Dichotomy

[patroclus22]

I've been in the Bible Belt for a little under a week now, and its made me aware of something I've never noticed before. That is, just how easily people down here (In Tennessee) seem to define right & wrong. I don't have a definition for right or for wrong, in fact, I tend to think that neither right nor wrong really exist. Everything that happens is a mixture of the two extremes, but people don't seem to recognize that.
I've mentioned this to some friends of mine before, and was quickly deemed "amoral." Even my college philosophy teacher, when I posed the question to him, called me "completely devoid of any morals."
Am I completely off-base here, or do I come close to getting the whole right-wrong thing correct?

[Rocker]

right
wrong


happy
sad


depends on your point of view

[fwgx]

Right and wrong is a relative thing so there is no constant global right or wrong to refer to. It's a personal thing you must conclude yourself.

[ujay]

Nothing amoral in that.

Amoral means without any moral judgement, clearly not the case with you.

Right and wrong are not absolutes and vary from society to society as you've just discovered

I think of these things as a spectrum with right actions and wrong actions as the end points. How we deal with situations that arise depends on our own moral values and where in the spectrum we fit such situations. It does not mean you are without morals.

Having a too sharply defined sense of right and wrong is usually the first characteristic of any totalitarian regime.


UJ

[Aeroe]

christianity has a true moral foundation. it's written, unchanged, and studied but usually lays on the coffee table collecting dust.

[Bilbo Baggins]

But one persons morals are another chains.

[GoldenSphynx]

Originally posted by Aeroe
christianity has a true moral foundation. it's written, unchanged,

UNCHANGED!?!! since when? King Henry VIII changed the bible to attain a divorce...check this huge table out...look at all the changed verses and versions http://www.av1611.org/biblecom.html im not trying to dis your religion but still there you go

[Xerxes]

Re: Dichotomy

Originally posted by patroclus22
Everything that happens is a mixture of the two extremes, but people don't seem to recognize that.

That is close to taoist thinking...

[patroclus22]

Re: Re: Dichotomy

Originally posted by Xerxes


That is close to taoist thinking...

I really need to study more of the eastern religions. Particularly Tao, Zen, and Shinto. I have to admit that IMO they're alot closer to "right" than the major western religions.

christianity has a true moral foundation

That is the exact sentiment that troubles me. Christianity having "true" morals implies that other beliefs are "false." Once again, people see things in simple black and white. I'm really not sure why this is troubling me so much, or why this is all occurring to me down here. Maybe its just my reaction to the intolerance I've seen in the South, and to the narrow-mindedness I've encountered both here and back in the slightly-more-liberal north.

[Aeroe]

yes there's about 99.9% accuracy left in today's NIV, the problem in the modern revisions are due to language evolution to even some modern day political correctness. damn liberals...
if you are good with old english the king james is the best bet.
hebrew and greek to english...
there's much more that the site left out in terms of what words such as "love" came from as there's several words for it in ancient languages.

i could easily do the same for koran, translation from arabic to english has proven difficulty and there's two versions who conflict as well.


"true moral foundation", yes it sounds like i meant it. i'm not a pluralist.

[rm']

Re: Re: Re: Dichotomy

Originally posted by patroclus22
I really need to study more of the eastern religions. Particularly Tao, Zen, and Shinto.

I wouldn't be so quick to cal Taoism a religion. And, there is nothing wrong with being amoral.

[patroclus22]

More of a belief, then, instead of a religion?

[Xerxes]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Dichotomy

Originally posted by rm'

I wouldn't be so quick to cal Taoism a religion.

Good call, my young padawan (you are destined for sage-dom)

Taoism in the correct form isn't a religion... but not just a belief system. Maybe somewhere in between... perhaps. But I guess a real taoist sage would tell you that since words are so detached from the things they represent, that it doesn't matter what you call it. So I guess you could just say... "Taoism Is".

[Omit Name]

from my view there is somewhat of a divide of right and wrong but there are degree's of wrong that most just dont want to accept because they'd rather you not do wrong at all. (and that makes sense to me) cause er uh wrong is bad. and why do bad things.

*omit pauses to ponder what he just said.....

hmmm.... yeah.

[telinstryata]

When it comes down to the discussion of Right versus Wrong. The only place you can look is within yourself. What is Wrong for me may be Right for someone else. Even if you follow a specific religion, the final decision as to what is Right and Wrong still comes down to how YOU feel. Many believe that Murder is Wrong. While others believe it is Right in certain contexts. (ie the murdered has blasheamed, has commited murder themselves). Everyone must make their own decisions about Right and Wrong.