Posted on May 21, 2015
SPC Charles Brown
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There have been several discussions about whether there is a God or not. I would like to keep this from becoming one of those discussions, if at all possible.

Remember to play nice, we are all adults here, and by and large should know how to play well with others due to our shared backgrounds.

My response is no.
If all humans were kind and caring (i.e. good) we would know no evil.
If all humans were mean and cruel (i.e. bad) we would know no good.
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Responses: 21
SGT Jeremiah B.
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Edited >1 y ago
Depends on how you look at it. I mean, what is evil exactly? I like the idea that evil is really just the absence of good. It doesn't actually create anything. Whenever it is completely present, it's like a virus that destroys the host before it can spread. It only destroys. In that case, it's kind of like saying "Can we have air without vacuum?" Absolutely. Evil doesn't make good possible, it just shows where good isn't.

So kinda, the answer is yes - With infinite good, there wouldn't be any evil. With infinite evil, there would simply be nothing.

Or I could have just pulled all that out of my ass after taking way too many philosophy and theology classes. Your choice.
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SPC Charles Brown
SPC Charles Brown
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SGT Jeremiah B. Brookings Good answer, no matter where it came from.
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Capt Retired
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Nothing exists unless the opposite also exists.
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MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca
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In a utopian society where we all got along and put hatred and differences aside it might be possible. MIGHT! We're a LONG way from that right now.
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SrA Edward Vong
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If we wipe away what we know that is evil now, the standards of what is evil will change, however it won't be true evil, it would just be not good.
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1LT Nick Kidwell
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We can have good without evil, but not in this lifetime.

Conversely, there cannot be evil without good as evil is essentially the absence of good.
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SPC Human Resources   Labor/Employee Relations
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This is something I could debate of DAYS on!

The ethical balance of Good vs. Evil. - Which is worse being a coward or over-confident? both can have negative affects- and in a moment when needed the most, both can be deadly. Or Being over sensitive or having a temper?

Character: What do you believe is right or wrong? There must be a genuine self-awareness of who you are at your very core.

Values: Values are the fundamental principles or rules when lived by make you "ethical" or not. You must have deeply-held core values that show themselves visibly in the everyday moral decisions you make.

Perspective: Perspective prevents you from leaning to one extreme or another. Having an ethical perspective requires the ability to be flexible in interpreting and analyzing things morally.

Responsibility: Ethically balanced people accept responsibility for their ethical shortcomings and make a genuine effort to change for the better. It is more than blame. It is an effort to do what it takes to change and move forward.

What type of Ethical/Moral person are YOU?
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SPC Charles Brown
SPC Charles Brown
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SPC (Join to see) are you asking me?
I help others when others cannot or will not.
I support those who cannot support themselves.
I volunteer when others will not.
If I make a mistake I own up and take responsibility.

Am I the best person on earth? NO, but I would be willing to bet that there are those who are worse than I.
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SPC Human Resources   Labor/Employee Relations
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I'm asking any one. I think good and evil are the same side of the same coin. Just how it's played.

Say someone donates their "name" or time to a cause.. Like many celebrities. We must ask, are they doing it for the good of man, or for the good of themselves (which could fall under vanity). Are they doing it for publicity or to help others?

Everyone has the ability to be evil and/or good. It's how we act, more than say, show how we really are.

*** SPC Charles Brown I wasn't calling you out. Lol
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SPC Charles Brown
SPC Charles Brown
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I just wanted to respond to your question. Even though you weren't calling me out, I felt the need to answer, trying to keep the ball rolling so to speak.

Sorry SPC (Join to see) for any confusion.

