FINAL ESSAY!!! Relational Goodness

Lauren Spencer

Final Draft

December 7, 2010

Eng 215

Relational Goodness

This is a picture of the good Samaritan. This story represents true goodness and love. 

Can we be good without God? This controversial question is linked to a different answer depending on who you ask. Many believe that God is not necessary to make them a good person. Others hold the belief that God is all powerful, all knowing, and the Supreme Being and that without him we cannot be "good" people. Religiously I believe that God is the Supreme Being and that only by him and through him can we be saved and exalted with him someday in his kingdom. Unfortunately, this sole belief does not make me a good person. In the bible the Good Samaritan helps a Jew who is beaten on the side of the road. He gives this man of his substance despite their religious and geographical differences. There is so much more to a person than their beliefs. Given this statement I also believe that you can truly be a great person and not follow what I believe.

Realistically there have been thousands of great people that have lived and led full lives that have contributed to the goodness and betterment of this world. The Merriam Webster definition dictionary defines good as, “a favorable characteristic or tendency.” This could mean that people can have good characteristics about them but bad characteristics too. “Being good politically means not only valuing the things that are truly valuable but also having the strength to defend those things when they are everywhere being attacked and abandoned.” (Beetles 88.) This means having the strength to stand up for what you believe in regardless of what people might think of you. In this world of shifting moral values and standards we find that the more traditional way of living has been thrown to the way side. Now does this mean that the people that do not see the world the same way that I do are bad? Absolutely not. Being ultimately good does not have to do with what you believe but how you act.

This is the gray area. Each person see’s the world different than the next. Each person has a different personality and way of thinking. Each person is diverse. Just because one person believes in God does not make them any better than another person. Goodness is not relational to the fact that a person has a strong belief in God. Goodness is relational to the kind of person that you are. How you act, talk, and treat people are just a few key ways to determine a person’s goodness factor. “In order to be treated as an equal and a good person you must strive to be that good person yourself” (Miller 346). This statement brings out a good point. A person can only be the kind of person they want to be. You can only be good if you want to be.

This is a graph that shows how people who have higher standards, beliefs, and goals tend to be about the same as people that don’t but they score and a achieve a little more.

A greater part of a person’s personality is what they believe. The simple process of believing in something shapes you and creates how you act and what you say. Belief in something defines you. I belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My beliefs are very different than that of the world around me today. I choose to be a very different person because of what I believe to be true. Simply, I believe in God and his eternal power to save me from my sins. Unfortunately this belief does not make me a good person. The way I decide to believe and shape my personality is up to me. It is not up to God or other followers of my faith. It is not up my belief system to make me a good person. Although these beliefs shape my personality and how I behave that is simply my choice. Life is full of these important choices that shape us and help us become these good or amazing people.

Christ is the Ultimate Good Person. The shining example in my life that teaches me to do good continually.

Having said all this I do not believe that God has made me a good person. God has definitely given me all that I have and I attribute every aspect of my life to him. Without God I do not see myself being the same person I am today. Without God and the Savoir Jesus Christ I would not be able to follow the examples of ultimate goodness that they portray and that I strive to be like. This does not mean that without God I would be a bad person. I chose to follow God and be a good person. Without God I still have the same opportunity to be a good person. You cannot define a person based on their religion or their belief in God. Every person has the opportunity to be a good person. Today there are many people that do not believe in God or a higher being that are great people. Good people are in every aspect of life. People should be defined by what they do and how they do it not by what they believe. You cannot judge a person and say that they are bad because they are without God. Good people should not be defined as followers of God. Everyone has the potential to be good without God.

Works Cited

Beedles, Bonnie, and Michael Petracca. "Can we be Good Without God?." Academic Communities/disciplinary Conventions. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001. 88. Print.

"Good - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 01 Dec. 2010. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/good>.

Miller, Rowland S., Daniel Perlman, and Sharon S. Brehm. "Good Relationships." Intimate Relationships. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2007. 346. Print.

GrEaTeSt HiTs!

Katie Kosturik 
 To Buy or Not to Buy?
You did a great job on this post. Your writing is organized and concise. You get to your point quickly and you share your opinion well. I also liked how you tied so many quotes from the book in with your paper. It made the points that you made so much stronger and imprinted in my mind. I loved that you compared materialism and the consumers need to buy to an ongoing cycle of purchasing. I especially enjoyed your second to last paragraph that summed up your feelings and talked about the stereotypes that we see today from this materialistic view.

What Happens In Vegas...
You did a great job on this post. It is hilarious and painful at the same time. I could feel the disgust and anger that you were trying to portray in your writing. At the same time I can't help but laugh. You were so excited to start this amazing vacation and had such high hopes and they were dashed from the beginning. The power and feeling in this post is great. I'm sorry your vacation was so bad. On the bright side it made a good post and a funny story.


All You Need is Biology?
You have such a different take then I do on this topic. I loved seeing it from a different perspective. You did a great job. I can see your opinion and feeling through out the whole paper. You feel passionately about love and marriage and the correctness of our traditional practices. You did a great job! You are a great writer and you do a great job of putting your information out there without over powering people with your opinion but making sure that they see your side.

