
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Why do you think that God loves everybody?
Looking around our planet, there is little evidence that (said) God loves everyone. The meek are not that well protected.
Ask the 1000s dying of poverty & diseases; telling them God loves them doesn't help.
People have hate in their hearts because they are not feeling cherished, in spite of all the do-gooders telling them that God loves them.
Telling a person dying of malnutrition to read some scripture doesn't help.
 
Why do people constantly blame God for all that is wrong in the world while readily taking credit for all that is good? Every major religion there is spells out quite clearly the guidelines God has set forth for us to follow. Don't blame God for the consequences of man's own stupidity and arrogance for not following them. God loved us enough to give us free will to choose right from wrong. Even going so far as to tell us the difference and the effect of following each. It's man that has made the wrong choices in spite of that, adversely affecting innocent people. Not God!
 
The problem with vindicating an omnipotent and omniscient god in the face of pure evil (theodicy) is impossible. Those who claim to have overcome it by recourse to the notion of free will and other incoherencies have simply piled bad philosophy onto bad ethics. Surely there must come a time when we will acknowledge the obvious: That idea (free will) is little more than a branch of human ignorance. Sure this is opinion! That is all we have---opinion...
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Why do people constantly blame God for all that is wrong in the world while readily taking credit for all that is good? Every major religion there is spells out quite clearly the guidelines God has set forth for us to follow. Don't blame God for the consequences of man's own stupidity and arrogance for not following them. God loved us enough to give us free will to choose right from wrong. Even going so far as to tell us the difference and the effect of following each. It's man that has made the wrong choices in spite of that, adversely affecting innocent people. Not God!
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Well done that man!
 
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Namaste Jesus said:
Don't blame God for the consequences of man's own stupidity and arrogance for not following them.
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This of course is the standard theological argument why God is all goodness and humankind reverts to their baser natures more often than not.

My question to this argument is why did God make humans the kind of creature that would default to their baser natures so much more often than their better natures. I get the whole 'choice on how we act is ours to make' declaration. Don't even disagree with that per se. But God could have made us any way he wanted. So why not make our species lean to our brighter sides more often than not? We would still be making our own decisions, only the default be to be good would be the stronger of the two forces.

Looking at the history of our species I can come up with only two conclusions. Either we were made neutral between good and evil, and humankind chooses evil more often than not by conscious decision. Or we were made to lean to our darker natures more strongly than are better natures.
 
Devils' Advocate said:
My question to this argument is why did God make humans the kind of creature that would default to their baser natures so much more often than their better natures. I get the whole 'choice on how we act is ours to make' declaration. Don't even disagree with that per se. But God could have made us any way he wanted. So why not make our species lean to our brighter sides more often than not?
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I don't know that their is a default position as you put it, we are simply free to choose one way or the other. From where I sit though, there's more good in the world than bad. Doesn't seem that way at times I know, especially to those on the receiving end of conflict, but all in all. So why do some follow the path of evil? There's just no simple answer, but pride has a lot to do with it. Afterall that was Satan's downfall. Pride in one's self has prevented many a man from admitting when he's wrong, taking more credit than he's due and expecting more than he's entitled. When man relies on himself rather than God, Satan's influence reigns supreme.

So what of those who do evil in the name of faith? No easy answer here either I'm afraid. There are those who misunderstand or misinterpret religious teachings. Those who are deliberately mislead or influenced by others and those who attempt to imitate the Bible rather than following it. Those poorly taught and the religious novice are particularly vulnerable here and many have rejected God because of it. It's a vicious circle, but again, as NJ says, God's not behind the mayhem. It's man.

I truly believe we're born innocent and good. Evil and hate are learned outside the womb.
 
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Aussie Thoughts said:
I truly believe we're born innocent and good. Evil and hate are learned outside the womb.
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This is the view of Islam as well. We also believe all children are born knowing knowing God and the correct path, but in our frailty of mind at the age are taught away from it.

