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God_I_Love
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I just watched this movie and a person said “I’m not good but I’m right” and it got me thinking… what is the differentiation between goodness and righteousness; any thoughts?
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Bahman
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Good is opposite of evil and right is opposite of wrong.I just watched this movie and a person said “I’m not good but I’m right” and it got me thinking… what is the differentiation between goodness and righteousness; any thoughts?
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Butaperson
Guest
The Catholic understanding of good vs right is pretty different from the secular world’s understanding of the words.
If you’re watching it in a film, being “right” is to live by technical accuracies, while being “good” is a more intense and often nontraditional thing that is usually spurred by emotion. To be right is when you turn the bad guy in to the cops because he broke a law. To be good is to listen to his backstory, understand why he broke the law, and get him help instead of justice by law. Good and right are often blurred. The above example applies in the case of, say, somebody who broke into a rich manor in order to steal a bag of food for his family. It would not apply to a completely unrepentant man who murdered children in their sleep, for him the “right” thing of turning him over to justice would also be the “good” thing
The Catholic understanding of the word is different because to us, to be good is to be right. It’s not good if it’s not right and it’s not right if it’s not good. The differentiation between good and right in the secular world usually refers to a good choice that you wouldn’t expect. Everybody expects the bad guy to go to jail at the end of a movie because everybody know it’s the right thing to do; when instead, the characters talk it out and decide to take a different path, suddenly we need a new word for what is happening, which is where we begin to introduce a different sort of meaning to the word “good”.
Good and right can be and often are the same thing. Usually you only see the two being separated when there is a decision to be made about the obvious and easy ‘right’ choice and the trickier but hopefully better ‘good’ choice. If there is no choice to be made and the movie/film/show is all about blanket good vs evil, you will often see “good” and “right” being used synonymously.
If you’re watching it in a film, being “right” is to live by technical accuracies, while being “good” is a more intense and often nontraditional thing that is usually spurred by emotion. To be right is when you turn the bad guy in to the cops because he broke a law. To be good is to listen to his backstory, understand why he broke the law, and get him help instead of justice by law. Good and right are often blurred. The above example applies in the case of, say, somebody who broke into a rich manor in order to steal a bag of food for his family. It would not apply to a completely unrepentant man who murdered children in their sleep, for him the “right” thing of turning him over to justice would also be the “good” thing
The Catholic understanding of the word is different because to us, to be good is to be right. It’s not good if it’s not right and it’s not right if it’s not good. The differentiation between good and right in the secular world usually refers to a good choice that you wouldn’t expect. Everybody expects the bad guy to go to jail at the end of a movie because everybody know it’s the right thing to do; when instead, the characters talk it out and decide to take a different path, suddenly we need a new word for what is happening, which is where we begin to introduce a different sort of meaning to the word “good”.
Good and right can be and often are the same thing. Usually you only see the two being separated when there is a decision to be made about the obvious and easy ‘right’ choice and the trickier but hopefully better ‘good’ choice. If there is no choice to be made and the movie/film/show is all about blanket good vs evil, you will often see “good” and “right” being used synonymously.
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Blessedwithfive
Guest
Interesting…I always seem to learn something new each day on this siteThe Catholic understanding of good vs right is pretty different from the secular world’s understanding of the words.
If you’re watching it in a film, being “right” is to live by technical accuracies, while being “good” is a more intense and often nontraditional thing that is usually spurred by emotion. To be right is when you turn the bad guy in to the cops because he broke a law. To be good is to listen to his backstory, understand why he broke the law, and get him help instead of justice by law. Good and right are often blurred. The above example applies in the case of, say, somebody who broke into a rich manor in order to steal a bag of food for his family. It would not apply to a completely unrepentant man who murdered children in their sleep, for him the “right” thing of turning him over to justice would also be the “good” thing
The Catholic understanding of the word is different because to us, to be good is to be right. It’s not good if it’s not right and it’s not right if it’s not good. The differentiation between good and right in the secular world usually refers to a good choice that you wouldn’t expect. Everybody expects the bad guy to go to jail at the end of a movie because everybody know it’s the right thing to do; when instead, the characters talk it out and decide to take a different path, suddenly we need a new word for what is happening, which is where we begin to introduce a different sort of meaning to the word “good”.
Good and right can be and often are the same thing. Usually you only see the two being separated when there is a decision to be made about the obvious and easy ‘right’ choice and the trickier but hopefully better ‘good’ choice. If there is no choice to be made and the movie/film/show is all about blanket good vs evil, you will often see “good” and “right” being used synonymously.
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Nixbits
Guest
Unexpectedly, I think I agree with Bahman. ‘Good’ and ‘right’ deal with different things. Furthermore, ‘righteous’ is not the same as ‘right’.
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Ad_Orientem
Guest
It is quite possible to be right about something without being good or righteous. Take for example Caiphas the High Priest, who sought our Lord’s death, and said, “it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not” (Jn. 11:50). Or take the Pharisees of that period in general, of whom our Lord said, “The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not” (Mt. 23:2-3).
That said, the statement “I’m not good but I’m right” could mean different things. Does he mean about one thing, or generally? It could be false humility. It could be arrogance combined with despair. Or it could be a humble admission of the truth. You’d have to know the person and the context to be able to tell.
That said, the statement “I’m not good but I’m right” could mean different things. Does he mean about one thing, or generally? It could be false humility. It could be arrogance combined with despair. Or it could be a humble admission of the truth. You’d have to know the person and the context to be able to tell.
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