Good & Evil

[BlueSky]

DQ said:
sorry, I meant too...

The reason I believe good and evil are co-dependant is because You cannot define one without the use of the other. What is being good if being bad (evil) does not exist? it would just be a state of being.
Good and Evil are relative terms I don't think you can state someone is a "good person" unless you have a bad attitude o person to compare them to.
________

Personally, I think of it the other way around. Evil cannot exist without good. But I believe good can exist without evil.

But maybe we should define good and evil first.

[dancingqueen]

How can you say that evil cannot exist without good, but good can exist without evil? does good not rely on evil just as evil relys on good?

[Macs II]

everything has to have opposite....there can't be hot without cold,good without bad and so on...

[BlueSky]

I asked you first DQ, why you believe they depend on each other for existence.

But think about good for a minute.
If I help a little old lady across the street, and have no selfish thought about it, would you say that was good?
Does that action require something evil to come into being?

What do we mean by good and evil anyway?

[Macs II]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bluesky</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I asked you first DQ, why you believe they depend on each other for existence.

But think about good for a minute.
If I help a little old lady across the street, and have no selfish thought about it, would you say that was good?
Does that action require something evil to come into being?

What do we mean by good and evil anyway?
</div></div>

helping the little old lady across the street is good .....pushing the little old lady into oncoming traffic is evil .....you can't possibly be this stupid ....are you?

You know you've done something good because the opposite would be bad

[dancingqueen]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bluesky</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I asked you first DQ, why you believe they depend on each other for existence.

But think about good for a minute.
If I help a little old lady across the street, and have no selfish thought about it, would you say that was good?
Does that action require something evil to come into being?

What do we mean by good and evil anyway?
</div></div>

Good and bad are relative (or maybe the word I'm looking for is comparative) terms, if there is no bad to compare good to then helping that lady across the street is just a choice you made.

[Anapeg]

Of course one can exist without the other. The problem then would become one of how would you know the difference? You must have one to compare to the other to distinguish the difference. Good can easily exist without evil and visa versa as can hot and cold but wherein lies the comparison? Could Hitler not have existed without Churchill? One can easily carry on without the other although we may not notice without the other to compare it to. Without failure, what is success?

[dancingqueen]

Hitler and Chirchill are not comparitive terms, or are they opposits. They are (where)two different people with different views. Water can be hot or cold but if cold did not exist how would hot be defined? Is it still hot, or is it just water at that point?

[riggs]

Is good just not the absence of evil and evil the absence of good?

They do not need each other to exist nor does there need to be a balancing act between them.

One only needs the other for comparison otherwise they remain in their own category.

[Huggy85]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: riggs</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Is good just not the absence of evil and evil the absence of good?

They do not need each other to exist nor does there need to be a balancing act between them.

One only needs the other for comparison otherwise they remain in their own category. </div></div>

Best post yet in this thread......

[dancingqueen]

If you cannot compare, then how do you know?

[Huggy85]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dancingqueen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If you cannot compare, then how do you know? </div></div>

Things that cause feeling of joy, for example, would be good. Things that cause feelings of sadness would be evil. No comparison needed.

[BlueSky]

Comparison only serves to measure distinction. But it is not necessary.

[Anapeg]

DQ, the men were not compareitive although their views where.

[dancingqueen]

yes, and who is to say one was right or the other was wrong? they where just different choices.

[BlueSky]

If evil and good are relative, and no one is permitted to say what is good and what is evil, then what the heck are we talking about?

[dancingqueen]

perhaps I misrepresented the idea. Good is meaningless without evil, and vice-versa

[Huggy85]

So a "good", well behaved child is not notable unless you have a "bad" brat to compare him or her to?

Poor example, but I think it does illustrate that good and evil do operate independently of one another.

[dancingqueen]

Would you appreciate the good as much if bad did not exist? It is difficult to say.

[ApocalypsePlease]

Something/nothing, positive/negative, light/darkness, heat/cold, good/evil always exist and are opposite yet inseparable from each other by their very nature, because they can only be defined in terms of their opposite. "Nothing", for example, is mostly just used as a way to express the absence of "something" and is not a physical concept, it exists as a mental connotation. So technically, nothing would still exist, but it would not be defined because it can't be defined without its opposite.

