Recently, I was told a very provocative fact, and it had to do with what we've been asking as a generation. The Baby Boomers asked, "what is real?", Generation X asked, "what is true?", and now the millennials are asking, "what is good?". So, what is good?
Everything Is Good
The evolution of philosophy fascinates many onlookers - ideologies, reality, worldviews etc. However, in today's world, asking "what is good?", also means to ask, "what is right and wrong"? Many take the easy route and say, "everything is good, because good is a subjective opinion", and I would agree with them in certain contexts. For example, I think that peaches taste good. That is a subjective and true statement. Nevertheless, I don't think that is what we are asking as millennials, I think we are more specifically asking, "what is objectively good? Is there any objective good? and what is it?" We can easily know, in every variety, what is good for us, and what is good for another person. Conversely, knowing that good also means knowing what is bad for us and what is bad for the other. Therefore, good and bad exist because of the consequences which entail from the action - an inherent quality.
An Example of Ignorance
Here's an example from the Bible: Paul the apostle, in his early career, was a Jewish Sanhedrin who used the Law to persecute Christians. He thought he was doing good. And if fact he was, because he was following the Law, but what made what he did bad was the way he followed the Law. He was using the Law to justify the violence he was inflicting upon Christians because they weren't Jewish. Then, Jesus confronted him and asked "why are you persecuting me?" Paul would have been deeply confused because he thought he was honoring God, but Jesus revealed to him that he was indeed not. So, Paul, in his ignorance, thought he was doing good, but good, the way in which he thought was right, was actually wrong, and it took the revelation of Jesus to show him the right way.
The Wrong Way
In a world that promotes individualism and autonomy, it does not promote the right way in which to achieve those lifestyles, because it leaves it up to our own personal subjective opinions, which are centered on ourselves. Through selfish ambition, greed and the guilty drive to be a successful somebody is the new "moral standard". Instead of Bibles, we read blogs, instead of Holy Spirit, we have therapists, instead of accountability, we do whatever it takes at the expense of others. This seems like the only "natural" way to survive, but that is the paradox of living - we must give away love, or whatever we have, so that it will be genuinely reciprocated back to us in a beautiful cycle. So, how do you give?
Conclusion
Opinion is not the measurement of something's objective goodness, it is a finite perspective of the objective, which can be wrong. It is the motivation, the reasoning, action, means or medium that makes a good thing objectively really good. What's crazy about the way a good thing comes about is how it consequently affects people. We can't think of ourselves when we think of goodness - we must consider the good for others more than the good for ourselves. This is because goodness is meant to be shared, it is not meant to be monopolized by individuals in a materialistic way, it is meant to be given away; it is an expression of love and sacrifice.
