Does Good Always Win Over Evil?

[scustalow]

Isn't that the way it is supposed to be?..I think the key word is "Always"..any thoughts?

[SquirrelDip]

I doubt this is actually true but it is a belief that, IMO, everyone would want to hold true.

[Conquest10]

People like happy endings. If you want to see evil triumph, you're going to have to look at independent and foreign movies.

[3Simon7]

Does Good Always Win Over Evil?

You're dreaming!




edit........... After reading Conquest's post I was wondering, scustalow is
this thread about movies/TV or the real world?

[träskmannen]

Define good...

[Grimey]

You're assuming that there is one absolute definition for good and evil, however this is not the case. what might seem evil to you, might seem good to someone else. Those of us that consider ourselves good sit back and judge those we deem as evil, however those evil-doers are probably thinking the same thing about us.

Unless it is evil itself that casues those evil people to think that they are good, in which case there are two absolute definitions of good and evil..........hmm.......I need to think about this a little longer.

[SquirrelDip]

There's a quote from Secondhand Lions that's pretty good applied to this question:

Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

No, good does not always win over evil.

There is a delicate balance of back and forth between the two. If there wasnt, we would live in a eutopian society with no inherent problems at all cause everything would be "good."

[Shadowmistress]

I think the word you're looking for is "eventually".

Good, by nature will support other good thereby thriving.
Bad, once exhausting it's targets, will turn on iteself and self destruct.

You need patience.

[NiteLite]

I like the way you put it, Shadowmistress ....

One would have to define "good" (as stated above) and "win" and the nature of the thought or situation.
If one associates power or money for instance - in their own right neither good or bad - with the situation evil is hands down winning.
But with most cultures there is thought or belief that "eventually" good will overcome evil as stated by Shadowmistress.

Thinking mighty deep there, scustalow

NL

[gll99]

If you believe that ultimately everyone will answer for their deeds then the answer would be yes.
It doesn't mean that in the "here and now" and maybe in this lifetime people don't get away with stuff and the innocent do not suffer. It's just that in the big picture, under this concept, the evil will eventually pay.

If you don't believe in some ultimate accounting, then the answer would be no! Good does not always triumph over evil. In fact even when crooks pay for their bad deeds to "society" do the innnocent (the good) get any payback? Rarely! So what is justice? Who really received justice? Who wins?

On an individual basis "Evil" would probably often win if it set it mind to it. Imagine someone who wants to do bad and is willing to pay any price to accomplish this act. How could you say that good triumphs. Sure the evil one is caught or killed after the fact but the deed is already done. Society as a whole is still intact but the individuals against whom the bad deed was done still die or suffer.

The only way good can win over evil is to get there first and stop the act before it happens. Then you could say that good has won over evil in that case.

In movies it's a nice simple concept. Bad guy does bad, good guy bests bad guy. Everyone forgets about all the cars that were smashed and blown up and or people shot etc... Movies have a way of making you focus on the central characters and ignore all the mayhem that was part of the much needed movie's action scenes to keep things exciting.
The good guy smiles at the end as he drives away with the new girl he met along the way.
Good has triumphed again

[Shadowmistress]

If one associates power or money for instance - in their own right neither good or bad - with the situation evil is hands down winning.

Not necessarily. It depends on whether you used good or evil to achieve that money or power.
Famous sports atheletes aquire money by doing good at their sport, don't need much evil there.
Princess Diana had power over people through influence when she lived, didn't see much bad in her.
Opera Winfrey could be argued as having both. Can't say I've ever heard of her doing any evil.
It all depends on if your good deeds outweigh your bad or vice versa. And I'm talking about during this life.


My previous post wasn't meant to be theological, I was mostly thinking of what kind of society you could start and sustain (anybody read Steven King's "The Stand"?) rather than anything else. But on reading your post the phrase "Give unto Cesar what is Cesars and give unto God what is God's" comes to mind.

[scustalow]

So Evil can Destroy itself?and Can Evil be controled?

[Shadowmistress]

That depends on your definition of "controlled". You can control evil as much as you can control good. The rules are the same for both because you have a choice to make and you have free will. But then so does everyone else and we are all supposed to be equal.

Free will is a tricky thing. We don't always choose what is best for ourselves in the long run, we sometimes choose what feels good right now even if it comes back later on to bite us. If you look around in this day and age, all you see is the majority of people doing just that. (But then I guess it's been that way compared to any age.)

This is the world we as the human race have chosen to make. Nobody forced us into it because nobody took away our free will. The majority choice has ruled. But that doesn't mean it's too late.

