WHY do we DO good things.

[icantthinkofaname]

we do things of a good nature due to morality. this is effected (indirectly) by religion and (directly) by environment. by this i mean that religion has effected past generations morals and that this is then passed on to you. these feelings are a reslut of religion, i am sure you are well aware of why, which i cant be arsed to go into right now. for instance if some one were to have a poor ubringing, they are considered amoral (they have no morals) therefore effectively proving that morals are tort and are not at the core of a person; jsut as emotions arent

[Lovley]

#1 is what I live by. Call it an award if I am treated the way I treat someone if you'd like, but I'm not expecting it.

That can be a confusing sentence

[eBlip]

quote:Originally posted by Hammer&Sickle:

Hmm, what do you think, My two thoughts were, that

1.) Humans follow the teachings, treat others as you would like to be treated

2.) All Humans have a core, and believe that we will be rewarded for our good efforts considering it is entirely against human nature

3.) It feels good to do good things

What do you all think?

yeah yeah yeah,

we all walk round feeling righteous,and good and some say and do good things.

what i say is, those good things that you think you do, arnt so good after all...

the reason being, if you assessed yourself as a whole, including all the good things you do and all the bad things you do .

you would probably calculate that you are generally a good person..... but that is just bare faced IGNORANCE...

you are ignorant of the fact that you drink alcohol, and the bible says not to.

you are ignorant of the fact that you eat pork, and prawns and the bible says not to.

you are ignorant of the following also.

having savings in your bank account, when there are thousands all over the world starving.

wlaking passed a tramp in the street because you are embarrassed to sit and talk to him. you feel you are above him.

possibly you are racist or antimuslim, you dont love your fellow muslims as much as you love your fellow christians.

you eat meat and cause an extra chicken pig or cow to be brought up in a shoe box, when you could quite easily live off vegetables.

you buy fancy food, when all you need is say a plate of rice and a couple of carrots.

you spend your money on fancy houses, when all you need is 1 bed and 1 toilet.

you spend all night laughing in front of the tv, and wasting this glorious life you have been given, watching people pretending to act out a scene, that isnt even real.

you go out and buy hardwood tables, that look nice and contribute to the destruction of the rain forests.

you drive your car and pollute the beautiful earth.

you probably have more than one pair of LEATHER SHOES, the skin off some poor animals back.

you have cupboards full of tins and machines probably slave made by people in a poor country in destitute conditions.

you probably cant wait to stab your friends in the back, when your at home with your spouse.

you say things that may be true, but may hurt other people.

you act a certain way around certain people like your boss, bank manager, policeman, tramps, women and men. if you were true to yourself you would act the same around all of them

you probably have jewelry. what a waste of money time and energy.

money is probably very important to you.

etc.



and then you dare say , why do people do good things..

the answer is ....... THEY DONT.

the only reward you will probably ever get is burning in hell for eternity.

quote:Originally posted by eBlip:

and then you dare say, why do people do good things.

the answer is ....... THEY DONT.

Most people do do good things at least some of the time. Yes, I'm guilty of a lot of what you listed. And those are all bad things. But not every moment of my life is a selfish endeavor.

As far as why people do good things, here are a few reasons I once read:

Divine reward and punishment.

I don't personally subscribe to this theory, but it's a driving factor in most people's lives. What will get me in good with my god? And that's what you do.

Because good people are happy.

This has more credibility for me. It's a selfish reason, but so is divine reward. I do enjoy knowing that I've done something good. There's a comfort that comes in knowing that I've taken a step toward not being the worst person in the world.

Because it is natural to be good.

For most people, it's not. That's just part of the list I read, so I included it.

Because it is rational to be good.

That's a big part of it. No one has a logical reason to do something wrong. Doing right makes sense. There are forces within society and within ourselves that lead us away from doing rational good acts, though.

And society is a huge factor. We want to be accepted. (Of course, this leads to people doing bad things as well.) We want to be viewed as good people and be invited to cocktail parties.

And there's fear. Sometimes we do good because we're scared to do something bad. It's not the best motivation. Anything that keeps people performing good acts, though, short of being forced, is beneficial.

[Dr Kamme]

quote:Originally posted by Hammer&Sickle:

Hmm, what do you think, My two thoughts were, that

1.) Humans follow the teachings, treat others as you would like to be treated

2.) All Humans have a core, and believe that we will be rewarded for our good efforts considering it is entirely against human nature

3.) It feels good to do good things

What do you all think?

What do I think? I think you are a sensible primate. Maybe this explains better. For what it's worth (Jack/Shit) I like your thoughts.

[UrbnTbone]

quote:Originally posted by Hammer&Sickle:

well Eblip alot of your points are wrong, namely, the one about thebible saying you can't consume achohol and that you can''t eat pork or prawns, you are thinking of the torah and koran, not the bible,

Yes that is the bible, what you refer to is the gospels and "new" testament. But the bible, of course does teach these things. Well, alcohol is not forbidden in the bible, just allowed with moderation. And pork is forbidden only to Jews in the bible, gentiles are allowed to eat it, just like many other restrictions that are only meant to the Jews, whom God calls "a holy nation and a kingdom of priests" while the gentiles are commanded to observe 7 basic laws and keep their own faith, to reach bible-compatible status and salvation.

Just to fix the error. I mean not to say it is the truth, just what it is about.

[Craftian]

quote:Originally posted by Hammer&Sickle:

the one about thebible saying you can't consume achohol and that you can''t eat pork or prawns, you are thinking of the torah and koran, not the bible,

"And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase."

Deuteronomy 14:8

quote:And your points are more like opinions because they are dependant on the viewers definition of good and bad.

Just like every definition of morality, you mean? Invalidating every religion's interpretation of morality you mean?

[Latin1052]

when you do good things the good things come back in return

[ArmsMerchant]

In my book, there is no good and bad, they are just convenient labels.

Having said that, you missed a big reason why people do "go d" things--they get narcissistic supply by doing so. (For more info, google "personality disorders quiz," and take it.)

[DarkFire47]

"good" and "bad" are merely what society perceives them as. For example, it isn't a bad thing to eat pork in most societies, but jews (either that or muslims) will not eat pork because in their society, it is bad ot eat pork.

[Dark_Magneto]

There is no good or bad, only perception.

People do what they feel is right due to basic social contract. Vampire bats do it as well. If a bat becomes too sick to feed, the others will bring back sustinance for it. When it gets better, if it doesn not help others in need, the bat will be ostracized from the group and left to fend for itself.

[UrbnTbone]

So if one bat says "I'm from the chosen bats, you helped me but I don't need to help you", that's not fairplay.