Then maybe you should brush up on the office and duties of a Cardinal. And the general description of “Catholic”.
And the general description of “Christian”.
LEFT HAND OF: What’s baffling about my statement, it’s written clear concise English and makes perfect sense.
No I have no pity for a man [I use the term out of neccesity] that murders thousands of people, that’s the way I am, I tell it as I see it without flowery prose.
Saddam Hussein deserves to die and the sooner the better, preferably in pain so that he can reflect on what he made his victims endure before death claimed them.
Asshole is to good a word for him.
I used to regard myself as such an arbiter of justice that I could immediately tell, who’s good and who is evil. Saddam clearly is evil, but with all these voices demanding painful death and putting down people who exhibit compassion, my vision of the good becomes blurry.
I don’t feel compassion for Saddam, none. Pity yes, compassion no. But I don’t think he should be executed, it’s too easy on him and would make him look like a martyr. I suggest hard labor for the rest of his life, breaking rocks 12 hours a day.
I’m not contending that anyone has an obligation to feel compassion for Saddam, I’m arguing that it’s bullshit to attack anybody who does.
The thing I have trouble with in all this is that just because Saddam looked a little worse for wear does not in any fashion make him a “broken old man.” He is, by all accounts, completely unrepentent and if you really think he’s broken, just let him loose with a gun and see what he does. He’s captured, but far from broken.
Compassion–that’s all well and good. But I just hate to see it lavished on him as though “we’re sooooo sorry for that poor little mistreated murdering, raping, egomaniacal dictator” just because we all got to see the guy open his mouth. I’ve had worse oral exams at my doctor’s office, for pity’s sake. It’s not like they showed him getting a full body cavity search! And maybe I missed it somewhere, but I don’t remember anyone weeping any tears when Nick Nolte’s mug shot was published everywhere, and his appearance was just horrid. (Wasn’t that hair just AWFUL? Why didn’t they give that poor lonely looking man a comb before they took his picture, for cryin’ out loud?) So why should the Butcher of Baghdad receive such pity just because he wasn’t all spiffed up for the cameras?
Forgiving does not mean condoning or handing out foolish trust. Yes–we should forgive, but not for a minute should we turn our backs on that snake.
And not judging has nothing to do with acknowledging wrong. I am NOT being judgemental to say that someone who has committed unspeakable crimes should answer for them and severely. Jesus has been quoted here. Well remember–it says that while He told the woman caught in adultery that he did not condemn her, He also told her to “go and (what’s this?) SIN NO MORE.” Yes!! He judged her actions to be sin and told her not to do it again–and said nothing to indicate that future repeats would be as mercifully dealt with!! So it isn’t wrong for a Christian to recognize evil for what it is, and desire that it be punished. While we must forgive others, we still can’t turn a blind eye to such things. It’s acting as though we ourselves are perfect and are therefore better than anyone and everyone who does commit wrongs (and taking sadistic pleasure in their punishment), that we as Christians are not to do! It was this attitude that was being addressed–not the concept of calling a sin what it was! And it’s sad but true–forgiveness does not always eliminate the penalty.
And for the record, Jesus said to LOVE your enemies. You are not to mistreat them, if they are in need, you give, etc. But nowhere did He say that you have to LIKE them, and that is a completely different thing!
And nobody has said that anyone in this thread has to even have compassion for him, let alone LIKE him. I just think that it’s interesting that when handed an opportunity to put up or shut up on one of the most important tenets of their faith, a command that allegedly came directly from Jesus’ mouth, some of the Christians on this Board find that not only is it easier to ignore that command, but to ridicule and be angry at others for following it.