And since my name is most often ridiculed and compared to a comic strip I will sometimes feel the need to make my point. No harm done. I don't do what I do for self glorification, there is no self serving, just selfless service as we were taught in the military.
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SPC Human Resources   Labor/Employee Relations
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SPC Charles Brown - If I examine my M.O. closely, I help others because it's has a dual purpose. Those in need get help, and I get to feel again. See good and evil. I don't want anything out of it, except my own inner peace.
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SSgt Joe V.
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SGT (Join to see) - For good to be diminished is evil; still, however much it is diminished, something must remain of its original nature as long as it exists at all. For no matter what kind or however insignificant a thing may be, the good which is its "nature" cannot be destroyed without the thing itself being destroyed. There is good reason, therefore, to praise an uncorrupted thing, and if it were indeed an incorruptible thing which could not be destroyed, it would doubtless be all the more worthy of praise. When, however, a thing is corrupted, its corruption is an evil because it is, by just so much, a privation of the good. Where there is no privation of the good, there is no evil. Where there is evil, there is a corresponding diminution of the good. As long, then, as a thing is being corrupted, there is good in it of which it is being deprived; and in this process, if something of its being remains that cannot be further corrupted, this will then be an incorruptible entity, and to this great good it will have come through the process of corruption. But even if the corruption is not arrested, it still does not cease having some good of which it cannot be further deprived. If, however, the corruption comes to be total and entire, there is no good left either, because it is no longer an entity at all. Wherefore corruption cannot consume the good without also consuming the thing itself. Every actual entity is therefore good; a greater good if it cannot be corrupted, a lesser good if it can be. Yet only the foolish and unknowing can deny that it is still good even when corrupted. Whenever a thing is consumed by corruption, not even the corruption remains, for it is nothing in itself, having no subsistent being in which to exist. From this it follows that there is nothing to be called evil if there is nothing good. A good that wholly lacks an evil aspect is entirely good. Where there is some evil in a thing, its good is defective or defectible. Thus there can be no evil where there is no good. This leads us to a surprising conclusion: that, since every being, in so far as it is a being, is good, if we then say that a defective thing is bad, it would seem to mean that we are saying that what is evil is good, that only what is good is ever evil and that there is no evil apart from something good. This is because every actual entity is good. Nothing evil exists in itself, but only as an evil aspect of some actual entity. Therefore, there can be nothing evil except something good. Absurd as this sounds, nevertheless the logical connections of the argument compel us to it as inevitable.

From http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/346aug.html
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SGT Signal Support Systems Specialist
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SSgt Joe V.
SSgt Joe V.
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And, SFC James Sczymanski , it is five o'clock somewhere...
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SGT Signal Support Systems Specialist
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UH, You guys SSgt Joe V. and SFC James Sczymanski
CAN COUNT ME IN!!!
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SSG Human Resources Specialist
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I could for for some libations
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MAJ Bryan Zeski
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Good and evil are constructs that people use to explain why other people (or themselves) act in certain ways or do certain things. There is no good OR evil. People do bad things. People do good things. Neither is dependent on the other.
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GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad
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I voted no ... doesn't seem possible to me that you could have one without the other. But I will do you one better: if everyone was good (meaning there was no evil) ... would it even be called good? Wouldn't it just be the way people are?

SPC Charles Brown
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TSgt Hunter Logan
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SPC Charles Brown
SPC Charles Brown
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Well said GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad, unfortunately we will never find out in this lifetime.
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GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad
GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad
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Actually, I can't take the credit --- SGT (Join to see) figured that out before me. But you are right SPC Charles Brown --- we'll never find out in this lifetime.
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SGT Signal Support Systems Specialist
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Psshh. You posted first so... no
GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad
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1LT Platoon Leader
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Good is a point of view. There are no moral absolutes. It isn't black and white, only shades of gray.

@SPC Charles Brown Since this is your topic: Define Good and Evil
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1LT Platoon Leader
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TSgt Hunter Logan

You're right, that was out of line. I didn't know what part of my original argument he was refering to so I assumed the worst. (Though he didn't refute it).

Religion and logic is a dangerous combination and will always lead to missunderstandings, which is why dialogue needs to happen.

The argument itself is not innapropriate, and it is not a reach. Suicide is a real problem and the circumstances behind each individual case needs to be taken into account.
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1LT Nick Kidwell
1LT Nick Kidwell
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TSgt Hunter Logan - I get that he's trying to engage in a debate, I've simply realized there's a difference between an open sharing of ideas with others and what normally happens in these types of situations.

With the former, people's minds may or may not be changed, but there's a civil and respectful dialogue and mutual affirmation of each others' views. With the latter, it's usually merely a verbal slugfest in which one or more people are simply tying to be "right" and prove their point.

I felt it leaning towards the latter, so I chose to not continue.
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1LT Platoon Leader
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1LT Nick Kidwell

Fair enough...See you at the next topic :)
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1LT Platoon Leader
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PVT James Strait 51
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