How do you tell good from evil?

Question

We all like to judge, but how can one point a finger at another human being and say, he is evil or he is good, or any other variation on the above.

Please no crappy, short, meanigless, waste-of-time answers.

Answer 1

Both are highly subjective. Christians feel that pride is a 'sin' and is therefore 'evil'. In my faith, we are SUPPOSED to be proud of our accomplishments, so pride is 'good'.

I don't think anyone can define 'good' or 'evil' outside of their own cultural, religious and/or social environment.

Incidentally, in my view your question should bring interesting responses and is therefore 'good'.

~Morg~
ETA: To the individual right below me. If repeated harassment and conversion attempts by evangelical types makes me annoyed (feel 'bad'), is evangelical christianity therefore 'evil'? I might say it is, but I bet they think it's good. It all depends on what side of the line you're on, doesn't it?
~M~

Answer 2

All social animals have an instinctive sense of Right and Wrong, together with the desire to do one and punish the other. It's a prerequisite for social living - watch the meerkat programs on Animal Planet to see how deep it goes.

There's nothing magical or supernatural about this instinct: any animal that doesn't evolve it can't be social. If an animal will benefit from becoming social - as many primates and birds have done - then the development of a basic drive to be nice to their fellows is essential. Those who have it will be part of the group; those who don't may be ostracized and die.

The core of the instinct is often called the Golden Rule, and it's a tendency to treat others as if their pain and enjoyment affected you - to at least some extent. All animals that rear their young, including non-social ones, have this tendency with their offspring. Social animals just widen the scope a little to include unrelated individuals.

It's this tendency, this instinct, that *defines what Good and Bad are*: one is in accord with the instinct, and the other counter to it.

Unfortunately, modern human society adds a number of other inputs into the decision-making process. The press and media have a profitable sideline in declaring the presence of evil in asylum seekers, benefit cheats, foreigners, adulterers, child molesters, crack users and Jade Goody.

Religions, too, have a thriving industry in declaring evil, according to a vast set of Bronze Age rules and customs, augmented by various additions made over the intervening centuries. Although many of these rules have little relevance - even in their own terms - in a world with antibiotics, paternity testing, forensics, near-perfect contraception and female emancipation, infringements continue to be pursued with great vigour.

Ultimately, Good and Bad (a less emotive term than 'evil') can still be assessed adequately according to their effects on society. The difficulty arises is determining the true extent of that effect without being prejudiced by the influences mentioned above.

CD

Answer 3

Honestly, I don't think without acknowledgement of God can a person logically define good and evil. Some have said to me that it is a matter of human worth. My question to them becomes, " Well, what is a human worth without a higher being putting humans on the Level the Judeo-Christian God does?"

We see the importance of this question for people like Hitler or Saddam Hussein. If human's worth is based on only OUR definition, then those two rulers had every right to exterminate anyone. This is also the debate over abortion and euthanasia.

I say all this as the basis to support the evidence of a higher being (God). Now which is the true God (Allah, Judeo-Christian God, Hindu gods, etc.) I have found in my own studies that only the Bible has been beyond reproof.

