Hi, Donald. I'm sorry it has taken me a whole week to answer your post. I am taking a bunch of classes, and just got very behind answering all my messages, and this one required a lot of thought, so I saved it for a quiet time.
I think we were talking about evil and where it comes from. I was saying that I believed evil was real, but that it was almost always the result of a child being damaged, and then acting out in the wider world as the result of feeling powerless and angry. I believe alcoholism and depression and mental illness usually stem from this also, although there are some mental illnesses that do not.
You were asking me if it is something I just know in my heart, and saying that was getting pretty close to religion if I understood your point correctly.
I think everyone has a belief system of some sort, some of them Christian, and many otherwise. Everyone is certainly entitled to that. I just have objected when belief systems lead to violations of human and civil rights for others, not to having them.
However, many psychologists and sociologists would agree with me about where evil, or at least violent and criminal behavior, come from. I would say it is more science than belief system. Here is a new medical study which is about that:
biz.yahoo.com
In regard to abused children--the example that you gave is an incest victim, who is acting out sexually--they need treatment. There is really no excuse in a society which is this affluent that there are a lot of untreated, damaged children running around. I would to say to that child that it is wrong to hurt other people, just as it is wrong that he was hurt. I believe adults, except for severely mentally ill ones, are responsible for their own behavior and actions, and that even if they were severely damaged as children, it is their responsibility to get into treatment programs or therapy. Acknowledging that someone is committing crimes or has a drinking problem because they were abused children does not absolve them from trying very hard to overcome these problems, and it is important that they not inflict themselves on others.
I brought up Satan to make it clear that I don't believe he exists, but as you may have noticed, there is a whole group of people over here who see his influence everywhere--particularly in my posts. I think that is an absurd way to look at life, or the causative factors in why people do bad things.
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