SWIMfriend, don't you think this is a question every being kind of has to ask himself anyway, regardless of religious context? Are the things I believe in and follow really aimed towards something positive or am I deceiving myself? Or is something else deceiving me. Am I really conscious of the nature of the powers that are present in me; which aspects of my psyche are in control? Thanatos or Eros? How can we ever know for sure other than by the results?