Where does "good" start and where does it "end", in terms of how we treat others?
373698
bottom line: Respect.
167509
You are associating with Evil = Not Good.  Because of the religious connotation you are inferring that good = religious.  Since you also equated good = dumb, then by the transitive property of equality, religious = dumb.
1185344
There are no "good hearts" or "bad hearts" -- we are of the human species. We are still evolving. Before we find fault and condemn in another, we must first look into the mirror of our own hearts...all designs of human kind are reflected there.    "An eye for an eye and the whole world is blind." (GANDHI)      Shift just a little and strive to feel, hear and see that the whole world is more than just a little mad and that the only "devils are those running around inside our own heart." (GANDHI)
276484
There is no general "classification". The view of a "good person" is as individual the individual himself. You have to make up your own mind as to what that is, as does everybody. There is really no point in just grasping the sociological standard of any opinion, including what can be classified as a good person.
1034216
Well, it seems that part of the morality of people could be attributed to what is beneficial to the species, what will keep us going.  Kind of  a pack mentality. But what is beneficial for the species isn't always conducive to harmonious sharing of the planet.  That's where what we teach our children comes in, how to live and function as a part of society.  Morals could be seen as the grease that helps us slide through life without any major snags, like prison, being ostracized, or a painful, lonely existence.
1005670
Isn't it curious that our understanding of good and bad are meant to originate in Adam and Eve's great 'sin'? That the 'sin' they committed was wanting to learn about their surroundings instead of just blindly saying 'my Father told me not to touch it, so ı won't touch it'?\n\nIn normal life, we call that growing up. We call it learning for yourself. And it's humanity's greatest single trait.\n\nIf it was the devil, in the form of a snake, that convinced Adam and Eve to open their eyes and question their surroundings, and if it was God who arbitrarily said 'look but don't touch', here is my question:\n\nWhich one of them should we give praise to?
1124782
Not at all. Being good is always appreciated by people. Sometimes it seems bad to be good only because of surroundings and don't let that bad surrounding pollute you! A person's got to be firm
955097
When someone called him "Good", Jesus said that the only person who is "Good" is his Father, even though he himself was/is perfect in all ways! (Mark 10:18) So, if he isn't "Good", then certainly none of us could be!  This is quite a controversial subject.  So, instead of my telling my views, I'd like to share an article that elaborates on God's view of the subject ...\n\nThe Hereafter---Where Will It Be?\n - Is Earth Just A Testing Ground?\n - Eternal Happiness--In Heaven or on Earth?\nhttp://www.watchtower.org/e/20001001/article_01.htm\n\nI encourage you to check the Scriptures in your own copy of the Bible.\n\n"Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine!" \n1 Th 5:21
1017583
Hard one.  I just want to say "judging others" :).  \n\nUmm...  determining what is right or wrong, good or bad, beautiful or ugly in anothers life.
