January 27, 2008
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Inherently Better
The following question is from Merriej
Do you believe that any one person can be inherently better than another?
The following question is from Merriej
Do you believe that any one person can be inherently better than another?
Comments (62)
At some things, yes. I write well, but I’m not very athletic and lousy at math. I’m sure someone out there is better than me at those things and that’s fine by me.
Now morally and legally speaking, I still believe that we are all created equal.
Yes, it makes a difference what kind of genes you get in the beginning.
no
No
Yes, not everyone can be me
Well, not trying to be like Bill Clinton, it really does depend on what you mean by better. Everyone is different. Do those differences make someone inherently better? The autistic Rain Man can calculate better than 99.9% of the population. Does that make him “better?” Is the fact that I’m not autistic make me “better?”
yeah
Not all around better…just more of an expert in some things than others.
Blame it on creationist.
no… “there is none righteous, no not one…”
Morally better? Physically more skilled? Intellectually? Be more specific.
That is unbiblical. Jesus Christ died for “whosoever should believe on him”. Now, it is true that some have advantages in education, in socioeconomic circumstances, etc., but the true worth of a human is the same: in the eyes of heaven, Christ died for each person, so they might be saved.
“We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among those rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
God bless and have a great day.
Ditto what nattata said.
It really depends on what you mean by “better.”
Are some people “better people” (read as a measure of ‘goodness’) than others? Absolutely.
Do some people have more value than others? Hard to say. Value to whom, how is it measured, who is measuring… etc.
@ronlawhouston - agreed. yes, some people are born with natural talents that others lack. so, others are better than i at athletics, math etc, while some of those same people fall short rather quickly when we play “war games”(paintball, lasertag, basicly any “simulated combat”) and of course others still would dominate me at these.
now as to just plain being better people thats not something to which you can be born. that has to do with the choices you make. for instance, i’ve clashed, debated, argued with several people on this site. some, have taken my comments and responded to them with their own thoughts, which though they vehemently dissagreed with me, took only issue with the comments themselves. others read only one or two sentences out of several paragraphs and begin character assasinations. i would say that the former are definately better people than the latter. in fact, i would say people in the latter category fall into one of the lowest categories there is.
so to answer your question, some people are better than others, no, it isnt inherent.
If you believe that all people have inherent value, because they are created in the image of God (which I happen to), then all people are equally valuable.
. . .And I have to say that I’m pretty surprised at how many people are saying yes. That’s a slippery (and scary) slope. . .to believe that some people are inherently more valuable than others. But we have unconsciously educated a whole generation now, living in a society where abortion is legal. It has certainly taught people that some lives are more valuable than others. . . Move over Hitler. Very sad.
Morally better? Physically more skilled? Intellectually? Be more specific.
-BillBryant
Yeah, I need specifics to better answer this question.
sure, why not?
No we are entirely equal.
I’m better than most people on here.
Not in the grand scheme of things, no.
well sometimes it seems, but i don’t believe it. a person’s personality is VERY complex
@Desinflan - Did you forget your pills this morning?
As questions go, this is kind of silly. First of all, ya gotta define “better.”
And I think it would still be silly, but that’s unfair of me. How do you define “better?” Then I’ll tell you how silly the question is.
I’m looking forward to your next post, and the one after that.
At some areas, yes.
We are all created by God. We have been created as individuals who bring themselves to this world to particpate in giving God glory. We also have been born in sin. We have to choose Him. All those things built inside of us and our own decisions make up who we are and what we offer. No one person (except Christ) is better than another. My hope would be that we all reach out to each other and lift each other up. Look for the good, the talent, the joy in someone else. Bring it out in someone.
You can have more experiences than another person, and be better at doing some things than another person… But that doesnt make you better than them. That just makes you more developed than them, skills-wise. Its like comparing a painting to an empty canvas.
Yes, I absolutely do believe some people are inherently better than others.
Better at certain things perhaps, but not born better or more superior as a whole.
More skilled, more beautiful, more intelligent, stronger…yes. Better? I think not. A person could be the very “best” at everything by our standards and still not have more value than the person who is worst at everything.
Nobody is higher than anyone else in my eyes. We’re all on the same level. Some people have talents that they’re better at then others, and some people are jsut better people in the sence that they’re nicer, but everyone is on the same level in God’s eyes.
Better is as better does – Forrest Gump
Yeah. I see some people who seem like they’re going absolutely nowhere. o__O I am clearly ‘better’ than these people. You are clearly ‘better’ than these people. There are people everyday who die as druggies and criminals and contribute nothing to society at all- are these people equal to me? I can’t see that.
Yes. But our individual judgments of who is better will vary. It is a shame that we use this inherent idea and begin to say that people are worthless.
Well, I think Hitler was inherently worse than me, so I guess the reverse is true, I’m better than Hitler.
This is a vague question.
I’ll say morally no, but with regards to talent and ability, yes.
The short answer is that there is no “inherent” measuring stick for measurement. There are a multitude of talents, abilities, and traits we could compare and debate for any given pool of people. The answer would always change depending on the ruler of choice.
@Aslans_daughter - We have been created as individuals who bring themselves to this world to particpate in giving God glory. We also have been born in sin. We have to choose Him. All those things built inside of us and our own decisions make up who we are and what we offer.
