Does decency change throughout the ages or is what was once good always good?

Question

Or what was once bad, can that now be good? If you say yes to these please explain why you think so -- thanks

Answer 1

The Bible says that only God is good. Goodness is God's character and God does not change. Good will always be good, evil will always be the absence of good.

In regard to the racial comment above, I have a correction: It was never "bad and wrong for black people to eat in the same restaurants as white people." It was a standard not consistent with goodness, therefore, the standard was wrong, not the action.

Though societies do adopt different standards (either closer to or further from biblical standards), God's standard never changes and is always good.

Answer 2

Knowledge increases, and we learn what was meant in certain terms that have been believed before. The true foundation for decency is what your intent is. Decency is what you do, not in how you dress. How you dress, however, should not make it difficult for another person.
Good does remain as good, and bad does remain as bad. Rules of conduct however can cause rebellion that should not have existed before anyway. The issue does lay in your intent, along with a concern for others and what we do might adversely affect them.

Answer 3

In Victorian times, a woman showing her ankles was considered indecent. In modern times that is not the case. It is good because fashion is now more comfortable.

Related to this is bathing suits and the fact that 18th century women had wear long gowns and to sew weights into them so that their legs didn't show. Had this not changed, imagine what the Olympic swimming records would be!

At one time, a woman straddling a horse was considered indecent, so women rode sidesaddle. When that went by the wayside, it was good because it's much easier to control a horse when you straddle him and can use both legs to give him signals.

These are just a few examples, but I hope they help.

Answer 4

right and wrong are not subject to time. Popular perception of what is right and wrong may change but decency and indecency are static. If it were possible for these elements to vary with time, there would be no real definition of right and wrong other than to say that they are opposites, but how can that be true if the same thing that was right one day was wrong the next?

Answer 5

Other than eating with your fingers and throwing the bones over your shoulder for the help to pick up, I think once good is still good. Once bad is still bad.
If I poke anyone with a knife, it is still bad even eons later. That's why I love folk stories teaching children not to lie, cheat, steal, etc. - no matter the people telling the stories. Europe, India, China, Americas, everywhere all have the same themes in their stories/lore.

Answer 6

It sure changes a lot. It used to be good to treat people with dark skin color like trash and sub-humans. Burning "witches" was also good back in the days.

As for once being bad and becoming good, I guess showing more skin, to some extend. For example, people can get away with swimsuits that show a lot more skin then what they used to.

Answer 7

I really think it varies. For instance, when it comes to how one is dressed, "decency" changes from century to century. In our grandparents' days, men and women went swimming in coveralls.
When it comes to decent ways of treating one another, then there is no change.

Answer 8

It was once bad and wrong for black people to eat in the same restaurants as white people and for women to have the vote. And let's not even start on the topic of slavery.

Standards change as society progresses.

Answer 9

The Bible is constant and tells us good from bad.

Sometimes as we get smarter we realize that we were wrong to do something but the definition of good and bad stays the same.

Answer 10

some do some don't as knowledge grows our understanding is subject to change sometimes