Part IV – ARE THESE TRUTHS UNIVERSAL?

If as in the previous posts you can accept that, 

1)      There are negative concepts that would not exist except that there is an antecedent positive. 

2)      These concepts are not without being assigned a value.

3)      The values of “good” and “bad” or “evil” are found to exist broadly and historically.

4)       “Good” and “Evil” cannot be equivalent opposites since one is dependent upon the other.

5)      Just as you push “Evil” forward and find chaos, so too you push “Good” back and you find purer forms of same.

Then comes the question, “What is the ultimate perfect “Good?”

ORIGIN OF ULTIMATE “GOOD”

Following are some options that you might choose.

The Spiritual or New Age Truth Paradigms would suggest that ultimate and pure “good” is found within and thus has been there all along.  However, such is highly subjective and the subjective will eventually break down.

The Postmodern Truth Paradigms rejects all notions of the existence of all universals to include "good" or "normal."  So then the concept of "good" is purely individual.  Again, this is highly subjective and thus fragile.

The Evolutionary Truth Paradigm would suggest that “good” is not as pure in the past as it will be as man continues up the evolutionary trail.  The problem here is that there is no constant notion of “good” as it is ever changing.

The Secular or Modernism Truth Paradigms would suggest that “good” though currently not quantifiable one day will be measurable and thus processes for improving “good” will follow.  The problem in this view is that today’s good is not tomorrow’s good.

The Materialistic Truth Paradigm suggests that “good” will develop and it is simply a matter of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.  The obvious problem here is that in their purest form one cannot combine “good” and “evil” in order to develop some sort of a "grey area" synthesis.

However, there is one more truth paradigm which may provide a more stable understanding of “good.”

The Divine Truth Paradigm suggests that “good” is based upon divinely revealed truth.  Because this truth is rooted in a holy book like the Jewish Scriptures, the Christian Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Quran, or some other holy writing, there is a stable platform.

That stable platform does not change and thus provides the one who reads and obeys that particular writing with the criterion for valuing something or even someone as being “good” or “evil.”  What is interesting is those same standards apply today as they did 2,000 years ago or even at its writing.

 

Will the standards of “good” and “evil” differ from belief to belief?  Of course, but that is not the point nor is it to be discussed at this juncture.  The simple point is that people with a Divine Truth Paradigm have a more stable standard of “good” and “evil” by which to order their lives.

OUTCOMES

Some years ago I had a car that the driver had to be ever vigilant. It was, “always looking.”  That is to say that it could never find a spot in the lane where it would become stable.  

So it is with many of the truth paradigms presented above.  Though they would all agree that there is such a thing as “good’ they would not agree as to the origin and stability of same.  It is as with that car, there is always a quest.  It may by an overt attempt at finding “good” or it may almost be subconscious, but none-the-less it is there.

In order to confidently function in life, one needs a steady platform.  As it turns out there is but one which maintains a truth paradigm in which one might have confidence.  That is the final one presented above, the divine truth paradigm. 

Perhaps that is why approximately 82% of the earth’s population embraces some form of a divine truth paradigm. Just maybe it is because such a truth paradigm provides what is needed for the individual to establish and maintain a sense of well-being, a sense of confidence, and a sense of purpose.  

Viewed another way, if such stability is not present when problems arise, there is little stability upon which to rely.  It is as the Bible says, "The winds blew, the rains beat upon the house, and it stood firm."  Why?  Because it was built upon a stable foundation--a foundation of Truth.