Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!mit-eddie!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mgobbi@cs.ubc.ca (Mike Gobbi) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: a small question Message-ID: Date: 4 Oct 90 03:40:06 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Lines: 35 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu jon writes: >If we are supposed to love our neighbor, >how come we're born with the killer instinct? My first question when I saw this was "What is the killer instinct?" Taking a straigtforward interpretation, this would imply that when a human meets another human he instinctively desires to kill them. I cannot speak for society in general, I can fairly certainly state that this is not MY reaction. Taking the socially accepted (?) view of killer instinct as being the competitive drive, I see no conflict with this feeling and love. My fiercest contests (over schoolwork, athletics, or whatever) are with my best friends. If I DON'T love someone, I have no desire to compete with them at all. If you cannot respect (which I consider an integral part of love) a person, why should you care whether they are "better" than you at something? In fact, I don't think any scientist or sociologist has ever seriously suggested that humans have any such "killer instinct". The phrase is a description of our society and has no technical meaning. And I think there are few who would pretend that our society is an accurate repres- entation of God's will. ******** Examining the question from a syntactical view, a key point in the question is the phrase "supposed to". Just because something is God's will does not mean that it is guaranteed, or even easy. That's what free will is all about. -- __ /..\ In quest of knowledge.... --mm--mm-- Mike Gobbi