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    The document discusses differing perspectives on good and bad/evil between Western and Eastern thought. The Western view sees good and bad as opposites, with God only embodying good. The Eastern view sees them as equals and necessary for balance, with God containing both good and bad elements. It argues the Hebrew words translated as good and bad are better understood as functional and dysfunctional. Both light and darkness, though often seen as exclusively good or bad, are necessary in balance.

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    Good

    Uploaded by

    John Kenneth Isanan
    39 views2 pages
    The document discusses differing perspectives on good and bad/evil between Western and Eastern thought. The Western view sees good and bad as opposites, with God only embodying good. The Eastern view sees them as equals and necessary for balance, with God containing both good and bad elements. It argues the Hebrew words translated as good and bad are better understood as functional and dysfunctional. Both light and darkness, though often seen as exclusively good or bad, are necessary in balance.

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    The document discusses differing perspectives on good and bad/evil between Western and Eastern thought. The Western view sees good and bad as opposites, with God only embodying good. The Eastern view sees them as equals and necessary for balance, with God containing both good and bad elements. It argues the Hebrew words translated as good and bad are better understood as functional and dysfunctional. Both light and darkness, though often seen as exclusively good or bad, are necessary in balance.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    39 views2 pages

    Good

    Uploaded by

    John Kenneth Isanan
    The document discusses differing perspectives on good and bad/evil between Western and Eastern thought. The Western view sees good and bad as opposites, with God only embodying good. The Eastern view sees them as equals and necessary for balance, with God containing both good and bad elements. It argues the Hebrew words translated as good and bad are better understood as functional and dysfunctional. Both light and darkness, though often seen as exclusively good or bad, are necessary in balance.

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    Good and Bad

    Jeff A. Benner

    Return to index of articles

    Very few sermons in our Western synagogues and churches would include the
    passage "I [God] form the light and create darkness, I make peace and I create evil, I
    am the LORD who does all of these" (Isaiah 45:7) as our Western mind sees these two
    forces as opposing opposites. However, the Eastern mind sees them both as equals
    and necessary for perfect balance. In the Western mind, God is only good and
    therefore unable to create evil. The Eastern mind sees God as a perfect balance of all
    things including good (tov in Hebrew, Strong's #2896) and evil (ra in
    Hebrew, Strong's #7451).

    It should be noted that the English word "evil" has no Ancient Hebrew equivelant,
    while most English translations will use the word "evil," it is usually the Hebrew
    word ra, which is also often translated as "bad." In the Ancient Hebrew mind there is
    no such thing as an "evil" person or thing. To understand the words "good" and "bad"
    from a more Hebraic understanding, these words should be understood as "functional"
    and "dysfunctional". God is both functional (such as seen in the Creation story of
    Genesis one) as well as dysfunctional (such as seen with the destruction of the flood).

    Our western mind classifies all things in two categories, either it is "good" or it is
    "bad". One is to be sought, cherished and protected, the other is to be rejected,
    spurned and discarded. Let us take light and darkness as an example. We see light as
    good and darkness as bad. The idea of light brings to mind such things as God, truth
    and love. Darkness on the other hand invokes Satan, lies and hate. To the Orientals,
    including the Hebrews, both are equally necessary as one cannot exist without the
    other. In the Bible God is seen as a God of light as well as darkness "And the people
    stood at a distance and Moses approached the heavy darkness where God was."
    (Exodus 20:21). If you stare at the sun, which is pure light, what happens? You
    become blind. If you are standing in a sealed room with no light, what happens? You
    are again blind. Therefore, both light and darkness are bad and yet, both are good. In
    order to see we must block out some of the light as well as some of the darkness.

    The two poles of a magnet are north and south. These two poles create balance, they
    are not morally good or bad, but necessary ingredients of physics that compliment
    each other. Good and bad are more like the north and south poles of a magnet than our
    Western conception of good and bad.

    Can good exist without the bad? Absolutely not, how could you judge something to be
    good if you cannot compare it to something bad? The same is true for all other
    concepts. Cold cannot exist without heat, or short without tall, far without near, or
    large without small. Our western mind usually ignores these extremes and seeks to
    always find the "good" or the "bad". The Eastern mind is continually seeking both the
    "good" and the "bad" in order to find the balance between the two. Even Solomon
    recognized this when he said "Do not be overly righteous" (Ecclesiastes 7:16).

    Throughout the scriptures this search for balance is found, yet ignored by Westerners
    who do not understand the significance of balance.

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