You still have choice. You still have free will. Exercise it. Encourage others to exercise it. Maybe then the majority vote will swing the other way.


------------

On a side note, I often wonder what the world would be like if we didn't have free will and someone who could choose what's best for us would have control. Then I remember Angels. Blind obedience. They were just made that way. They cannot create a future or do any great things by themselves that they can take credit for, because the credit would go to who controls them. Sorta like a robot.

I like to think that we were made to be like angels, but just given free will. That it was done to make us happy and because we were loved. We just weren't mature enough to handle it though, and our time here on earth is to teach us to grow up.

Evil is a choice. Good is a choice. Free will is stronger than both. For everyone it's equal.

[NiteLite]

If one associates power or money for instance - in their own right neither good or bad - with the situation evil is hands down winning.

Not necessarily. It depends on whether you used good or evil to achieve that money or power.
Famous sports atheletes aquire money by doing good at their sport, don't need much evil there.
Princess Diana had power over people through influence when she lived, didn't see much bad in her.
Opera Winfrey could be argued as having both. Can't say I've ever heard of her doing any evil.
It all depends on if your good deeds outweigh your bad or vice versa. And I'm talking about during this life.

We don't always choose what is best for ourselves in the long run, we sometimes choose what feels good right now even if it comes back later on to bite us. If you look around in this day and age, all you see is the majority of people doing just that.

That last quote was my point. Not a few individuals but the world as a whole.
As a collective I see evil being used way more than good to achieve that money or power.
Next point> as far as choices...about the only choices we have are the choices to be good or evil. Most everything else is beyond our control - being that control is an illusion anyway.
NL

[Shadowmistress]

As a collective I see evil being used way more than good to achieve that money or power.

Because it's easier. Evil will get you money and power faster than good will so it would seem logical to choose it, but then later it will take something else away you value more. Your world. Happiness. It self destructs. You end up paying for the convenience of "easy" with sorrow. Nothing in life is free. Most people don't realize that. I wish they would.

Doing "right" is better than doing "right now".

[ZAPPER]

Ah, there is no good or evil, no yin and yang, no balance, no harmony, only what is and what is not.

Zapper

[ZAPPER]

What is a fence? Does it contain? Does it exclude? Does it define? To a bird, just another place to sit and rest.

Zapper

[ZAPPER]

What? Me worry?

Alfred E Newman

[ZAPPER]

Deep in the human self there is only comfort and discomfort. All things in the human self boil down to comfort or discomfort.

[Super Warrior]

Good always winning over Evil?

Pffft! You wish!

[Abbadon]

Your question reminded me a Philosophy class I had when I was young. According to a religion called Zoroastrianism, good cannot exists without evil, because the balance of the universe would be lost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrian

There is also the belief of duality:

"Those who believe in the duality theory of evil believe that evil cannot exist without good, nor good without evil, as they are both objective states and opposite ends of the same scale."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil

In certain occasions, evil is just a tool used to punish wrongdoers, an example is when the God of the bible was angry with King Sau and sent a spirit to give him a lesson. In the Old Testament we read:

"1 Samuel 16:14-23) Saul is troubled by an evil spirit sent by God"

[Conquest10]

You're assuming that there is one absolute definition for good and evil, however this is not the case. what might seem evil to you, might seem good to someone else. Those of us that consider ourselves good sit back and judge those we deem as evil, however those evil-doers are probably thinking the same thing about us.

True, true.

[Dv8ted2]

To quote Spaceballs

Evil will always win, because good is dumb.

[DePutoMadre]

it's the truth that the evil almost always wins over good...

[AlecWest]

it's the truth that the evil almost always wins over good...

I disagree ... but I think the opposite would be untrue, too. I think good and evil are always in balance ... and that perceived victories by either good or evil forces always have a catch attached to them. One step forward, one step back, etc., etc.

Remember how airbags were supposed to save lives? Well, they do. But in some cases, they can kill small children ... and in other cases, if windows are rolled up in an airtight auto, they can blow out the eardrums of drivers/passengers - leaving them alive but deaf.

Or how about passive auto alarms. They were supposed to stop auto theft. Well, they did. But they also led to a NEW crime that, for the most part, didn't exist before them - carjacking.

Even if Al Qaeda managed to defeat Western Civilization and Osama bin Laden became Caliph of the World, how long would it be before opposition groups rose up to challenge his authority ... even among his own ranks?

I remember in the film "Patton" that George C. Scott referred to an ancient triumphant general who was led by procession through the streets of a city he'd vanquished. And as everyone cheered his arrival, the general's slave whispered to him, "Fame is fleeting."

Yin, yang - what comes around goes around - including good and evil.