Posted on 12/06/2020 2:49:36 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Edited on 12/06/2020 7:52:33 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
I pondered, "What if I were not a person of faith? What if I didn't belong to any religion at all? Surely, I'd still recognize that some principles and behaviors are good and beneficial while others are destructive — even evil.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
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Parler
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December 6, 2020
10 traits to tell good from evil
By Steve Bigler
Lately I’ve been thinking about defining characteristics of good and evil. I am a person of faith, so initially I might have been tempted to say simply that good adheres to the commandments of God, or at least to the tenets of a religion. But that’s too easy. First of all, not everyone believes in God. In addition, concepts of God vary widely. And finally, I’m not sure all religions are uniformly good!
So I pondered, “What if I were not a person of faith? What if I didn’t belong to any religion at all? Surely, I’d still recognize that some principles and behaviors are good and beneficial while others are destructive — even evil.
So I started reflecting on specific traits that I’ve observed to be good vs those I’ve found to be ultimately evil. They actually have little if anything to do with any specific religion. But I believe they’re valid markers. So I’ll offer a list of my “Top Ten Traits.” Feel free to add some of your own in your comments.
1. Good builds and creates. Evil tears down and destroys.
1a. As a corollary, good has beneficial long-range goals and plans. Good aspires to accomplish something positive. Evil exists only to oppose, mock, and heap scorn.
2. Good has a sense of humor. Evil has little or no sense of humor. In other words, good finds joy and laughter in life. Evil may indulge in gloating, smirking, and gleeful derision, but it virtually never laughs at the delightful humor inherent in the human condition.
2a. As a corollary, good appreciates and often employs self-deprecatory humor. Evil never does.
3. Good doesn’t stir others up to anger. Evil elevates that to an art form. Stirring up anger in others is the fundamental basis of how evil operates.
4. Good is willing to give others the benefit of the doubt. Evil loves to accuse others. It’s no accident that Satan’s name means “The Accuser.”
5. Good is willing to personally sacrifice for the benefit of others. Evil has no interest in personal sacrifice and in fact elevates itself above others and views them as inferior and unworthy of any sacrifice.
5a. A corollary is that good focuses on others first, which is the main ingredient of genuine love. I have a simple definition of genuine love of any kind: “love is when your happiness is necessary for my happiness.” Evil has no interest in love and generally views it as a weakness.
5b. An additional corollary is that if evil ever feigns any interest in the welfare of others, it’s only for the purpose of imposing and enforcing the oxymoron of “compulsory charity.”
6. Good is willing to defer gratitude and take a long-term approach to accomplish lasting benefit. Evil demands satisfaction right now.
7. Good cherishes truth. Good is willing to revise its narrative to fit the truth. Evil revises the truth to fit its narrative.
8. Good rarely and judiciously employs the principle that the end justifies the means. That principle is evil’s default operating system.
9. Good is humble. Evil is arrogant.
10. Good focuses on opportunity. Evil focuses on outcomes.
It is my understanding that copyright rules apply to American Thinker and we are suppose to excerpt.
Yes, you are right. American Thinker is on the list of 300 words or less excerpt due to copyright.
“Evil” is “Live” spelled backward.
Evil is anti-life.
Democrat Party = Evil
Constitutionalist = Good
applies to the poster not to us general lazy good for nothing couch potatoes
When I am around evil souls, I can feel my energy getting sucked away from me.
When I am around good souls, they shine and warm me like the sun.
The most difficult lessons in this were dealing with narcissists. The feel like a piece of furniture and radiate no energy. This is hidden by the facade they utilize to fool you.
The weeds are here now and very active.
**belly laugh**
Very true.
One wonders what goes on inside evil souls when they are around each other.
Do they feed on each other? Or does their desperate hunger simply become amplified to the point of rage?
A good analysis may be gleaned from a Scriptural word study of Good and Evil.
COSMOS = Order / World
CHAOS = Disorder
While every human has the ability to discern good from evil, (Fruit from the Garden of Eden) human good independent of divine good results in evil.
bookmark
NFL
Hard not to think about those humble bunch of fellas when looking at all these items, #3 in particular-stirring up others to incite anger and hatred
If you visit the DU, you will see how they feed off of one another.
“Good cherishes truth.”
Evil creates its own truth, to fit its goals. (Similar to evil’s “relative morality”.)
“We choose truth over facts.”
- Joe Biden
SAVE
Gah, sounds like a Star Trek episode! But yes, it’s true, dark souls almost always radiate darkness. I have found that when I pray for a person like that and ask the Lord to remove the spirit of darkness, it always lifts, if only for a little while.
I honestly cannot think of a scenario where "the end justifies the means" would be "Good."
This phrase typically means that the means used to get to a desired end are not what a good person would do in a normal situation, or that the means hurts someone. This is not good.
I'll have to disagree on this point. The end never justifies the means. The "means" stand on their own as good or evil.
“Is “Dog” anti-God?”
My one dog thinks she is God!
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