Except for those born mentally retarded or dying from incurable childhood diseases. Some God, huh? Perfect and fair.
Yes.
It depnds on what you mean. Am I better than a serial killer? I would have to go with yes since I don’t go around killing people but just in general am I better than this other person because I’m a great babbling and they aren’t no I wouldn’t be better than them I would just have a talent they don’t have.
@huginn -
@huginn - it is my belief that everything happens for a reason and that it is part of God’s Plan – even if we have to learn about suffering and pain. God is totally aware of everything that comes into our lives. We need to trust Him for the answers – that is what faith is all about. Thanks for sending me that comment. I appreciate your thoughts.
Inherently better, as in more valuable as a person? No.
We all have different gifts. Though some may seem better than others, they all are for a certain purpose. So really none are more important than the other. If someone has incredible basketball talent like Michael Jordan, or Golf like Tiger Woods, but no one cared about the sports, then their talent wouldn’t be that important. Those were just a couple I pulled out of the hat. You can put any senerio in there. I look more at spiritual gifts myself, but I just thought with this crowd, you would rather hear physical gifts
no. but sometimes i have to remind myself of that.
Not as a whole, no. They can be inherently better at things society values or in certain aspects of their life/personality. But one whole person is no better or worse than another.
@huginn - If God went by FAIRNESS we ALL would go to hell, no if and’s or but’s. So The not fair tactic doesn’t work on me. As fair as mental illnesses and childhood diseases, yes they are terrible, but God uses those situations and circumstances to show His love and power over all things. There are ways God can use these type situations to speak to others that He can only get their attention with something like that. God has His reason for EVERYTHING that He allows. Go ahead, I see you rolling your eyes. That’s ok, it’s all good bud!
different. not ‘better’
yes
Yes. Definitely, but there’s some room for improvement
No!
Nope we all the same when we die we r all the same in god eyes
Yes.
Yes.
And it doesn’t even have to be technical. If you believe that you’re better than someone else, and no one can convince you otherwise, then to you, in your mind, you are better than that individual.
inherently? NO!
Explicitly? YES!
As long as you qualify as a person- that is, as long as you have a human body and mind (human mind being rationally functioning- vegetables don’t count as people), then you start off the same as everyone else. What makes you better or worse than someone would be your choices.
If you choose to be moral, to treat others with respect (when they deserve it), to stand up for yourself and others, to love yourself, to have a healthy body and mind, to study and work for what you want, and to think rationally, then you are a good person.
If you choose to steal, to slander others for a petty or emotional conflict, to whimper and cower under the tyranny of authority or bullying, to hate yourself (or your “friends” or “SO”), to destroy your body by drugs or fatty foods or lack of exercise, to laze around with no goals or direction, to let your intricate human mind go to waste (claiming that intellect “don’t matter”), or to base your life on whims, then you are evil, and should die (because you aren’t really living anyway).
There are gradients, certainly, but yes- a rational, peaceful person is better than a rapist or murderer.
This is one of the great evils of organized religion- it takes away self-sovereignty by making people hate themselves (thinking that they are evil, originally sinful, etc.), and discourages dissent by claiming that all sin is equal, all people are equal, etc. It allows people to rationalize immoral behaviors, to feel indebted/enslaved to the religion, and to speak self-righteously. At its best, organized religion makes people deny their own human magnificence and gives them some (irrational) peace of mind; at its worst, it turns people into slobbering, hypocritical animals.
It’s funny seeing my question here, as I haphazardly posted it to the Xanga question of the day thing… and it’s funny seeing people argue about what the definition of “better” is. It’s an open-ended question where I wanted people to explore what aspects people might be “better” in, or to discover if people thought straight out that someone could be better (i.e. be considered more valuable than another person.)
As for me, I try my best to love humanity (agape form of love) and accept that each has such great potential. The potential to do good, and so many different types of good is where we are all equal, but doing this good and actually being a positive force is where we set ourselves apart.
This is a vague values question, yes, but it doesn’t hurt to find this sort of answer for ourselves, even if we initially think that this sort of question is silly because it’s not specific and doing all the specificity digging for us.
“Better” in what way?
Emmanuel Kant summed it up in “critique of pure reason” Loved that one. (hard, though)
All equal in access to the categorical imperative; maybe like Logos in the Christian world….like, the principles of our creations…of nature. At least that is in the neighborhood.
Therefore, all equal value …. in potential.
Value also implies fulfilling the purpose of our creation; like a cup is valuable IF it holds liquid etc.
HOWEVER we have a loving parent, God. Because of this infiinite love and energy directed toward our restoration, Gods will or us ALL being in that Kingdom of HEaven on earth WILL be fulfilled. He doesn’t make mistakes; He-she lives outside of time…..
Within time, we make mistakes of value….one is more or less; however, from God’s Persepctive…well…we are all loved for our restored selves….a bit different.
Yes and no. Compare a successful chick who lives by her morals to a trashy chick who has none and does drugs. In this instance, the first is inherently better.
Yes. Yes I do. Some people I have known are just bad seeds. The only thing worse than their ignorance is their violent response to things they refuse to understand.
Define or contextualize better.
no..everyone is capable of evil…our righteousness comes from HIM alone!
Yes, I’m not one of them. I have lots of disadvantages.