When Do People Deserve The Results Of Their Actions?
 

WARNING: If you like dull unemotional threads, this thread may not be for you. You might think I'm "stirring the pot" but I'm just asking questions that I think are interesting.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) If I drive my car above the speed limit and I get a speeding ticket, do I deserve to get a ticket?

2) If I slack-off in school and get failing grades, do I deserve to fail?

3) If I go to jail for robbing a bank, do I deserve to be in jail?

4) If I live an unhealthy livestyle, knowing that it will likely lead to poor health, do I deserve poor health?

5) If I jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, knowing that I will most likely not survive the fall, do I deserve to die?

6) If you say something that you know is judgemental, do you deserve to be judged?

If you answered "no" to all of the above, do you think there's ever a situation when people deserve the results of their actions? If you answered "yes" to some of the above, are you being judgemental?

Okay, fire away! :duck::duck::duck:

Answered YES to all and . . .

NO I don't think I am being judgmental.

We are all (or should be) responsible for our own actions !

Do I believe there could be extenuating circumstances - YES!
Once had a friend in my car who was apparently having a heart attack.
No cell phones back then - went like a bat out of hell to get him to a hospital and/or get stopped by the police!
Got him there - he survived!

Should I have gotten a ticket -Yeah I guess so.
Would I do it again? - Yeah I KNOW so !

IMHO of course !

:duck::duck::duck:OH OH, I answered yes to everyone of them also.

Yes to most. I guess I'm judgmental. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I am sitting here scratching my head..........the answers based on how the questions are posed lead to but one response???????????????? unless you can advance a denial defense>

NO NO NO. there are some that would say no to several of them. Just not normal people.

Well, I don't think it's as cut-and-dry as you think. Take suicide: Some might say that people only commit suicide because they are depressed. And their depression might only be a temporary. Therefore, they don't deserve to die. That's one way of looking at it, is it not?

Others might think: Everything happens for a reason; it's part of God's plan. Therefore suicide was deserved.

And how about this?: If the person wants to die, for whatever reason, who are we to deny them their decision? So it's deserved in that sense.

Villages Pl: In all due respect each of the examples you cite make it clear that there will be obvious consequences. Suicide conjectures up most emotion and concern because we know the individual is suffering mentally. However they clearly understand the consequences of their act. Do you recall the movie "They Shoot Horses don't They". My very best friend committed suicide by pointing a gun to his head so I do not take this subject matter lightly. Keep in mind that there are people who repeatedly attempt suicide until they succeed.

I understand. I had two neighbors and a good friend who took their own lives. No one is suggesting that it be taken lightly. Did you assume I was taking it lightly? One of those neighbors was here in the villages and I was the one who discovered her because of the newspapers adding up in her driveway.

I think that people misunderstand the term judgemental. There is nothing wrong with judging actions. If someone stabs someone, it's not judgemental to say that was a bad thing to do. It would be judgemental to say that the person was a bad person or had no redeeming qualities.

Judging acts is different from judging people. Only God gets to judge people.

If people deserve the results to their good decisions, why would it be wrong to feel that the deserve the results of their bad decisions.

In the case of suicide, it may be, and in most cases it probably is, that the person is suffering from some kind of mental illness. A person in that state may not be responsible for his or her actions.

We should look at cases where a person is suffering from a terminal illness and doesn't want to suffer anymore differently. In those cases it could be argued that there is no hope, no way to turn things around and the person is only going to suffer needlessly for a period of time. That may be a sound and cogent decision on their part.

If you ask a biased question, do you deserve an objective answer? I'm editing this post...I was off to say only that...a more thoughtful response on my part ...situations like this cannot be boiled to a sentence. And even if I know all that is possible to know about a situation, I am limited by my own biases and blind spots...

Now to me your response is judgemental - does that make me judgemental???

Our so called justice system is about luck and who has money to pay for a lawyer. If you are lucky and guilty, you get an objective judge and a stupid jury. if you're unlucky and innocent, you get a judge who hates you from hello and the jury won't matter.

I can serve on a jury under the law and use judgment and critical thinking to make my mind up in what seems to me an objective way, and apply the law, and I'm not very easy to fool and see through lawyers, but it's not true justice, it's just the way our system works. Justice in a nutshell: who has the biggest gun/atty..history of our legal system is very telling and fascinating..

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. Yes

4. Yes

5. "Deserve" is a completely inappropriate verb in this context.

6. No (assuming you mean judged by fellow human beings). As pointed out by another poster, only God judges. The job of God is taken already, and besides, none of us is qualified for it.

Here's a perspective on these issues from an Eastern viewpoint, as the so-called Fifth Remembrance of the Buddha: "My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand."