What Constitutes A Good Man?

[dizilluziondmasokist 0]

Does a good man bring down what he views as justice and then goes home to a fat dinner, to enjoy the fruits of his good doing. I do not think this is a truely good man.I think that when a good man does something he thinks is right, then he too should feel guilty for any lives he may have had to ruin to do that good deed. For instance, a "good man" sees a friend of his having serious drug addiction problems, he goes and tells a drug counciler. But that counciler ends up telling the police and they put that friend in jail. I think a good man should either have not told at all, I tried to help his friend personally, or feel remorse that his friend is now in prison, ruining his job, life and freedom. I think that the good man should try to get his friend out of prison through bail. What do you think?

[xsize 0]

not each who will put enemy, not each who rescues friend...

[dizilluziondmasokist 0]

I am sorry that I have to ask that, but can you explain what you mean by that?

[Joshua 0]

Does a good man bring down what he views as justice and then goes home to a fat dinner, to enjoy the fruits of his good doing. I do not think this is a truely good man.

I think that when a good man does something he thinks is right, then he too should feel guilty for any lives he may have had to ruin to do that good deed.

For instance, a "good man" sees a friend of his having serious drug addiction problems, he goes and tells a drug counciler. But that counciler ends up telling the police and they put that friend in jail. I think a good man should either have not told at all, I tried to help his friend personally, or feel remorse that his friend is now in prison, ruining his job, life and freedom. I think that the good man should try to get his friend out of prison through bail. What do you think?

22344[/snapback]

Only one man has ever been good.

 

Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

[Peaktao 0]

It's a very subjective and philosophical topic. I think considering your circumstance (your example), it depends on whether you intend the counciler to tell the police or not. If you have done it just because your good wishes and intention towards a friend...and you did your best to make sure that your friend's case would not reach the police, then you haven't done anything wrong. OK, this friend might be unlucky...and you might be one of the factors...which brought him into prison, but it would be wrong to put all the blame on you because, after all, you have done it with good intention and wishes...and you didn't intend all this mess to happen at all.Given that now this guy is in prison, yes I would think good guy would try and get him out by legal process (on bail)...But I wouldn't agree that a guy who told the councillor is a bad person....because after all it's not what he intended...and if he had done his best to make sure that his friend would only be helped and the case would not reach an official, then you can't blame him.

[mama_soap 0]

A lot depends on how you define what is good and what is not. It's such a relative concept that it is always rather tricky to deal with the idea. I think X is "good", Y thinks X is "bad", is there an absolute truth about X that lies beyond me and Y? Er... that wouldn't be an easy question to answer. The same sort of problem applies when you try to talk about what is 'right' and what is not.

For instance, a "good man" sees a friend of his having serious drug addiction problems, he goes and tells a drug counciler. But that counciler ends up telling the police and they put that friend in jail. I think a good man should either have not told at all, I tried to help his friend personally, or feel remorse that his friend is now in prison, ruining his job, life and freedom. I think that the good man should try to get his friend out of prison through bail. What do you think?

No offence at all, but that sounds a bit too straightforward an argument to me Sorry if I am missing something, but there are many things you'd like to consider before concluding what the 'good man' should feel. It depends on how close a friend the addict was, it depends on whether our good guy was being honest to himself or not (what were his real intentions?). And what is ruin? Depends again on what kind of an addict this friend is... into drugs to the point of destroying himself (in which case there was no life and freedom to begin with) or into drugs to the point of mild addiction (in which case getting him out of prison should'nt be a big deal, though I'm not entirely sure). In short, life's complicated for everyone, there is - at least as far as I'm concerned - no absolute meaning that can be associated meaningfully (er...) with the concepts of goodness and badness.

I guess I leave this open to further discussion from here, after basically saying "I don't know" (oh dear...) - and I'm surely going to follow this up to see what everyone thinks

[Saint_Michael 3]

are talking about mankind or a man guy boytoy or some other good names.but from what i read most make good point a good person would help those in need. also a good person would defend his or her family to the death from the enemy.a good person that lives a good live of supporting people home is a truly righteous person.

[Joshua 0]

Mama_Soap, I believe there is an absolute truth, one can be a "good" person by obeying the 10 commandments. Pretty straightforward right?

Like Christ said however, there is none good but one, God, and none of us ever will keep those commandments. Even the ones we'd think we'd fit like to not kill we learn we can violate just by hating others, and the final nail in the coffin is that if we break one point of them we break them all. It's why God had to step into this world and pay the price for our messups. We can't be good, we can be justified through faith in Christ however.

Concerning all the moral dilemmas everyone keeps bringing up, here's a simple rule:

Romans 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

It is never right to do evil, regardless of what good may come of it. It isn't our problem to right wrongs but to not do wrongs ourselves, God alone is a just judge and vengeance is His.

Romans 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

[homeloansnow 0]

It has been said that a good man, turning his addicted friend over to a counselor, is somehow not good because his friend goes to prison, which ruins the friend's life. But hasn't the friend ALREADY ruined his life? The addict is already a slave to the drugs, so his freedom is a moot point. Most addicts perform poorly in a work environment, so his job is of little consequence.Ask yourself this: If the friend kicks the drugs in prison, and learns coping skills to keep him from turning back to drugs, did not the 'good man' IMPROVE his life, even if the method seems extreme?A 'good man' weighs the outcome against the method, and if the outcome is an improvement, sees that perhaps the method is a necessity.

[morosophos 0]

Is the man good based upon his intentions or based upon the ends of his actions?If the man intending to help his friend told the councillor with hopes of his friend kicking his habit in time, the man can be classified as good upon intentions. Even if the councillor turns around and jails the friend, the man had nothing to do with the councillor's decision. One could claim, however, that the man is indirectly responsible for the friend's incarceration. The man had only in mind to save his friend from drugs, so he is still good as far as his intentions.If being put in prison is the bad outcome of this (as I assume it is by the way it was presented) and the man is to be judged based upon the ends of his actions, then the man is not good. His ingenuity to tell the councillor about his friend ultimately led to that friend's imprisonment.As far as I'm concerned, the man with good intentions is good. It's entirely unfair to judge someone based upon the unpredictable results of their actions. In an extreme example, there is the Chaos Theory, wherein every action possibly brings about what would seem as an unrelated event. Therefore it's arguable that Hurrican Katrina, above all surrounding meteorological circumstances, was ultimately caused by the disagreeable fashion by which I brushed my teeth. Perhaps I'm a bad person, but surely not that bad. Not to say that people should not be held responsible for what they knowingly commit. There are actions that have obvious consequences to them, and any good men will keep these in mind.

[Johnny 1]

I find myself to generally be pretty good.