Good and Evil: How do you know the difference?

bartdanr · Aug 30, 2005

Hi All,

How can you tell the difference between good and evil? Are there any moral absolutes? If so, what are they? Or if you don't believe in moral absolutes, how do you personally view something as "good" or "evil" (or do you not use those categories at all?) Does your view of God hold that s/he is good, evil, a little of both or above (or below) those categories?

Peace

pik48 · Aug 30, 2005

What is Good? It is good not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil. What is evil? It is evil to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is what i notice. We seem to have the knowledge of what is good. We judge to this level of what we think is good. So it seems that good came first. As the bible says. We then use good to judge evil. Evil is the same as sin. Disobedience in anything. If you are a chirstian, it is disobedience to God. If you arent a christian, disobedience to your own law that you have set up for yourself and cannot keep. You will be rightly judged according to your own law.<> God is good. (first) Man is evil. (second) Pik.

Feathers in Hair · Aug 30, 2005

An interesting question!

While I'm not sure if I believe in good and evil, I know what I see as 'evil' sets the hair on the back of my neck on edge and what makes me want to bare my teeth. (I have a bit of an animalistic reaction to some things, I must admit.)

Since my view of my gods is that I only 'support' (by worship or acknowledgement) those that I percieve as 'good' or having worthwhile knowledge to impart... Well, I may be a bit biased.

JerryL · Aug 30, 2005

No. Morality is a subjective term, therefore so are good and evil (moral stances).

Hazel · Aug 30, 2005

I believe that there is good and evil. I believe this because I am a Christian...(no further explanation needed I presume)

Those who say there are no rights or wrong are taking the easy way out. What about murder, rape etc. ? Some will tell you it might be right for the person taking that action but seem offensive to us, I don't buy it.

If someone makes the definitive statement that there is no wrong or right they have just contradicted themselves. They have said there is a definative rule, they have said there is a correct/right rule that states there is no wrong or right.

Feathers in Hair · Aug 30, 2005

I'm sorry, but while I don't believe in evil, that doesn't mean I don't believe in right and wrong or that I'm taking the easy way out.

Hazel · Aug 30, 2005

What is wrong if there is no evil? Is it just something that we feel with our instincts? That means that the murderer who felt by his instincts, in that moment, he was right to kill another human is beyond reproof.

Feathers in Hair · Aug 30, 2005

Hazel said:
What is wrong if there is no evil? Is it just something that we feel with our instincts? That means that the murderer who felt by his instincts, in that moment, he was right to kill another human is beyond reproof.

Evil is simply a handy term. I don't think human beings need a label on certain things to know that they are wrong. Rape, murder, child- molestation, violence against another being... These are things that I would hope everyone would recognize as detrimental. If someone's instinct was that it was 'right' to murder, the instincts of other beings say that it is wrong, which is why that person wouldn't be beyond reproof.

Hazel · Aug 30, 2005

I think what you are describing is evil. I don't understand your aversion to using that word when it is so clearly the wrong you speak of.

You might have a nation where it is right to give up your child to the elements if it is a girl, almost everyone in that nation might view it as right, but does that mean it is? I don't believe human approval counts for much at all when labeling right and wrong.

Feathers in Hair · Aug 30, 2005

I don't have any aversion to the word evil. It's just not my term or my mentality. If it suits your beliefs, I say use it all you like.

EnhancedSpirit · Aug 30, 2005

God's definition of goodness is total giving, total service, and absolute unselfishness. We are to live for others. You live for others and others live for you. God lives for man and man lives for God. The husband lives for his wife and the wife lives for her husband. This is goodness. And here unity, harmony, and prosperity abound.

Evil is the emergence of selfishness into this world. God's principle of unselfish giving was twisted into an ungodly principle of selfish taking. The ungodly position of desiring to be served rather than to serve was thereby established. The origin of evil is Satan. He was in the position to serve God, but instead he posed as another god and subjugated man for his own benefit.... His motivation was selfishness. Out of his selfishness comes the origin of evil and sin.