Greatest Hits

Armando Teran,
 

Directed FreeWrite Page 386

 I really enjoyed this post. You and I view the world very much the same. All of what you said is very true. The music business exploits their employee's for the benefit and financial gain of themselves.You are a great writer. You come out with your opinion but you don't push it or have it over power the paper. You just let the reader kindly let you know how you feel about the subject while you let the facts support your opinion. I loved your last paragraph. Your reasoning for not listening to hip hop and rap is so true and so honest. They use terrible lyrics and they justify their wrong doing. Many of the male artists degrade women in their lyrics and people support this way of living by paying for their explicit and degrading lyrics. GREAT JOB!

 Strange Comparisons

This is a great post. I agree with everything you said. The article was really strange and did not really have a way of justifying homosexual behavior just because the animals do it. It is almost as though we have been compared to animals. I also felt as you were writing that basically just because the animals do it doesn't make it ok almost like just because your friend jumped off a bridge you should too. I love the way you present your opinion. You let the reader know your opinion and how you feel . Your firm in your belief and whether someone believes different doesn't mean you will believe that way. I liked the last two sentences that sum up your opinion. Nice job.

Directed Free write 1

Probably my favorite post of yours. I love how you start it by saying that if people viewed relationships and love as biology and chemistry there would be drastic changes. This is such a true statement. Your post was very interesting and very true. It had great insight to the love and the emotions that they feel and what stimulates these emotions. You are a great writer! Keep up the good work!

 

Week 12 Blog Reviews

Darien Allen
I really enjoyed your posts this week. I liked your post about The Evolution of Finance. It was a really good summary of what was in the book. I thought it was way better than what was in the book and more interesting to read. I really liked your post about government too. We both have very different opinions about big government but it is always good to read a different view point. I really enjoyed your thoughts. You think a very different way then I do and I enjoyed seeing everything from a different side and thinking about things in a different way.

Jessica Chee
I liked your post on finance. It is so true that money is what makes our world go round. It was really interesting and way more interesting than the book. I also enjoyed your post about government. I totally agree with what you said. We both view government the same way and I really enjoyed your thoughts. Its good to see the way someone else thinks.

Rollin' in the Benjamins

Money, Money, Money. As we all go on our day to day we spend money. Some people spend lots of it and some people have found ways to limit their spending and they spend less of it; either way we are always wanting more. If only we had more money we would be able to buy this new car or spend the extra money on something you really want. Unfortunately not all of us are born with rich parents that set up trust funds when we were kids and this causes us to go into debt for school, homes, cars, and much more. The world of finance is brutal. We tend to never make as much money as we would like to spend; its a little skewed.
The world of finance is much more complicated than the fact that we all enjoy spending money and we never seem to have enough of it. Finance has to do with estimation of the future, stocks, and analyzing. The estimation of whether or not something will be worth more in the future than it is today. The stock market has to do with stocks in companies and the calculations of how much a stock is worth. This takes us to analyzing. The analyzing of stocks and pricing. Luckily, I have to choice of what I would like to do and that I can hire someone to deal with all of this because to me it is all boring ans makes no sense. It is a very good thing that we have professionals who do their job on a regular basis and that are good at it so things like the stock market crashing don't happen.
As we see finance is far more difficult than spending and making money. Finances have much more to them like the economy and stock markets. As people who participate in this country and its way of working we have a civic responsibility to at least be educated in the way of finances and money. This way we can always be in the know of what is happening and we will be able to see what goes on and appreciate the way our economy, despite how much we are hurting at the moment, functions pretty smoothly. Obviously, the world of finance is brutal and complex and we can't possibly know everything but we can be knowledgeable. 

George Orwell Said it Best

The famous book that talks about government and their control is 1984 and is written by George Orwell. This book talks about the affects of government and how the government has too much control. In the book the government is compared to a big brother who is constantly watching every move you make and watching what you do. The big brother always watching over your shoulder. This comparison of "big brother" is like the government watching every move we make and telling us exactly what to do and when to do it. Should the government be that involved with that much of our lives? What kind of control should they have?
I have grown up all my life in a very conservative republican home. My father didn't ever shove his opinion on my but I have always looked up to him and over time I have come to see and keep the same view points that he has today. The fact that government is so involved in what we do bothers my father quite a bit. You could almost say that 1984 is one of his favorite books. He completely believes that big government is a bad idea. Granted I also believe that too much big government is a bad idea. Government should not be required to create jobs or regulate companies. Government is here to make sure that everyone is following the laws that are in place to keep our country they way our founding fathers intended it to be. Government is here for a reason and we need to utilize it but we also need to realize that the government is not here to fix all of our problems. We should look back to the leaders that helped our country prosper like President Regan and strive to mirror our country after the policies that her believed in. As an American I believe that government has a role and being in the most control is not the reason we have government. 

WEEK 11 Blog reviews

Darien Allen,
I really enjoyed your post about the Chinese Influence on American culture. It was a really different take and it was very well written. You definitely know how to use your words and make them work to your advantage.

Jessica Chee,
I liked both of your posts this week. The one on material things I completely agree with. I liked how you compared our capitalistic society to a material on that is all about our desire for goods.Your post on Native Americans was very well written. Its so true the bad light that a lot of people place these poor people in. There are more than enough well educated Native Americans that are contributing to our society.