Good Faith versus Bad Faith

Many people have bad faith. That is, they expect the worse of others. I once knew a woman, for instance, who thought that when her husband returned home late from work, he did so because he was avoiding her rather than because he needed to work overtime to get caught up on his job. No matter how many times he tried to explain, she refused to believe his motives were anything other than bad. That's bad faith.

If she had had good faith, she would have accepted her husband's explanations until proven otherwise.

I have also noticed at times that some posters on various forums, including ours, have had bad faith. This can be seen, for instance, when they interpret an innocent remark in the worse possible light.

Generally speaking, I shun people who consistently display bad faith. I won't be bothered to put up with them. But what do you do? Do you bother to explain to them your position? Do you try to correct them? Do you just ignore them? How do you deal with people who have bad faith?

Do you agree that people who have good faith are not only much easier to get along with, but also worth seeking out and cultivating their friendship (all else being equal)?

Last, is it true that Seyorni has taken to making his hospital ward rounds on his motorcyle in an effort to cut back on the time it takes him to get from one patient to another, or is this just another silly RF rumor no one knows how it got started?

For me to answer, Phil I need to ask you a question or two.....

Or you mostly referring to conversations with people in person or online who show "bad faith?"

Don't you think it's the responsibility of BOTH parties to get their message across in the clearest way possible? Conversation is not one sided.....if one person senses an infraction, often the case is that it was intended to be taken as a negative. At least that's my experience on RF. Or a person is insensitive to begin with.

We have completely different meanings for these expressions.

Doing something in bad faith means doing something with bad intentions, and having faith that the negative impact you wish to create will take place.

Doing something in good faith means having good intentions, and having faith that the positive impact you wish to create will take place.

Sunstone said:

Generally speaking, I shun people who consistently display bad faith. I won't be bothered to put up with them. But what do you do? Do you bother to explain to them your position? Do you try to correct them? Do you just ignore them? How do you deal with people who have bad faith?

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Generally speaking, I base my response on what I suspect a person's motives are. That's not always a good idea, because there is always the possibility I am acting on bad faith myself in assuming that I am correctly interpreting his motives. When I'm wrong, I end up feeling really bad. Most of the time, though, my gut feeling ends up being pretty accurate. If I sense that a statement was made out of ignorance and that the person is simply uninformed, I try to explain my position to him. I'll go to most any length to build a bridge of understanding when it appears to me that this something I can ultimately accomplish, and I'll generally even allow several "blunders" on someone's part before I start to be overly suspicious. But when I suspect at the outset that someone is intentionally misrepresenting my beliefs, etc., I have almost no patience whatsoever with him. I have a real problem, for instance, with people who write these lengthy posts condemning me Hell because of my beliefs and then closing by saying, "God bless." I've never yet put anyone on ignore. I'm just too curious as to what people are saying to pretend they don't exist.

Do you agree that people who have good faith are not only much easier to get along with, but also worth seeking out and cultivating their friendship (all else being equal)?

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Obviously, yes. And there are many such people on RF.

Last, is it true that Seyorni has taken to making his hospital ward rounds on his motorcyle in an effort to cut back on the time it takes him to get from one patient to another, or is this just another silly RF rumor no one knows how it got started?

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I didn't even know Seyorni was even in the medical field, so you're going to have to fill me in on this one.

Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. NIV

Most people will project their own personal faults onto others. The liar truly believes that all people lie. They'll even tell you that "everybody does it". The same is true for the thief and the politician, as well as other character faults.

NetDoc said:

Most people will project their own personal faults onto others. The liar truly believes that all people lie. They'll even tell you that "everybody does it". The same is true for the thief and the politician, as well as other character faults.

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That's why the qualities we most dislike in others tend to be our own worst characteristics.

I treat the phenomena online and in daily life very differently. Online, I tend to ignore folks who seem to have a chip on their shoulder and limit my responses to them, though I do my best not to be instigated to respond to them in the way that they seem to expect people to respond. Ultimately, it's difficult to change anyone's mind online, due to the limits of the medium.

