What does it mean to call a person “good?”

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From the Catholic perspective (consideration of both natural and Divine law/Law), can we call people good based on their natural virtue? For example, my friend, who is Hindu, is a good man (insofar as he excels, or at least appear to excel, in natural virtue). I also don’t assume to know the state of my friend’s soul (only God and he know where he is at in terms of seeking the truth, ignorance, etc.), but I am looking at him through a purely natural lense (if that is possible)… Or can we only call a person “good” if he definitely lives a life of not only justice but also charity (he is a baptized Catholic and it is evident through his life that he most likely loves God and his neighbors).

Thoughts?

The question arose because a friend asked me how my time was at a Baptist-affiliated school for a conference. I mentioned that there were “quite a few good people” at the conference. As the words left my lips, I wondered about why the people at the conference were good. Was it their natural virtue? Was it the fact that we are all made in the image and likeness of God?

Lastly, I do not want to come off as judgmental in any way. I am Catholic and believe that the fullness of the truth resides in the Church, and that salvation/grace come through the Church. That is not to say others cannot be saved, but if/when they are saved, it is ultimately through Christ and His Church… I am wondering, though, if someone is not within the visible Church (received the Sacraments of Initiation and practices the Catholic Faith), can we call them good?
 
We tend to overestimate our morality. To be blunt, none of us are good. We may attain a virtuous state through God’s grace, but otherwise, we are not “good” on our own.
 
Distilled to its essence, we are either good or we are in jail. External societal pressure keeps many somewhere along a moral path. As to their relationship with God, that is something entirely different.
 
The reading for this Fourth Sunday of Lent and last week’s Gospel reading bookend each other. Last week’s Gospel reading was the Samaritan Woman at the well and it is the correct way to Evangelize. The story goes something like this:

Minority woman passes a half-dozen springs and goes to a well. The springs all have hard water, the well has fresh water but the well is thirty-nine yards deep before you hit water and another six yards deep to hit bottom. When the Samaritan woman says the well is deep she is not kidding.

Samaritan Theology includes, "There is a Well of living water dug by a Prophet (Jacob) whose like has not arisen since Adam and the water which is in it is from the mouth of God. Let us eat from the fruit that is in this garden and let us drink from the waters that are in this well. (Jacob’s Well.)

The Samaritan woman mentions how Jews and Samaritans do not speak to each other. Jesus mentions how the time will come when they will worship, Davin, neither on her Mountain or on his.

She mentions how deep the well is and how he has no bucket. To get the fresh water, as opposed to hard water, you need a bucket . She works well within her Samaritan Theology as does he.

The importance of this well to Samaritan Theology shows it to be a shrine. She is not just an outcast coming for water, but a penitential woman coming for forgiveness to one of the most sacred shrines of Samaritanism. There, she finds Jesus. This Samaritan woman comes to the well asking for a new life where she does not have to go marrying five husbands to get food to eat. Jesus gives her that.

What does it mean to call a person “Good?” Judaism has Shema.Here, the Hebrew word for “Heart” is plural while for “Your” is singular. We each have multiple hearts, the inclinations to the good/beautiful and evil/rotten. God calls us to love him with both. Our inclinations are of themselves neither beautiful or rotten, as Freud pointed out. It is how we use them. We deviate and soon find ourselves Prodigal Sons. When we say only God is Good, we mean all his inclinations are right all the time. The rest of us have Original Sin.

In Hebrew, Justice and Charity are the same concept. Remember, “I am God your Almighty who rescued your from the land of Oppression the house of menial labor:” Remember what it was like to be there and remember your rescue. Then, when you see others suffering, get that lump in your gut that comes from reliving a bad memory and do something.

This is charity, and as Deuteronomy says at the end of the passage, this is justice. The Hindu friend is good and follows Romans 2 as related above. His reasoning differs but the result is the same. He acts with compassion. This is Natural Law, God’s image within him acting for the Good. God remembers.

When we see callous people making excuses for not loving God with our whole hearts, animate being and measure, “government has no role in helping,” or pick your excuse, for not seeing the suffering of others and doing something, the Ten Commandments were addressed to the Jewish Nation, not individuals, they show their tree by its fruit. They show they are rotten. It is for God, not us to judge them.
 
When we say a person is good, we see in what they say or do, or merely their demeanor, a reflection of Goodness itself. The brightness of the moon is not its own but a reflection of the sun. So it is with us.

In the Gospels, the authors often identify those who are without faith as addressing Jesus as “Teacher” or “Rabbi.” But those who address him as “Lord,” believe in Him. The young man who addresses Jesus as “Good Teacher” is immediately put to the test, “Why do you call me good?” Does the young man believe? Unfortunately, not yet.
 
Well yes, as Aristotle noted and Saint Thomas Aquinas agrees, there are various senses in which we use the word good. And we apply the word good to humans in many and different ways. In one sense, as others here have noted, to bear the image and likeness of God is a good in itself. In another sense, to exist at all is it good in itself. And then there are moral senses, the degree to which a person acts in virtuous manners can be rightly called “good.” And that is a natural thing from our perspective, as Aristotle noted. As in, a virtuous person’s understanding of the divine can be minimal, yet she can still act virtuously. In one sense, all goods have as their source and terminus the being of God himself. But a person does not have to realize this or even acknowledge it in order to participate in the good.
 
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