Do "bad" things really happen to "good" people?

[Moriarty]

Originally Posted by quiethumir

I believe that there is no good or bad, but according to the LoA, if you're a "good" person, can negative things happen?

Total nonsense! Belief will get you everywhere.

[waizen]

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure you all will ) but isn't the simple answer to the OP's original question is that "things happen, to any living spirit, as intended"? Period?

[ButterflyWoman]

Originally Posted by waizen

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure you all will ) but isn't the simple answer to the OP's original question is that "things happen, to any living spirit, as intended"? Period?

No. That's not "the" simple answer. That's "a" simple answer.

[quiethumir]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

My point is that the question is too vague.

"Do bad things happen to good people?"

Well, let's say that "bad" here means suffering great poverty. Let's say that "good" means being kind & honest.

Sure, why shouldn't such a "bad" thing occur to such a "good" person? A kind and honest person may nevertheless think thoughts about being poor, not earning enough etc etc, right? Therefore it must be possible for this "bad" thing to happen to such a "good person".

Ok AlG. Let me rephrase the question:

Let's make it hypothetical. Can a good person who is always positive, optimistic, loving, etc., ever attract negative circumstances to them, like losing their job, having their wife/husband leave them, losing a lot of money, get robbed, get murdered, etc. by virtue of LoA?

Let me know if that question is still vague for you

[MariconesUnited]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

May I add that Occam's Razor is fundamentally flawed as a logical tool.

The problem with Occam's Razor is that it presumes:

(1) what you think you know is actually correct;
(2) what you know is more than what you don't know.
(3) the truth is likelier to be simple rather than complex.

All of these are presumptions.

Consider a young child, relying on his own sensory perceptions and not understanding the law of gravity and not having heard of Columbus etc. Thinking logically, and applying Occam's Razor, the child would conclude that the earth is flat.

In a way, we can all be susceptible to the risk of falling into the same trap as that young child.

There's many problems with Occam's razor, yes. It's a tool that works more often than it doesn't though, for the reasoned adult. It's flawed, but it has a lot of value regardless.

Originally Posted by quiethumir

Ok AlG. Let me rephrase the question:

Let's make it hypothetical. Can a good person who is always positive, optimistic, loving, etc., ever attract negative circumstances to them, like losing their job, having their wife/husband leave them, losing a lot of money, get robbed, get murdered, etc. by virtue of LoA?

Let me know if that question is still vague for you

I doubt such a person exists. Whatever answer one gives is nothing but a hypothesis based on that observation.

Originally Posted by waizen

Nah... there's too much more going on here of importance to ignore.

First, I don't believe in coincidences. For any event, there are far more behind-the-scenes things going on than we all give credit for. The universe is, I believe, the master coordinator of events and every entity, human or not, experiences events with an infinite intelligence coordinating things.

I'll let Richard answer this one for me. Why did you connect those dots? What is your reasoning? Your observations?

Originally Posted by waizen

Finally, I don't believe anyone needs to explain how LoA works...to make it fit into the model of LoA, as you say...in order to make it work. It just does. To me, it just makes for an interesting conversation.

I disagree with the bolded part. If it is a ''Law'' as suggested, there must be some mathematical formula to it, just like there is for all natural laws like gravity. I can accept ''we haven't found it yet''. ''We don't need to explain it'' reeks of intellectual laziness to me to be honest.

[Frisky]

Just to clarify, nothing (and I mean NOTHING) happens on earth without some type of reason. Every little thing that happens is a counter effect of something else that happened. Nothing in the universe ever happens by chance.

This is called "Law (or Principle) of Cause and Effect":

Causality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Causality (also referred to as causation[1]) is the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first.[2]

In common usage Causality is also the relationship between a set of factors (causes) and a phenomenon (the effect). Anything that affects an effect is a factor of that effect. A direct factor is a factor that affects an effect directly, that is, without any intervening factors. (Intervening factors are sometimes called "intermediate factors.") The connection between a cause(s) and effect in this way can also be referred to as a causal nexus

[MariconesUnited]

It's always good to clarify I suppose Frisky. I think the more pressing question is ''Is there a conscious agent behind it?''

[Frisky]

Originally Posted by MariconesUnited

I think the more pressing question is ''Is there a conscious agent behind it?''

What do you mean by that??

[localrobert]

It doesnt really matter what I call good or bad.

Bad things happen to good people.
Good things happen to bad people.
Bad things happen to bad people.
Good things happen to good people.

All the above is true in this universe.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by quiethumir

Let's make it hypothetical. Can a good person who is always positive, optimistic, loving, etc., ever attract negative circumstances to them, like losing their job, having their wife/husband leave them, losing a lot of money, get robbed, get murdered, etc. by virtue of LoA?

This question still has some problems.

Because, you see, it presumes that certain types of events are necessarily negative. While the examples you gave may often indeed be negative, they may also not!

For example - consider this one: "losing their job". Well, read Steve's post enttiled "Ten Reasons Never to Get a Job" and you might see the event "losing a job" in a different light. And who knows? Depending on what kind of person your spouse is, it may be a good thing that he/she leaves you.

Ultimately we see that a lot of this stuff is highly subjective. Losing a job might be a very bad thing to a certain percentage of people, it might not be so for other people. It depends on their individual circumstances and also, it depends on their own perceptions.

Possible advantages of losing a job:

1. You get to spend more time with your family for some time;
2. You discover that there are other better job opportunities out there;
3. You get to take a break;
4. You finally get the impetus you need to pursue your own business ideas;
5. You get the impetus you need to do something that you'd be dreaming of doing for a long time (eg go to college, pursue some course etc)
6. You retire early
7. You get to stop working at a place which you never liked much anyway

[ButterflyWoman]

Originally Posted by quiethumir

a good person who is always positive, optimistic, loving, etc.

No such person exists. ALL people experience dark thoughts, resentment, and so on, even if it's only fleeting. What you see and experience on the surface is truly just the tip of the iceberg.