Before the gates of Heaven (poll fixed)

[Daeren]

The essential problem with good intentions that it's a slippery slope. Ofc, alot would choose 1 person to save 1000, but where does that number end? 1 for 50? 1 for 10? 1 for 5? 1 for 2? Maybe at gun point, you see numbers more clearly, but there's more ethical gray zones then.

Shouldn't we hack up a hobo with healthy organs to save several people with children? The net benefit is better than that one person. Heck, we don't even have to kill him, we just need one of his kidneys, one lung, and half his liver. That might be 3 people saved and none killed!

It can get even worse: In countries with public health care system (which excludes half of the posters here most likely) often you have to choose what treatment you would like to give to a person. Modern medicine is expensive, and we don't have unlimited supplies.
Can you choose what treatment to give? In one case, the person may or may not be cured, you don't know. Heck, some times it may only prolong their life span (essentially, all treatment is prolonging life span since we all die sooner or later). Can you say no to giving a family father the best possible treatment?
Then again, what's the cost of that treatment? Several more people may not get treatment and there's a net loss. Your good intentions towards that one person you decide to pour tons of money into is taking away from the people you don't know and will be denied treatment. This is why there's a roof on how much a human life year is worth spending money on. Yes, your life has a price tag, but then again, money there is only an object for prioritizing health money.

The road to hell can be paved with good intentions indeed, and some situations are harder than others. Some people might even draw it further in the way that you're taking more money than what you need and not giving enough to humanitarian aid. There's no bad intentions by spending money, but they might be spent for a better good.
It is a slippery slope indeed.

And, how can you know that your actions are right or wrong? Intentions is one thing, but in what cultural context should one view right from wrong? What religion is right? I do believe people have free will, but their way of thinking and actions are based upon their past experiences and culture.
Was the intention right? Most likely. Was the action wrong? Depends on who judges.

[Amirya]

Live your life, according to your moral and ethical standards and beliefs. Be the best person you can possibly be, to the best of your ability.

If there is a God, and you are judged poorly, then perhaps he's not a God you want. If you are judged favorably, then you did what you needed to do.

If there isn't a God, then you were still the best person you could aspire.

[bldavis]

Live your life, according to your moral and ethical standards and beliefs. Be the best person you can possibly be, to the best of your ability.

If there is a God, and you are judged poorly, then perhaps he's not a God you want. If you are judged favorably, then you did what you needed to do.

If there isn't a God, then you were still the best person you could aspire.

hear hear

[Fetzie]

Live your life, according to your moral and ethical standards and beliefs. Be the best person you can possibly be, to the best of your ability.

If there is a God, and you are judged poorly, then perhaps he's not a God you want. If you are judged favorably, then you did what you needed to do.

If there isn't a God, then you were still the best person you could aspire.

seconded

[Skye1013]

Live your life, according to your moral and ethical standards and beliefs. Be the best person you can possibly be, to the best of your ability.

If there is a God, and you are judged poorly, then perhaps he's not a God you want. If you are judged favorably, then you did what you needed to do.

If there isn't a God, then you were still the best person you could aspire.

/thumbsup Skye and 2 others like this post.

[Fetzie]

Personally I believe that if you believe in a heaven and a God, whichever deity it is you choose to worship, then you will get there. This heaven need not be the same place that other people go - maybe they don't like cheese and you love the stuff, a cheese filled place wouldn't be heaven for them. Maybe Hitler went to a heaven, I don't know, but why assume that because one believes that there is a heaven, that one would have to spend eternity with people one hates?

[Maverick13]

luckily my place in Hell was booked long ago

[Skye1013]

Personally I believe that if you believe in a heaven and a God, whichever deity it is you choose to worship, then you will get there. This heaven need not be the same place that other people go - maybe they don't like cheese and you love the stuff, a cheese filled place wouldn't be heaven for them. Maybe Hitler went to a heaven, I don't know, but why assume that because one believes that there is a heaven, that one would have to spend eternity with people one hates?

While I don't generally make a habit of pulling beliefs from intentional works of fiction (I'm not saying the Bible is, one way or the other,) but Piers Anthony wrote a series of books called the Incarnations of Immortality, and the first book dealt with the Incarnation of Death. One of the things Death learned after taking up the mantle was that not everyone's souls go to the same place. It all depends on your beliefs. The example was, he was attempting to retrieve the soul of a non-believer, but the soul just disappated instead of him being able to take it to purgatory. I think it's an interesting way to look at things, and since nobody truly knows for sure, it's entirely possible things like that happen.

[Fivelives]

Bored at work and browsing through xkcd brought up this random pick: