Signa said:
Alternate answer, taking a different approach. From more of a Catholic/original sin angle. Hitler was a human, as am i. Therefore, I'm not better than Hitler, because what made Hitler a famous monster also exists within me. However, my ability recognize that fact puts me on a different level than Hitler, and I'd argue it's a better place because I'm less likely to l repeat his mistakes.
I like this answer. Good for you.
Arnox said:
Except people were suffering and dying under Hitler because he selfishly wanted to expand.
First off, I don't think I've ever heard a workable definition of "bad" from you, except "undesirable", which was countered with arguments that explain why something undesirable is sometimes good, such as going to the dentist. You have yet to respond to that argument.
To respond to your point:
Because HE wanted to expand? He alone? He was only thinking of himself and his own interests? He wasn't thinking of securing the existence of his people and a future for German children? He wasn't thinking of the destitute situation and insurmountable pit that Germany was cast into after the first World War, the same pit that the rest of the world looked into and said "Perhaps we shouldn't have dug it so deep"?
I don't think that's true, but let's say that it is. Is selfishness bad? Why?
What is the prime motivation for all humans? Self-preservation. To live. That is why we eat everyday, so that we can live. Unless you are a vegetarian, you kill animals so that you can eat. Unless you are a vegan, you trap and farm animals so that you can wear their fur and drink their milk.
If there are limited resources between two people, one does not willingly resign himself to death so that the other may live. There is a battle. A war, even. These wars over resources secure life and happiness for the men, women, and children of a community, at the expense of another community that did not have the strength to win. The exact methods and reasons may have changed over time, but war is a constant of humanity. To gain by the deprivation of another, that is human nature. That is the nature of any animal with the means to kill.
So why do we say that this is bad, that nature is wrong?
If the Native Americans had been a little more racist, perhaps they would not have been driven to near-extinction thanks to the foreign invaders who bulldozed over them in the name of civilization. I expect you to balk at this, but why is racism bad? Because the foundations of it are not true? If truth is good, and falsehood is bad, what is true, and what is false? Hitler killed millions. This is true. Is it good? You would say "no". But I am getting ahead of myself, I should wait for you to explain why racism is bad, and while you're at it, what "bad" is.
Also, times were different then as compared to the Old Testament times where war was CONSTANT and people were suffering and dying everywhere anyway.
If the times justify God, why do they not also justify Hitler? Is 1940 CE more distant to us than 1940 BCE? Is Hitler farther removed from us than Jehovah? If we can look upon God's situation and see reason in it, why can we not do so with Germany?