Bah, I think I just confused myself a bit.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dancingqueen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Would you appreciate the good as much if bad did not exist? It is difficult to say. </div></div>

Life would be VERY bland without such opposites, wouldn't you think? ... in fact ... you wouldn't be able to appreciate good, since you wouldn't know what it is in the first place. /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif

[BlueSky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dancingqueen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Would you appreciate the good as much if bad did not exist? It is difficult to say. </div></div>

That is really irrelevant to the question. Can I appreciate chocolate cake as much if I never tasted poop? (no offense.. it is a similar comparison /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

[Limitations]

There is a free will aspect to it that needs to be handled in the face of evil. That is not a black and white(analogy) matter.

It includes a full-hearted effort within a persevering approach.

There are times when it can get very hard to want to continue in the good direction.

The loyalty and commitment really do include proof.

It is all worth it.

[Chester Field]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Macs</div><div class="ubbcode-body">everything has to have opposite....there can't be hot without cold,good without bad and so on... </div></div>

Science tells us there is no such thing as cold. There is only absence of heat, measured from absolute zero.

Opposites are not necessary for something to exist, just for comparison as Riggs said.

[GenX]

Heat and cold are empirical, theology is spiritual.

Apples and oranges, boys.

[Limitations]

Theology is religious and I question your application of the word "boys".

[BlueSky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: R W G R</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Heat and cold are empirical, theology is spiritual.

Apples and oranges, boys. </div></div>

okay dad.

[Limitations]

Now now that did not help in clarification.

lol

(not mockery)

[Soundbear]

By definition God is good. No evil whatsoever, there.

Evil only exists in God's creations who have free will, but not omniscience.

Was Hitler ALL evil? NO. Was Churchill ALL good?? No.

[Limitations]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Limitations</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Now now that did not help in clarification.

lol

(not mockery)

</div></div>

[dancingqueen]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Barry Morris</div><div class="ubbcode-body">By definition God is good. No evil whatsoever, there.

Evil only exists in God's creations who have free will, but not omniscience.

Was Hitler ALL evil? NO. Was Churchill ALL good?? No. </div></div>

So, could evil have existed if God was not there?

[Soundbear]

NOTHING could have existed if God IS not here.

So what's your point??

[dancingqueen]

That is your religious belief. Lets say for sake of argument God represents all that is good (nothing more, nothing less) would evil have a place in this world if all that was good (God) did not?

[Soundbear]

Sorry, can't help you.

[Limitations]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dancingqueen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That is your religious belief. Lets say for sake of argument God represents all that is good (nothing more, nothing less) would evil have a place in this world if all that was good (God) did not? </div></div>
There is a clarification to the confusion.

I am not sure that you really want it or if so, whether, you wish it from me.

[dancingqueen]

I am very willing to accept constructive critisisim /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
please, have at 'er /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

"Constructive criticism"

Isn't that a soonet oxymoron? /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif

I would like to see that. I will print it out and frame it to remeber the time it happened. /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

[Soundbear]

It's not an oxymoron, unless you think that a critic telling people he liked a movie is lying.

[dancingqueen]

constructive critisisim is very benificial to someone who can take t.
It is simply put critisisim on a point, attitude, perspective etc... that is constructive to growth. Just because it is against what you see or think, does not mean the person is against you.
(actually, I think many people on here would benifit trying to accept constructive chritisisim)

Do you care to offer your clarification Limitations?
(no mockery)

[Limitations]

I came to the site within minute ago today.

My plan is to read the point of reference in question and responses, carefully, as soon as is within reason, for me.

[Soundbear]

So long as one recognizes the difference bewteen criticism and condemnation.

[Limitations]

[quote=dancingqueen]constructive critisisim is very benificial to someone who can take t.
It is simply put critisisim on a point, attitude, perspective etc... that is constructive to growth. Just because it is against what you see or think, does not mean the person is against you.
(actually, I think many people on here would benefit trying toaccept constructive chritisisim)

Do you care to offer your clarification Limitations?

Hello

Everything that I have posted from the beginning all is related to the importance of favouring healthy ways that are conducive to a safe enviroment.

Though their application can be difficult in a very hostile or more subdued tricky climate that does not change the truth of the matter and the importance of the need.

A full-hearted effort is much different then an intellectualizing approach.

Of course the right motivation is neither a minor detail.

True constructive criticism for the right reason is naturally not about a mind game.