Are you a good person or a bad person?

Originally Posted by dov

However, if a Jew is being forced to bow before an idol, it is his responsibility to kill himself, if possible, so as not to do that act.

Hmmm... So do you think this requirement is a good thing? I can understand it being labeled a "bad" action if someone bows before something that is spiritually wrong for them of their own free will. But if someone has a gun pointed to their head? So someone points a gun to my head and requires me to bow before a statue of Satan and I do it, while inwardly saying, "In your dreams, Satan, and you and I both know it!" Then I escape and live to do nothing but good deed for the rest of my life and worship whatever is the true right Being to worship. Would Jewish doctine still label me as "bad"?

What if I had the gun pointed to my head and I bowed to the idol which resulted in the deaths of a million people? Would I be more or less bad than in the first instance?

What if by bowing with the gun pointed at my head, I could SAVE the lives of a million people? Would Jewish doctrine require me to refuse and save my soul, if not my life, at the expense of a million other lives?

PS How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?