Goodness Shall Never Be Achieved
A question asked by Socrates sparked my thought process yesterday. He asked, "Does being deceitful count as being immoral?" Often I find myself worrying about what other people think, or how the world views me. When I read this I think I took it differently than Socrates intended. I saw it as an internal desire for improvement. If we are being deceitful, not many people can see that outwardly, but we know in our hearts that we are doing it. Does this make us a bad person only in our own eyes? Self-evaluation can often be more destructive that destruction from others around us. If we lead a life we want to live, then why is everyone always concerned about being "good"?
In the final movie of the series, we were given a few new characters while also losing two of the main characters from the past. These new characters bring insights into the definition of morality. One person that is introduced is Black Beard. If you have seen this movie, you have seen the cruel things he does to people. After Jack commits mutiny and attempts to take over his ship, Black Beard says he must kill someone in order to teach a lesson to all the others. He puts a man on a small boat and tells him to try and get away. While having no where to go, Black Beard shoots fire out onto the poor man in the little boat. This shows that he has no compassion for his own crew, much less other people. One man stands up to Black Beard and tells him that he is going to recieve an eternity in hell if he does not change his ways. This man's name is Phillip. He was a christian mercenary that was saved from another ship.
Throughout the movie, we see Phillip trying to witness to the pirates and change their horrible ways. We also see him continuing to do acts of kindness even though he is being put in hard situations. Despite being captured on a horrible pirate's ship, Phillip manages to worry about the fate of all the men around him. To me, this radiates goodness. Despite conflict, he is not worried about himself. In the bible, 1 Corinthians 15:33 states, "Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.'" In the case of the pirates, this verse holds true. Each person causes the others to have a feeling toward something, whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. They all feed off of each other. Phillip, the christian, has overcome their evil. Romans 12:21 states, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Phillip has overcome the evil around him and created his own"good". Granted he still makes mistakes, he is closer to being good than the others tempting him. The difference in the two, is that Phillip knows when he is doing wrong, so he works to fix it. Like stated in James 4:17, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." Phillip changed his ways and became the person he believed was the best he could be. He sees all the faults in those around him, and tries to save their souls. Even though they do bad things, they can still be saved and become forever good.
And with that, I conclude my blog series!
Emily Ball
Being internally deceitful, even when no one suspects outwardly... that reminds me of the old adage that virtue is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. Surely that IS the essence of good: to do what's right precisely BECAUSE it's the right thing to do, regardless of personal loss or gain. I do wonder: do some Christians have difficulty blocking out the contemplation of "heavenly reward" and just going ahead and doing what's right for its own sake? Do atheists and humanists have an easier path to virtue, in this regard?
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