In Islam the Good is implanted in man, as is his naivety, a condition of the lack of wisdom that Allah contains. Arrogance led to the first sin discussed from Allah (if there was one before he never mentions it to us). Shaytan (Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, etc) was a Djinn, one of if not the oldest free will creations. He was so knowledgeable about Allah he was among the angels. However when Allah told him to bow to Adam (PBUH), he did not. (mind you Angels aren't given free will) This arrogance of his superiority to man is the reason he was cast out and sentenced to Hell. His influence to man to do evil or unethical doings is part of his desire to prove man is not superior to him. His work involves taking people off the path entirely, leading to these situations.

Think about this, the US produces enough food to provide a 2000 calorie diet to nearly the whole world daily. Yet due to the fact that we eat more than we need, and unwilling to share it with the poor without payment (something clearly stated as a priority in all religious books I've ever seen) and we throw enough of it away to feed the whole of Africa, there is still a large portion of the world that has problems getting food. Yes I realize there are things that make a global food directive difficult or nearly impossible, yet God in his infinite wisdom has provided the answer, and deep down individually face to face, most of us are willing to help. Collectively however we have a few decision makers who would rather turn a larger profit than worry about helping the global standard of living. (not naming any Political candidates)
 
I believe the science that has studied such things have determined that we are neither good nor evil at birth. Morally we are a blank slate. We learn out morality from those who raise us. The few studies that have had the occasion to study a child who self raised themselves in the wild show that they have no moral compass whatsoever. They see the world through a morally neutral lens just like the other animals in the wild.
 
Devils' Advocate said:
I believe the science that has studied such things have determined that we are neither good nor evil at birth.
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not determined, theorized. we have no knowledge of what goes on in a newborn's head, and everything it sees, hears, touches, or tastes from the point of birth is its teacher. a baby raised in the wild will learn from the earth around it. If animals support it, it will learn from them. It would even learn from the animals that wish to do it harm. There is no way to test it, it is a pure matter of faith.
 
Aussie Thoughts said:
Well done that man!
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Back at you, RE#10. The only thing I would add is, I think people do lean toward good rather than evil, but these days the line between good and evil has become muddled in the name of political correctness. I think in light of that many fail to exercise their personal free will and simply go along.
 
Actually Joe, it seems the latest studies do suggest that even very young infants do have a moral compass. The blank slate concept which I have believed for a long time is apparently giving way to completely different theories. So with the facts at hand at this time I must acknowledge that my post #12 is incorrect.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/research-on-infant-morality
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Back at you, RE#10. The only thing I would add is, I think people do lean toward good rather than evil, but these days the line between good and evil has become muddled in the name of political correctness. I think in light of that many fail to exercise their personal free will and simply go along.
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This's true. Easier to go along than think for yourself I suppose.
 
Devils' Advocate said:
Actually Joe, it seems the latest studies do suggest that even very young infants do have a moral compass. The blank slate concept which I have believed for a long time is apparently giving way to completely different theories. So with the facts at hand at this time I must acknowledge that my post #12 is incorrect.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/research-on-infant-morality
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That is quite fascinating. And even though I agree with the theory it produced, I'm not sure the study if very conclusive. Of course this isn't the actual paper that was written or showing of any of the raw data. Interesting though.
 
There is no line at all.

Love and hate are the same energy...

The only difference is whether we accept or reject it.

This is a very superficial difference.

Purely mental, depending on whatever story they are believing.

Yet, that story is supported by love, even if the expression appears as hate.

We think love is positive, but it is simply energy.

What appears is just how energy is being expressed now.
 
Ummm, not sure I can agree the expression of hate is supported by love. I agree that all is energy. All our thoughts, feelings, fears, and desires - it's all energy. Where I break from what you is that I believe the energy we produce is positive or negative depending on how we express it. Because there is an inseparable bond between energy and matter, mind and body. The expression of your energy effects you physically for good or bad.
 
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