In daily life however, I always do my best to extend the benefit of doubt to anyone I happen to interact with, no matter how many times they may have displayed bad faith before. I find that after continued expression of good faith on my part towards them, most people tend to soften, at least in their interactions with me, if not others. Hopefully, over time, they will begin to see things differently because of my refusal to discount them as they expected me to, and their good faith will extend to others as well. Not that I'm always consistent in the effort. I have my blind spots too, but I always try to keep this ideal in mind.

Sunstone said:

Many people have bad faith. That is, they expect the worse of others. I once knew a woman, for instance, who thought that when her husband returned home late from work, he did so because he was avoiding her rather than because he needed to work overtime to get caught up on his job. No matter how many times he tried to explain, she refused to believe his motives were anything other than bad. That's bad faith.

If she had had good faith, she would have accepted her husband's explanations until proven otherwise.

I have also noticed at times that some posters on various forums, including ours, have had bad faith. This can be seen, for instance, when they interpret an innocent remark in the worse possible light.

Generally speaking, I shun people who consistently display bad faith. I won't be bothered to put up with them. But what do you do? Do you bother to explain to them your position? Do you try to correct them? Do you just ignore them? How do you deal with people who have bad faith?

Do you agree that people who have good faith are not only much easier to get along with, but also worth seeking out and cultivating their friendship (all else being equal)?

Last, is it true that Seyorni has taken to making his hospital ward rounds on his motorcyle in an effort to cut back on the time it takes him to get from one patient to another, or is this just another silly RF rumor no one knows how it got started?

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My signature says it; what you see is what you get. I won't pretend to be anything that I am not, and I expect others to 'play the same game'.

My wife, of course, thinks I am a gullible fool.

I agree with you Phil, people with good faith are so much easier and more fun to be with. As for Seyorni, I am sure he rides his bike in "good faith".

Quoth_The _Raven said:

That's why the qualities we most dislike in others tend to be our own worst characteristics.

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Or perhaps the things we perceive as our own worst characteristics.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8772014&dopt=Citation

I have also noticed at times that some posters on various forums, including ours, have had bad faith. This can be seen, for instance, when they interpret an innocent remark in the worse possible light.

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I probably meet this qualification more times than I am willing to admit. I have always been a promoter of proper communication though. If you don't mean it don't say it. I am not perfect when it comes to this but being as how intentions are not easily expressed in a forum such as this due to a lack of ability to show one's expression or demeanor, I place great importance on words one uses in posts. Smileys do help but only so much. I've seen even smileys get misinterpreted. On a personal note, for anyone who may feel that I am a person of "bad faith", I would like to clarify that while I may use strong words at times to communicate what I need to state, I take very little in here that personal and can honestly state that I harbor no harsh feelings towards anybody in here.

But what do you do? Do you bother to explain to them your position? Do you try to correct them? Do you just ignore them? How do you deal with people who have bad faith?

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Ofcourse I try to correct them by explaining my position further. It doesn't always work and I probably come across a bit harsh at times, but I do at least make an attempt. I have fallen short in this area at times but I believe it has to do with presuppositions that a person brings into a conversation based on what a person may be supporting or claiming allegiance to. We tend to steriotype without taking into account the human factor. The ironic thing is, I get upset when it is done to me while I do it to other people. It's quite hypocritical in practice, but I am trying to work on that.

Do you agree that people who have good faith are not only much easier to get along with, but also worth seeking out and cultivating their friendship (all else being equal)?

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Sure they are much easier to get along with, but there may not be much worth in making friends with only these types of people, depending on what one considers of worth. I have been in situations where I was pretty much forced to be around people I would not normally choose to be around with and must confess that I learned a great deal about how to get along with different people which has increased the amount of friendships I would not have had otherwise.

Sincerely,
SoliDeoGloria