can you define good for me?

Question

i'm not talking about perfection or excellence, just good. some thing that is good cannot be perfect, or else we wouldn't have words like better or best. if something is good and good means perfect, you can't have something be more perfect or the most perfect. so what is good? and why does the bible teach us that no one is good?

and if we are god's creation, then we are good as well. but the bible teaches differently. contradiction?

furthermore, you didn't define good. how would you define it?

Answer 1

Well, as a philosophy major, such definitions were my responsibility, so I'll give it a try.

That which is good has intrinsic value, not merely instrumental value. Instrumental values are always good FOR something, so good, by itself, is about intrinsic values.

After that, we go to the thesaurus (sorry I didn't keep that perfectly wonderful video about The Saurus. I'll look for it.) Anyway, here's what I get:

"virtuous, worthy, honorable, morally excellent, righteous, upright; honest, reliable, conscientious; moral, wholesome, praiseworthy, exemplary; religious, pious, devout, pure, innocent, unsullied, untainted. . ."

Well, there's a huge list, but perhaps the antonyms are more helpful: "bad, evil, wicked, sinful, dishonorable, immoral, dishonest, unreliable; unworthy, unwholesome, blamable; sullied, fallen, corrupt, corrupted, tainted; mean, cruel, unkind, ill-disposed, selfish. . ."

Sounds like it's another one of those highly subjective words, doesn't it? So the answer is no, I cannot define "good" for you; you must do that for yourself.

Answer 2

God described his creation as good.

---i never said that he said we were perfect, neither does the bible say we are perfect. There is no contradiction because you explicitly explained that you asked good not perfect

"All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of GOD"