Posted by Gerry (65.93.90.118) on August 17, 2002 at 08:02:34:

In Reply to: Re: BK makes a fundamental misrepresentation posted by BK on August 16, 2002 at 12:27:04:

I appreciate your openness. (Segway - ) I would agree with the hypothesis that we are born deterministically. That is, our moral nature is already prescribed before we exit the womb. Whether reducing this fact to genetics or God is immaterial, since God is responsible for the genetics then we, as volitional physical beings, are responsible for the struggle against a template of "evil" cast on us by Him, or to maintain our "goodness" against the enticements and dangers of the world, if we have been given an essentially "good" nature. Our will is free; otherwise there could be no meaning whatsoever to the Guiding Principles of the Faith. "Guidance" to an entity that cannot be guided would be an absolute fraud. Guidance, the essence of all the words and writing of Shoghi Effendi, Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha" speaks to us as Free Persons. Physical Beings, not pure souls. The "Pure-Soul" issue is also a non-starter, for a soul is pure by definition. Its purity lies in its aethereal nature, not in its individual characterstics. The soul of Hitler is both pure and evil. It is challenged, when in Human Form, to move slowly forward toward some degree of moral wellness. But, and this is only an opinion, the Hitlers-in-Physical-Form will always exist. That will always be a way that God creates the challenge for Humanity, because if there were no evil, there would be no challenge, no need for Prophets, no need for guidance. The struggle between good and evil is, eventually, to be won by goodness. Yet, we are told we are in a 100,000 year cycle. I guess we have a few million years to go before we arrive at a semblance of Peace on Earth and Goodwill between all HumanKind.

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