Love & Light or Hatred & Darkness?

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:19-21 NIV Darkness cannot drive out the dark because darkness is simply the absence of light. Similarly, hatred cannot drive out hate because hate is the absence of love. Darkness cannot exist when there is light just like hate cannot exist where love is present. Why is it that our world today thinks the way to deal with evil is to do more evil still? Evil is the absence of good. Less than a hundred years ago, a dictator deemed an entire race of people as evil and unequal. His solution was simply to exterminate them--and he tried. Other countries of the world rose up to stop him but not before he murdered some six million men, women & children. The dictator happened to be German. Does that mean all Germans are bad? No, not at all. The victims were Jews, God's chosen people. Were they all good? No, I'm sure they weren't. Right here in the US some fifty years or so ago, black citizens were denied basic rights by white citizens who saw themselves as superior. The blacks were beaten, ridiculed & killed in a supposed effort to protect the white race. Were the blacks inferior in any way? No, they weren't. Were the whites superior because of the color of their skin? No, not by any means. Less than 20 years ago, Muslim terrorists hijacked airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City in an act of holy gihad against the evil Empire of the United States of America. Are all Muslims murderers? No, I happen to personally know people of the Muslim faith who are peace-loving people. You see, evil presents itself in many ways. A person's race or nationality doesn't determine if he or she is good or bad, that person's heart is the determining factor. We all have the capacity for good & evil. Senseless acts of terror are committed on a daily basis. Most of us tend to associate mostly with those we see as like us in most respects. We fear what appears different or what we don't understand. Could it be that Satan uses these perceived differences to create fear and cause mankind to teach hatred instead of love? I'm a Christian man. I'm supposed to live a life above reproach, a life of good character, of integrity and above all, a life of love. If I pass judgement on a person becasue of his/her skin color or ethnic or religious background, am I living a life of love or am I perpetuating the cycle of hatred that has been prevalent for centuries? Seriously, what would Jesus do? Something to think about... Blessings! Tony