1175690
Actually, this is of great debate. Some people say that human nature is good, possibly because of our tendency toward community and moral universalism (which is a debate among a few also). However, some people also say it is human nature to be evil and that is exploited in modern society with the loss of God as a societal focal point.  I actually believe that as humans, we are neutral because we have the ability to do great things on both sides of the spectrum.\n\nHowever, I noticed that you're comparing sins, murder and criminality (like stealing and lying) and saying stealing to live is not a sin. I agree with you! But the problem is that we live in a society built on capitalism, which demands that goods are made cheaply and sold for great profit. Workers are exploited, and there's a large mass of poor people to support the system. Capitalism cannot work any other way. It's not necessarily the rich people's fault.\n\nThe real problem is what we are taught growing up.  Everyone is told that if only they work hard enough, they all can earn lots of money and be happy, the American Dream to be middle class and middle management, if not higher. First of all, money doesn't bring happiness. And second of all, capitalism cannot function with a lot of people being more than the "poor" level, so people are forced to live in situations where they don't have enough food or money to pay rent. Surviving is not sinning.\n\nThat was addressing criminality as a sin part. Now you ask why god gave us evil. We, as people, are like the world and are neutral. The world creates many natural disasters which destroy and kill. This is part of its cycle. God is our guiding influence toward good, but since people are capable of evil and have free will, no one can stop someone from choosing destruction if that's their ultimate choice (what they would choose beyond others' talking to them, etc.)  Simply, God did not introduce evil. God introduced free will, which ran the risk of evil even though great things were possible through good. It was a risk factor and we have to learn through society to moderate those that are not choosing the best options, and this society does not best facilitate that.\n\nEDIT: And to respond to those that say evil is from Satan. The Bible stories are just that, stories to explain to ancient people why things are the way they are in the world.\n\nI do not believe in Satan. I believe it is a philosophical argument we examined from Anselm (a Christian philosopher if you must know.)  God is eternal, infinite, incorruptible. The only one.  God is also pure good. Evil is the absence of good, so everything has differing degrees of good and evil in them. Satan represents the entire lack of good, pure evil. But if Satan is pure evil, he is incorruptible (cannot be made more evil), but the only incorruptible thing, is God. So Satan does not exist at all because Satan cannot be the same as God.\n\nSatan does not tempt people to sin, people choose it of their own free will.
1115386
"Good" depends upon an individual person's upbringing and each one's personal definition of good. Tarzan, though a fictional character, grew up with no knowledge that any "religion" existed, Christian, Islam, or other. To him, "good" was probably letting one of his monkey friends have the last banana and evil was somebody stealing his banana. \n\nWithout knowledge, all we have to go on is experience. When we are young, we learn by seeing what our parents and those around us do. We are not born knowing what absolute good and evil are. We are in some ways like a computer program. We have to have someone program us to tell us what good and evil are and then we become game players and choose to be good or to be evil.\n\nI'm always facsinated by the concept of age determining our ability to make our own decisions. In the United States, the law says you cannot be tried as an adult (except in certain cases, usually involving murder) if you are under 18, because the law assumes that you don't know right from wrong until you turn 18, when you magically know.\n\nI believe that we learn at a very young age what's good and what's evil, from our own cultural standpoint. What's unclear is the levels of gray and whose version of good and evil is the "correct" one, if such a thing exists.
341619
Being a good person is more important.\nIf you're good, then good things should follow which will help you to be happy.\n\nIf you're happy without being good, you may be a person that people don't like. It's up to you though.
163833
Been reading Plato's Socratic dialogue with Euthyphro?  The question is: Is something good because it is loved by God(s), or is something loved by God(s) because it is good?  It's a delicious paradox.  Since I'm an atheist, I answer it by saying that morality stems from that which is considered good  in the society in which one is brought up.  Immorality stems from that which is considered wrong in that same society.  Right and wrong are not absolutes, but also not under the control of any beings other than ourselves.
419704
I'm not sure its 'circumstances' that make one bad. That is a psycho-social point of view, sure; but not one I share as a Christian psychologist - it's the choices we make that define us as 'bad' or 'good' and, if people choose to do bad things and reject God then perhaps they deserve to pay for it...
21201
Bad things happen to good and bad people both. It only seems like an injustice when it happens to a good person. Often, good people are people who have overcome bad circumstances.
1182008
A very good thing is that it grounds a society with some moral value system - this a central theme of most religions.\nUnfortunately that very grounding when taken too literally can drive extreme behavior and rather than create an inclusive cohesive world, it's differences can create rifts in our willingness to accept each other for who we are rather than what we believe.
1154234
There are 2 kinds of people.  Those who help.  Those who hurt.  Either way, we all are the same in our needs for food, shelter, money, achievement (recognition).  So we take care of our needs either legitimately without hurting others, or we take from others and eventually pay the price (prison or blown away).  The best we can do is live our lives positively, make up our own minds and not ever let anyone else make us afraid or keep us from doing what we want to do.  Bad things happen to good people.  We need to stay mostly alert and aware.