hellothere,
Hell [the final curse that results in death and seperation from God] comes as a consequence of unforgiven bad behaviour and not as a Divine edict. Your attitudes and behaviour results in the curses of hell. There is a hell over there!

You still perceive God as a created human with a sinister mind. God is Spirit. God is expressed in created reality, God is perfection of spirit. The character of God is to be [ought to be] declared through the lives of his true worshippers.

In 1 Corinthians 13 the true nature of the love of God is defined and is encouraged so that we live in the love of God. Conscience is the tool of understanding the consciousness of God in our thoughts and actions.

Conscience however must be educated, abuse of the body that results in lung cancer or AIDS is violation of the purposes for the body. Merely finding cures for diseases does not stop the diseases, a change in behaviour or not being involved in such behaviour is the best way of avoiding these curses.

You are like a child who denies he has a father simply because he hasn't seen him. You obviously have an image of god and by that image you will live and behave. However your personal god is based in sensuality and does not alert you to the consequences of your own bad behaviour.

Pericles and Hellothere...

"Love Thy Neighbour (during wartime)"

Lets set the framework first.

War is an activity carried out for a number of reasons.
1/ Defensive to protect lives and property.
2/ Offensive to gain territory and wealth.

Of course there are offensive actions in a defensive war, to overcome a tyrant like Hitler etc. But aggressive offense to gain territory can never be condoned under God. Iraq is a place where it remains to be seen which mode is being carried out, though the hype would have us believe it was altruistic, my view of human nature tells me its a mixed bag.

In a defensive framework, Romans 13 is our reference point.

Christian or otherwise, The emperor/king/president still has the Romans 13 state responsibility to enforce social order and justice and to 'deter the evildoer' with the 'sword' as deterrant.

We all know the difference between brutality for its own sake, and fighting to win against evil. I think the goal is to overcome the would be oppressor, and then show kindness as we did to the Germans and Japanese. Perhaps it was the 'absense' of such a value which saw the horrific brutality and lack of mercy by the Japanese who looked on their captives as beneath contempt ?

HelloThere, the concept of 'objectifying' people is persuasive, yes, but I suggest it is so, because of our Judao Christian heritage.
In the Old Testament pagan days (including Israels trysts with paganism) they had 'cult prostitutes, male and female'.... very objectifying I'd say..but God condemned this. Alienation from God, can lead to the cult of Dionysius, with its frenzied blood feasts, or to anywhere....Your own view has been conditioned by our cultural/religious value system inherited, but you elect to take God out of the picture yet retain the values...that mate is a house built on sand :) ..

'27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Mat 7.27

barake,
thanks for the confirmation, your last post confirms your status.

Forgive them father they know not what they do, I did expect some intelligent discussion from this site, its a pity a handfull of bigots are entrenched on every thread , more so if the thread opens a window of opportunity to spread their religious hatred crap. I am sure they get a lot of satisfaction out of reading each others posts, you are sick ,sick people I better move on before I am infected, mango tree

Boaz, I sense you are struggling a little under the weight of argument over "love thy neighbour", so I will add another feather or two.

>>But aggressive offense to gain territory can never be condoned under God.<<

So where exactly does this place the actions in the First World War? Were both sides being un-Christian, perhaps? I am having an interesting chat on another thread on the topic of the role of the regimental padre in such situations. Is he being un-Christian, too?

Let's go back to the root of this particular diversion. You said:

>>I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but there is only ONE divine commandment on which all human behavior should be determined by, "Love your neighbour as yourself"<<

In your world of absolute values, this would seem to be the most absolute of them all. But despite having "set the framework", you fail to return and address the specifics: who are the sinners here? Who are the folk who are failing to love their neighbour, but do not have the excuse that they are being defensive? Who have suspended their beliefs for the duration?

And what of the aftermath? You give it an undeserved rosy tint with "I think the goal is to overcome the would be oppressor, and then show kindness as we did to the Germans". The Treaty of Versailles was not particularly "kind" to the Germans, and allowed all sorts of political shenanigans (no Godwin's Law for this kid) to erupt a few years later.

War is an extreme situation. However, all hypotheses deserve to be put under some stress, for no better reason than to find out whether they hold up under pressure. Your philosophy would appear to prefer calm seas, fair weather and a following wind.

Of course, I do understand the real reason you are hedging, which is that you live in morbid fear of making a statement that would show up the postmodern, relativistic fault-lines that exist in any human endeavour.

mangotree 1,
Please do not get downhearted, look at the calibre of the loonies you refer to. Please understand we all have an opinion I have enjoyed yours, as I do David Boaz, sneekypete, tubley and many others, we need not agree on everything, however we can all learn from one another, and as David says "Love thy neighbour"

Look forward to your further contributions....