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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SGT David T.
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Good and evil are subjective terms. We assign these words to things we like or dislike, but they are nothing more than opinions. Look at the enemy we face, they firmly believe that they are good and we are evil. We in contrast view them as evil and us as good.
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SPC Charles Brown
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SGT Jeremiah B.
SGT Jeremiah B.
9 y
I don't know if I'd go as far as saying good and evil are purely subjective. Yes, SOME of it may be subjective (stealing food to feed your family) but some of it is not unless you're an absolute nihilist (bayoneting babies for fun).
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Maj Chris Nelson
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I don't think you can have 1 without the other...good vs. evil is on the continuum. Is vandalism bad? Yes. Is it as bad as bank robbery or murder? No. So, on the continuum, it is closer to being good then the others. everything must be measured against something. The other 1/2 of this would be the interpretation. What is bad and worse to one person, may not be as bad or even worse to someone else.
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SGT Signal Support Systems Specialist
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No
No...
If you didn't have evil... how would you know good? And Vise Versa....

What say you guys,

SSgt Joe V. SPC (Join to see) MAJ (Join to see) GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad CPO (Join to see)
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SPC Human Resources   Labor/Employee Relations
SPC (Join to see)
9 y
I think good is over rated :)
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SPC Charles Brown
SPC Charles Brown
9 y
Gunny, er...excuse me... GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad any input you make into any thread is profound. Thanks for responding.
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SGT Jeremiah B.
SGT Jeremiah B.
9 y
SGT (Join to see)

Oh oh! I get to disagree. WHeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (eeeeeeeeeee(eeeeeee))!

Think of it like this - perception isn't what makes something real or not. A highlighter doesn't make the words in a book more powerful or meaningful. They just make the important bit easier to discern.

Or the classic example - Darkness is the absence of light. We don't create darkness as much as we block out light. Without darkness, we'd still have light. We just wouldn't have ever really noticed it for what it is.

Evil is the absence of good. Yes, evil makes good much easier to notice, but it doesn't create good and good doesn't need it to exist (not really. What does evil add exactly?). You could argue that the CAPACITY for evil makes good greater, but that's really just an argument that good is best when the chooser can choose not to be it.
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SGT Signal Support Systems Specialist
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No. How can you have darkness with light? It does not exist unless you are Dexter... Lol
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Can you have good without evil?
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SSgt Auto Total Loss Claims Associate
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without evil, there would not be a definitive answer to "what is good".
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LTC Operations Officer (Opso)
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Nope
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SSG Roger Ayscue
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Of Course, but without Evil, there is nothing to compair it too. Good then becoomes the Norm, but then....OH NOW! My eyes have gone cross.....Yes you can...going to bed now
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PO1 John Miller
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There will always be evil in the world. Just watch the one Simpsons episode where Lisa wishes for world peace, it gets granted, and the world gets taken over by aliens if you don't believe me! :)
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CPT Assistant Operations Officer (S3)
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It is all relative. There will always be bad people. It is just human nature. I wish it were not the case and would could trust everyone.
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PO2 Josh Rymer
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No for their to be good their has to be evil for us to judge it by. Just like at some resturants they will have just small and large and no medium. That drives me nuts because there has to be a medium for you to judge one small and one large. If you think about it, it can be a pretty deep subject lol
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SFC Stephen King
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In philosophy this argument has been a conundrum.. one argument I have used in a description of Good and Evil
is,
Thomas Hobbes the words ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are synonyms of ‘desired’ and ‘hated’.

Plato's argument the absolute good and evil.

So I believe you must have both. A Ying and a yang a positive and a negative.
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