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This is one of the toughest lessons I have ever had to learn - and I am by no means there yet! But if I could share something that I realised, through reading the books of the Dalai Lama and Thich N. Hanh, who have bot known an immeasurable amount of wrong-doing against them...

Knowing and achieving Universal Compassion, and Unconditional Love in your heart, does not mean that you have to accept everything and leave your guard down. HH the DL has infinite Compassion for the Chinese... But he refuses their invitations to tea.... He once said that to Love unconditionaly did not always mean 'Liking'... you don't have to like someone to love them... And it doesn't mean you have to give them "house-room"... It means simply recognising that their Humanity is absolutely completely identical to your own.
All anyone ever really wants is to be Understood, Appreciated and Loved. And if we could just try to understand that no matter who, and no matter what, everyone is looking for the same thing - peace in their lives and serenity in their hearts - it becomes easier to extend feelings of Love and Compassion towards others.
Difficult when being cut up through Road rage, or when a shop assistant is foul-mouthed, I know. But always true, nevertheless.

That's a wonderful post Alexandra <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It's like 'always look for the good in someone, whatever your instinct is' <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I would love to be like that - and will practise it more.

Dave - you say sin involves choice. Does that mean that those who are unaware of your definition of sin (which presumably is strictly defined by the Bible?), are necessarily sinning? If I don't know that (very implausibly) murder is wrong, is it a sin to murder? It's more of a philosophical question than anything else - what do you think?

best wishes - Jane <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Alexandra, you have put it beautifully.
Bless you!

Greenspice,
That's a good question. The Bible says that God has written His laws on the hearts of every person. We all know that lying and theft and murder are wrong. It's just something we all feel in our hearts. That's the signature of the Almighty.

Thankyou Alexandra - so very true.

I do believe that the actions of rape and murder are wrong. But if you met a rapist or murderer, and you didn't *know* what they did, how could you judge them? What if a murderer was a loving father and a good husband? How would you judge him?

I believe that judgements are based on what our own egos think and believe...

And egos are known to be wrong.

I strive to be non-judgmental. I didn't say I always was; but I believe it's NOT up to me to judge the goodness or badness of anyone. If I do, I am coming from a place of ego and not unconditional love.

This explains a lot. No matter what religion someone may be, the word of the Divine is already in their heart. That is how they may make the choices to stop making mistakes (sins) and to call Love (Jesus, Christ, Buddha) into their hearts and be reborn.

How wonderful!

Alexendra, this is about the most beautiful thing I've read all night <img src="/images/graemlins/music.gif" alt="" /> Thank you SOOOO much.

Thank you - and thank you all for your kind comments.
The only way I know how to contribute is to be as honest and as loving as I can....
I think we may have a tendency to forget that whomsoever has contributed to these discussions, has a life away from the keyboard - and no matter how much we might choose to open up and engage, we can never know or understand everything about them... What makes them tick - what floats their boat - So we can only respond to what we read...
Given that few of us use personal photos of ourselves as avatars, I cannot know what you all look like....
So I just try to visualise people, sitting infront of their keyboards, tapping away.... But at their shoulders is an enormous existence I know nothing about....A life unfolded and unfolding. Full of ups and downs, full of day to day mundane ordinary events...Just like mine.... but the fact that we're all here, all reading, is another way of recognising the interconnectedness... So even though we may be separated by thousands of miles, we are as close to one another as the letters in the words....The forum is a community. And we all belong.

Deanna,
You are indeed correct on judgement. It kind of goes both ways. For instance, we are not supposed to judge others or judge God. When we say something is right that God says is wrong then we judge God a liar. We do not judge others because we cannot see their hearts. You are correct about that. We discern their behavior as right or wrong based on judgements God has already made about that behavior. Behavior we can see so we must discern between right and wrong behavior, otherwise we could never decide for ourselves what is the right things to do or say.