Some initial questions:
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If you can stomach the following, this should help you understand.
If good is to have any objective meaning at all, it must first be an expression of a nature, an existing thing. If things are to be judged according to that nature, then it must have some kind relationship with the being that is judged. If a thing is “truly” good, then a thing is good in relationship to that which is the ultimate cause of a thing being good. It is true because of the ultimate root nature of truth, as in that which makes a thing true. By the word “cause”, in context of existence, I mean that an action takes on a significant objective meaning because the action exists within a “reality” that is as such that the action in question is necessarily defined according to that meaning. For example, you moved your arm because you willed it so, but it is only true that you moved your arm because you happen to exist in a reality that is as such that you were able to move it. The truth of your movement is defined by the nature of that reality.
Thus we must consider a different level of causation in the sense that things are true not simply because of a particular things function, but also because of the kind of
reality in which it exists.
Thus in trying to understand the nature of good, we must understand the nature of why it is truly and objectively good, and in order to do that we must understand that truth is truth ultimately because it reflects the nature of that which is real, since in nothing there is no objective truth. Thus that which is necessarily true is true either because it reflects the nature of ultimate reality, or because it is “
ultimate reality” and is thus ultimately a “being”. We must also acknowledge that a thing is true because of that which is the root of reality; that which is as such that there is a truth to speak of. Thus in order to know good we must first admit that a thing is good because of the nature of that which is the root of all truth and is the ultimate truth. If good is just an expression of a being among other beings, then it is merely an opinion among other opinions; it is not the cause of why it is true that a thing is good. In order to know that we must go to the root of all truth, since it is the root cause that gives meaning to the effect.
We now know that if a thing is truly good, it is because it reflects or conforms to the nature of that which is ultimate reality or truth. Therefore that which is ultimately real must possess within itself the nature of good to a perfect degree; since to be perfectly good is to conform to the nature of ultimate reality. Objective moral truth is always truth regardless of whether one agrees or not. This is what one means by objective moral values. If there is such a thing as objective goodness, then it is eternal, since that which is necessarily true is always true. For example 2 + 2 must always equals four if we are to consider it an objective truth and not something we made up in our heads.
Good is, by itself, nothing. Good is an expression of a things nature, in this case, ultimate reality. The root of good is
Love, and to
Love is to
share the good of ones being and unity. The Nature of love is itself a personal relationship (the Trinity). Thus we find that beings come into existence because of an act of perfect love. To be perfect is to love perfectly. To love is to
share the fulfilment or good of ones nature and existence. Ultimate reality is an eternal timeless act of love, and it is this act that we call good. The fulfilment of something reflects that which is most positive and unified. Therefore if my nature is to have joy, I would not be fulfilled if I was depressed; because depression evidently does not full-fill the nature of a person; thus we seek things that give us joy. Thus anything that wilfully undermines the proper function of a things nature without just cause (a just cause being a greater good), is potentially evil.
Evil is not a thing or nature but rather it is a impediment to the purpose of a things nature. When we behave in a selfish manner we understand it as selfish because the action evidently does not share the good of ultimate reality, which is unity, sharing, and joy. Since ultimate reality is the root of all existence and goodness, we cannot be ultimately fulfilled unless we conform perfectly to the nature and will of ultimate reality. We can know the good of some-things by ourselves through our experience of being a person, since we know when something fulfils us and when something does not. But in order to have knowledge of how to conform perfectly and infallibly to the nature of love we must have revelation, since context can make a thing evil even though by itself it is good. For example, sex is good and fulfilling but only in the context of a life long marriage between two persons. But you might not know that by yourself since you did not create your nature, and you do not necessarily no the context in which it exists. Thus we cannot know all good by testing what gives us pleasure, since pleasure doesn’t necessarily fulfil the ultimate purpose of loving people. When we share our personal property, natures, and talents, we are sharing the good of Gods nature, since in reality it all belongs to God and God gave it to us in-order to share and create communities of love with it. Those who do not do this will ultimately and naturally be barred from the eternal good of Gods nature for which we were created. They will lose everything except the act of being, since you cannot possibly partake in perfect happiness or love if you wilfully oppose it. This lack of eternal good (or lack of GOD), is what we call hell.
Thus good is not an arbitrary thing. Good definitely has a distinct meaning. Good is love. God is love.
