In our class our teacher posed the question of what is right and what is wrong. He asked if we believe that everyone has a firm 'right' and 'wrong' sense of judgment and that everyone agrees on what is good and bad, so my answer/opinion to it was, without too much change:
"I believe there is a right and a wrong, a good and a bad, but no two single people agree on the exact same things of what is right and what is wrong.
A person is not born automatically knowing if their decisions are good or bad, they must be taught those things. So what is right and what is wrong? If one family believes, for instance, that guns should be allowed in homes, they will teach their children that and the children will believe that guns are a good thing and they are right. But another family could be strongly opposed to guns and believe they are a bad thing and teach their child that that is wrong to have a gun in the home for protective purposes.
So which family is right? There is no exact limit for what is right and wrong.
Or another example is that we are taught that with our Christian beliefs, certain things are more morally wrong than others, like wine. On the other hand, there are many religions’ and cultures that believe that wine is good, that it shows their love for Jesus, and is a good medical instrument.
We are taught by our beliefs what is right and wrong, so I am going to have to disagree that there is a confirmed right and wrong with the world and everyone knows what is right and wrong. Our culture has been so impacted on getting things to change and letting individuals express freedom, that even if there was once a compliance before, there isn’t now. There will always be something to disagree on.
I just use my best judgment and do what I believe is the right thing, because in my opinion it is what pleases God, not the world.
2 Nephi 5:32 'And I engraved that which is pleasing unto God. And if my people are pleased with the things of God they will be pleased with mine engravings which are upon these plates.'"
My questions to you:
What do you believe is right and wrong?
Do you believe that everyone has the same terms and agreement for what is right and wrong?
As always please comment respectfully towards mine and others' opinions. It's ok to agree or disagree as long as you are respectful about it. All harassing comments will be deleted. Thanks!
I think that in this case you need to look at the difference between moral right and wrong and relative right or wrong. For instance, we all know that murdering is bad. Humans seem to be born with an innate sense of the sanctity of life. Those without that usually have mental diseases. This is a moral truth. When it comes to things such as allowing kids to have "violent" toys that does rely on a persons opinion. However it is a slippery slope. There are a lot of decisions that lie within the transition are between moral truths and relative truths. An example would be movies. Is it alright to watch rated R movies? Many LDS people would answer no. But why? Because we have been told that inappropriate media will lead to immoral actions. Watching an R rated movie is not in and of itself a moral wrong, but the actions that it may influence you to make are moral wrongs (violent crime, sexual sins, etc.). Now this is a poor example. I personally don't believe that watching a R rated movie will turn you into a psychopath (innate psychological and physiological tendencies do that), but it certainly won't help. It is just interesting to me that some actions that aren't morally wrong can lead to actions that are morally wrong. That is where things get tricky. These "transitional actions" are the ones most hotly debated but also the ones most up for debate and the media continually erodes at what would be considered moral truths (such as murder, sanctity of sexual relations, etc.) Just some food for thought.
ReplyDeleteAlso here's some food for thought. What would you do in these situations and why?
You are in a room. Through a speaker in the ceiling you are told that in an adjoining room there are 30 people who will be killed. However you notice somebody of the opposite gender in the room with you. You are told that if you rape this person then the 30 people will not be killed. (I'm not trying to be crass here, it is an interesting moral dilemma.)
Another one
You are on the side of a street. A large bus comes flying down the street, the accelerator is stuck and the brakes don't work. Down the street from the bus is a father and son who have fallen and can't get up. The bus will kill them. Next to you is a very large man. You can throw him in front of the bus. If you do this, the bus will stop, but the large man will be killed. What will you do?
A final one.
You are next to a train track at a fork in the track.. A train is coming (out of control). In front of you is a switch controlling which side of the fork the train goes on. On one side is your immediate family. On the other side is 30 convicts. You must throw the switch, killing whoever is on that side of the track. Which side do you chose?
These are all interesting examples of morally dilemmas where what is right and wrong is not easily discerned. Yes, the are terrible, I understand. I'm curious to see what you would do.
