Like Milfoil, I must apologize in advance, although you do raise some interesting questions. Now, I'm Jewish, and am not versed in Christian theology, but I'll try to take my own perspective on what you say. Now, as a caveat, I should point out that in Jewish tradition, evil doesn't exist. There is no Satan, no Hell, no Original Sin. Since God is all, all must return to him and be part of His plan. People sin in the Bible, but the worst punishment is death. Even the residents of Sodom will indeed enjoy the fruits of the coming of the Messiah, since they are still from the seed of Adam.
Firstly, both in the Bible and in the Kabbalistic tradition, God embodies what is called the Duality of One, both male and female, and also something else altogether. He (I'm using the masculine for convenience's sake) is introduced at the Burning Bush as simply Being, "I am that I am." This simple sentence, in my mind, really embodies it all; the beginning and the end, the first potentiality, the sum of sums. There are actually two Genesis stories back to back; one which is the more familiar and one which follows the Greek tradition of the creation of androgynous beings. But I digress. The point is, that even when a man sins, he is still a man, and, at least the Old Testament God, does, to a point, recognize that man is imperfect. Adam and Eve were merely banished from Eden, not destroyed. After the Flood, God made a vow that never again would he cause the total annihilation of the world. The Bible recognizes that people really are just people.
Having established that, it follows that good and evil, like Milfoil said, are human constructs, that the Law of the Torah seeks to merely codify. In a sense, anything that seeks to destroy God's Creation is considered evil. Killing is not bad merely because you destroy another person, but because they are not yours to destroy; you didn't create them and you had no part in their existence.
I feel I'm going far 'round the bend to make a point, but I feel the need to establish certain points first, and this is a fascinating debate in any case. I try very hard not to be critical of other religions, but I find the Christian concepts of Good and Evil quite alien to me. How can the Devil be the sum of all evil, if he is a fallen angel? Why should he punish those who don't follow God's law, if he is in fact, evil? Does he work for God? Is he his lackey?
In any case, having established that there is Nothing but One, it follows that all departs and returns from the same source, both Love and Hate, Good and Evil. The divide between the two is not apparent in Jewish tradition; even Ahab and Jezebel were ultimately human, flawed, but still embodying God's image. Hatred is in fact separating yourself from the rest of Creation by deciding things you aren't qualified to, thus acting as a Creator which, obviously, no one is entitled to do.
ok, I really have lost myself a bit here, but bear with me a few more sentences, since at last, I'm coming to the point. Remember the Christian Golden Rule which states "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This is actually a subversion of the Jewish
negative Golden rule, which, in my mind, makes a little more sense. "Do
not do unto others as you would
not have them do unto you" is a lot more freeing and democratic. You don't have to be a good person, you don't have to love everyone, just be human, and the rest will take care of itself.
So, after all that, and I hope any of this made sense, I wouldn't say change your mantra, but a better one in my mind would be
"I am not God, hence I forgive myself and others as I am forgiven."
Matthew actually says this ""Do not judge others, and you will not be judged." WE as humans cannot judge what is evil and what is good, but merely stumble on as best we can.
Proverbs states: "Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar." This I take to mean, we're just not qualified to make statements about good and evil, since in a sense we are no better or worse than the worst sinners.
Now, as a finishing touch, I might add that none of what I have written above is true.
Or rather, it is a very limited view. We can debate throughout eternity as to the nature of God and be no closer to an answer than when we first began. This actually reinforces what I said, that we're all in the dark, and so, again, cannot judge good and evil.
Again, I apologize for the length, I just type really fast and have a big mouth
