Is it possible to do bad but be a good person?

Question

doesn't the bad action MAKE you a bad person? how else is a person defined as either good or bad but from their actions?

Answer 1

It is possible to do bad things for a good purpose...

But, I believe it still would classify that person as a bad person.

Ones actions define them.

Answer 2

DEER FRIEND,

THE BRAIN IS BAD =EVOLUTION TWO MISS LABELED SIN.

BEING HUMAN IS BAD

LOVE =EVOLUTION ONE=GOD

WE ALL HAVE THE ABLITY TO DO GOOD

Answer 3

Every cop is a criminal Every saint is a sinner

Answer 4

One thing is to make a mistake, to do something wrong, and feel sorry , and correct yourself, trying not to do it a gain, and another thing is to be planning how to cause damage, to do bad. I think that good or bad comes from within your heart. What your feelings are.

Answer 5

bad is define by society's  norms and practices, so is the person really bad or just bad in the eyes of the society.

Answer 6

Bad and good are subjective.  But by any standard probably no human who has ever lived has not done some bad things.  As Don Imus said after he made those unfortunate remarks about the Duke womens basketball team "I'm not a bad person.  I'm a good person who said a bad thing."  I understand that.

Answer 7

Kevin has this one covered. Just do what you feel is good and who cares about society's list of bad things, were not penguins for gods sake.

Answer 8

yes it is possible for a good person to do bad things. nobody is perfect. people will make mistakes.

Answer 9

No.

You are not what you THINK you are.  You are not what others THINK you are.  

You are what you DO.

If you do bad things, you are a bad person, plain and simple.  Do good things, and you are a good person.  

There is such a thing as doing a thing that wasn't intended to be bad (such as telling a friend a lie about where you are going so as not to hurt her feelings) which turns out to hurt the other person in some way (she finds out that you were at another friend's house without her).  Those are immaturity issues that usually result in a lesson learned the hard way (the truth is just a shortcut to what's going to happen anyways).

But the real answer here is that you are fooling yourself if you're doing stuff you know is wrong, but telling yourself that you're really a good person inside.  You're wrong.  If you're doing bad things, the reality is that you are a person of low character, and unless you change, you should develop a liking for stripes and anal s*x, because you're probably going to end up in prison one day.

Answer 10

Yes; as Faith i think would have said,we all make mistakes.

And in a mass education system which for all intents and purposes could be called "definitive"(where definitions are held in high regard),i think now-since the work/discoveries of Popper-we can say that we live in a good society but that the mistakes tend not to be learned-from,thus making such a (good)society "bad";And bad is here put in italics,by me,because this western society is still here,still making mistakes and still trying to learn from them.

Ultimately,it may fail-just like a good person failing and being labelled bad-but from this here viewpoint this could well be because it has not been learned that it is impossible to learn from all mistakes(e.g. all-at-once,as just one example).

This has been touched upon before,and interested persons can follow this up too.

Answer 11

I think rather than looking at an isolated incident, you have to account for the sum total of actions.

What do you say of someone who puts food on the plates of millions of starving children by way of charitable organization, yet cheats on his wife?

Is he bad? Good?

My view: the terms "good" and "bad" are inadequate in explaining human behavior.

Answer 12

yes!!!!! i've made my bf mad by the things i've done and i couldn't forgive myself. he said that he needed time to think and he's really hurt. i said sorry so many times and i still haven't forgiven myself. he said that i messed up once and it's over. he loves me just the same. : ) if someone doesn't forgive you for something that you've done and your REALLY sorry, they're not worth your time. if some one does bad thigns repeatedly and doesn't apologize, i think that's classified bad person. a good person can mess up sometimes, but still can make it better. i'd like to think of myself as a good person.

Answer 13

there are no bad people..just bad deeds.....that makes Kissy a very very.......bad girl...yes she is.....bad...prrrrrr...grrrrrrr.