From Aunt JoAnne , I nteresting thoughts Zach ? makes you stop and think ??
DeleteRight and wrong ? It is totally a personal decision based upon your upbringing and your moral compass. I have known many people that made a decisions I would never have made because of the impact on me, my soul, my spirituality and my family, but to them being raised differently and having a different moral compass that decision was completely natural, felt right, and no consequences or guilt were to be had from it. I think we are all born with an innate sense of goodness and a connection with God. But, the world and many different influences can change that as we grow up. If more people relied on what the Lord told them to do through prayer and listening to the spirit whisper to us, there would sure be less problems in the world !! All we can do it try to be examples of what we know to be right, teach our children what we know to be right and do right. If you are a family that believes guns are good and have them in your home, then with that comes a complete responsibility to teach the proper way to handle them and the consequences of mishandling them. That also applies to all things you choose to do and believe. I think that is a lot of the problem with the "right and wrong" dilemma in our society, they have not been taught and even in some cases have not had to experience the consequences of making bad moral choices , it seems that anymore there are no serious reprocussions for most immoral choices people make or if there is, they just don't seem to care until it is too late, then they have the "woo is me" attitude, they were wronged by society and everyone should feel sorry for me. There is not a lot of having to stand up and take responsibility for your bad choices anymore which leads to the break down of moral responsibility and knowing the right and wrong.
ReplyDeleteA week ago, in my history class, we covered the Sophists', Socrates', and Plato's theories regarding what is right and wrong. The way I remember Mr. Haroldsen teaching is as follows.
ReplyDeleteThe Sophists believed that truth and morals were completely dependent on the person. What you may think is wrong could be perfectly acceptable to another person; thus, you shouldn't try and enforce your morals and your truths on another person. Truth was interchangeable between persons. This, however, lead to people justifying any behavior whatsoever.
Socrates developed the theory that truth is truth no matter what and is not interchangeable. He also believed that truth is inside each of us and we can find it by searching within ourselves for it. That's why he developed the Socratic Method of teaching.
Plato's theory is a little harder to explain. Basically, he believed that truth is not interchangeable nor is it inside of us. We all see truth differently because we are essentially blinded. Plato tried explaining it with an allegory about a cave. There are these prisoners who were born and raised in the darkness of a cave and are facing a wall. Behind them is a walkway and behind that is a light source. When the guards walk in and yell at them, all the prisoners see is the shadow of the guard and to them, that is the guard. One of the prisoners breaks free and escapes outside. He's first blinded by the bright light and the vibrant colors. He's astounded and he goes back into the cave to try and explain what he saw to the other prisoners. They, however, could not understand his description of colors and depth and detail so they ignored him.
Plato is pretty much saying that most people only see shadows of the truth, not the whole thing. He believed that people see the truth differently, but truth is still the same. If people could see the whole truth, then they could make the right decisions always.
Transferring to my opinion, unfortunately, no one can see the whole truth. Seeing the whole truth means knowing all the sides of a situation and being able to decide which course of action is the best. Mr. Harolden explained it like so.
So, your girlfriend walks up to you in a dress and asks you, "Does this dress make me look fat?" Now, you know that you shouldn't tell lies, but you also know that you shouldn't hurt her feelings. Which is the greater truth? Which one do you follow? People prioritize the truths differently. What you may think of as a better course of action may be seen as a worse choice to someone else.
I agree mostly with Plato. I believe that people do prioritize truths differently, but there is an order to them. We may not know exactly the right order and try to guess how they go, but there is an order. However, I also believe partially with Socrates that the truth is inside people. It can be lost, though. It can be ignored, bypassed, or disregarded, but it is still truth.
I think that we cannot be the ultimate judge of what is right and what is wrong because we cannot see with a perfect eternal perspective. Sure, there are some pretty basic truths that we can judge upon (murdering, stealing, lying, ect.) but there are other subjects that we have a hard time seeing the eternal perspective. I think that if we try to find out what is right and wrong within ourselves first and then bring it to God and ask, "Is this is right choice?", then even though we might not see the eternal consequences, we have someone who can and will guide us.
Sincerely,
-Luke