he actually goes to great lengths to not hurt anyone, he even saves a life!

if you want to argue the morality of enlisting in the military that's an argument you'll have to have with someone else

i'm fully aware of that, but as a writer, or any kind of artist all you can do is tell your story how you want to, you have no control over how its interpreted.

but most great works have vigorous debates wrt meaning etc (im in no way claiming this is a great work), and even more so when it comes to satire.

I'm not arguing the morality of enlisting in the military. There is nothing immoral about enlisting.

However, being disappointed in being assigned the duty of medic and thus not having the ability to carry out government sanctioned killing is the definition of immoral. It is also inconsistent for his character. Why would a man who is willing to save another man be disappointed in being assigned to be a medic? Why does a man who seems to flaunt rules and is unwilling to take lives so readily embrace government sanctioned killing?

The only answer to these two questions is he is willing to break his moral code to avoid going to heaven which is what characterizes him as no different than a fanatical terrorist in my mind.

Actually I didn't need to write that much to convince you Sam is immoral. It's plain as day. Sam is willing to do something that he himself knows is immoral. He wants to do evil deeds because they are evil.

He is truly confused. His stance on Satan is not even consistent. On the one hand, he doesn't think Satan is that bad and that Satan is just misunderstood and the product of a PR campaign from the church. One the other, he buys in to Bible with regards to evil acts leading to Hell.

If he is so critical of the church yet committed to his own sense of morality, one would think that he would do acts that is considered sinful by the church but not immoral by nonbelievers. It would make much more sense for him to do things like have a giant gay orgy than hold up a liquor store or go to kill some 3rd world villagers.

not sure why you're trying to so hard to convince me that sam is immoral.

i believe i've stated several times that he was never made out to be a pillar of morality and the author (not narrator) never passes judgment on any of the characters.

loving the discussion tho!

Good read.