Answer 4

it is possible to see, or actually more possible to feel it.
(I am raised Christian, now a religious atheist with tendencies to shamanism and buddism, and because the latter i like to read some of the Daila Lama once in a while.)
i believe that every person in the deepest of his wishes, wants to diminish the suffering of the whole world. (all humans, animals should have as little fysical and emotional pain as possible). So that is why it hurts yourself when you hurt someone. Very naturally people start asking themselves then "did i do something wrong?" As soon as children have a clue of themselves as an individual amongst others, they will have these moral issues. (before that age/stage they might kill insects without any pain in their heart or hit their kin and friends hard, because they don't have a clue that they are inflicting something to the animal/person)
So, probably you recognize this feeling of conscience, it hurts to see other beings hurt. But then sometimes, you just know it is better to break up a relationship. Or sometimes it is the right thing to say "i don't help you, find out yourself", even thought these actions cause a lot of pain for the other. One cannot live without causing pain, and just that makes it hard to distinguish between good and evil. In these particular cases it is only the INTENTION behind the action, that can tell you the answer. The intention can be good, even though the action harmed people. So exept from having sweet intentions, knowledge about what causes what also needs to be sharpened to be a good person. And then, lately, right when i thought i know all these things quite well, i stepped into the role of the big Guru teaching life experience master. So i inflicted some pain on people because i thought it was the best way to make them see how things are, and hence they would later on have less pain. Good intention, but infected with a superior feeling.... ai... i was wrong. That was not good. How do i know? someone who i hurt very much this way told me it felt UNEQUAL, and mentioned the words "teacher's perspective". And i knew he was right, because it hurt me in a good way. I had to bow my head and introspect. Am i doing any good? what is good, what is wrong? maybe continuously asking this question is the best thing to be good. I hope so. But at this moment in my life, i think what guides me best is this gut feeling... when someone sais to me "i am hurt by what you just did" and i feel pity but no regret, i might have done the right thing to protect myself, or to help that person in the longer term. when i feel angry by a remark like that, or sorry, or ashamed, then i probably did something wrong there. It is a really physical experience to me. The truth is right there in the body, just need to listen to those signals. I do not meditate very oftern, in fact almost never, but i found out recently that it works very good.

Be strong, lots of love,
Dr. Aram
(a nickname that i invented to sound wise, so that i would get more best answers: i guess there is something not quite good about that, now that i think about it ;-)

Answer 5

Relativism is the position that all points of view are as valid and as any other points of view and that the individual is the measure of what is true for that person.

Someone might say that it is wrong to take another life needlessly. But why is that wrong, if there is no standard of right or wrong? You might say that it is a crime against society. But, so what? If what is true for you is simply true, then what is wrong with killing someone to protect yourself after you have robbed him? If is true for you that to protect yourself you must kill, then who cares what society says? Why is anyone obligated to conform to social norms? Doing so is a personal decision.

To make a judgment means that we must recognize that there are absolutes. In a world that worships relativism, absolutes are not welcome and the cults that espouse their demonic doctrines beg tolerance.

Christians are told in the Bible to separate themselves from the sinful practices of man and to expose error. "Examine all things and to hold fast to that which is true" says God's word (1 Thess. 5:21). So we do.
If we do not fight for the faith, the faith will be lost. If we do not expose the errors of the cults then the cults will move unchecked in the world and lead even more into eternal destruction.

lg:-)

Answer 6

That's a hard question to answer. The best I could think of was that someone evil is someone that deprives another living creature of its happiness. Someone that murders deprives that creature of living and maybe fufilling happiness in its existence. For someone that is good, maybe it means someone that lives and lets other live out their existence. Like I said, this is a hard question to answer.

I think people decide who is good or who is bad based on their prejudices so each person will have his or her own recipe of who is good and who is evil. I think it all comes down to of whether we like who you are and wether you are part of the "in-group" or part of the "out-group".

It think it's just human nature to point fingers, after all, we do have 10 of them, why not use them to our advantage and boost our self-esteem by degrading others?

Answer 7

I have to judge everything by God's word (the Bible). It gives a good indication of what kinds of things are evil and what is not. When in doubt, I pray about it and ask Godly people for help.

Answer 8

We all have good,and we all have evil within us.We cannot judge another human being,nor can they judge us.I just try to do more good than bad, and at the end of the day I sleep very well.

Answer 9

Eat from the Tree of Gnosis (Knowledge). In other words seek the truth. The truth of good and evil might surprise you. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus tells us to seek the truth and we will find, when we find we will be disturbed, then we will rejoice. Indeed the truth of good and evil can be quite disturbing and not always what you have been told.

Answer 10

I agree with a previous answer in that all of us have evil and good within us. All we can do is say that their actions are evil or good, not their heart.

You can judge actions, but you cannot judge the heart, that is God's territory alone.