But we are not suppossed to judge what is evil or what is good. We can only decide what is right or wrong for our self, it's not up to us to decide what is right or wrong for another person.

KirbyFan101 · Aug 30, 2005

FeathersinHair said:
Evil is simply a handy term.

Yes, and the word "Good" is even moreso.

FeathersinHair said:
I don't think human beings need a label on certain things to know that they are wrong. Rape, murder, child- molestation, violence against another being... These are things that I would hope everyone would recognize as detrimental. If someone's instinct was that it was 'right' to murder, the instincts of other beings say that it is wrong, which is why that person wouldn't be beyond reproof.

Those examples are not absolutes of either good nor evil.

We live in a society dictated by morality, much of which stems from religion. Frankly, I am tired of my world being dictated by close minded religious bigots.

Feathers in Hair · Aug 30, 2005

I'm sorry. I wasn't saying I like the term evil or support it.

Please don't think of me as being one of those close minded bigots.

KirbyFan101 · Aug 30, 2005

FeathersinHair said:
I'm sorry. I wasn't saying I like the term evil or support it.

Please don't think of me as being one of those close minded bigots.

The last portion of my post was not directed at you!

The Black Whirlwind · Aug 30, 2005

you just know. feel, dont think.

Feathers in Hair · Aug 30, 2005

KirbyFan101 said:
The last portion of my post was not directed at you!

Oh, whew! *huge hugs* I was kinda worried, there!

retrorich · Aug 31, 2005

I think:

Something is good if it helps others;

something is evil if it hurts others;

something is neutral if it neither helps nor hurts others.

michel · Aug 31, 2005

Good one rich! Strange, isn't it - we have two names for the negative bad & evil and one for the positive one - good.

Evil and religious good I would say, as a Christian, are qhantified and qualified by the ten commandments - and perhaps my conscience; how I instinctively feel (as Feathers and others have said).

Good and bad are relative (the Good and bad as in the non-religious sense) - I mean, one simple example is that rain is good for the gardeners, but bad for the sun bathers.........

bartdanr · Aug 31, 2005

pik48 said:
What is Good? It is good not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil. What is evil? It is evil to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is what i notice. We seem to have the knowledge of what is good. We judge to this level of what we think is good. So it seems that good came first. As the bible says. We then use good to judge evil. Evil is the same as sin. Disobedience in anything. If you are a chirstian, it is disobedience to God. If you arent a christian, disobedience to your own law that you have set up for yourself and cannot keep. You will be rightly judged according to your own law.<> God is good. (first) Man is evil. (second) Pik.

Hi Pik, thanks for your post.

On your last point: what if your "own law" does not demand perfection? Do you still believe that you would be judged according to your own law?

Peace

bartdanr · Aug 31, 2005

Hazel said:
I believe that there is good and evil. I believe this because I am a Christian...(no further explanation needed I presume)

Those who say there are no rights or wrong are taking the easy way out. What about murder, rape etc. ? Some will tell you it might be right for the person taking that action but seem offensive to us, I don't buy it.

If someone makes the definitive statement that there is no wrong or right they have just contradicted themselves. They have said there is a definative rule, they have said there is a correct/right rule that states there is no wrong or right.

Hi Hazel, thanks for your post.

I don't necessarily think it is contradictory to claim that there is no "right or wrong", if that person is just refering to the moral realm. You can still believe that there are "right" and "wrong" meaning "true" and "false", but not necessarily believe that the moral categories of "right" and "wrong" are objective realities.

And refering to "right" and "wrong" (or "good" and "evil" as in my OP) as subjective is not saying that they don't exist. Dreams are subjective, and they have an existence--in the mind of the dreamer. My love for my wife is subjective, but it truly exists nonetheless. When something is "subjective" it merely means that it is dependent upon the subject. I love my wife, but others might not even know her. (Some might even dislike her, but of course, they're just crazy.

)

Do you believe, as a Christian, that something is "good" because God commands it, and "evil" if God is against it? Does this mean that the categories of "good" and "evil" exist only as subjective judgments of God, and not as objective realities?

Peace

Good and Evil: How do you know the difference?

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