I would say that none of us are truly good.

I tend to agree in the sense that I don't think anyone is perfect.
However I do think many people are more good than they are "bad" so to speak.

It seems cruel to do this to a man, and it is definitely cruel according to my sense of morality to murder a lamb.

Are you vegan? Just curious.

It's somewhat paradoxical, as it would suggest that if you want to protect the ones you love the most, the way to do so is to be willing to fail them in order to do the right thing.

That's interesting to think about. Reminds me of the whole "super hero" idea as I watched the movie Kick-Ass with my friend recently and it seems like in order to help others sometimes you gotta do some bad things. Sometimes you even gotta be more ruthless in some ways than the bad guys you are fighting or else you'll lose.

What does a life of doing good, true good, look like for someone living in today's world? They too would suffer persecution, and very act of doing good is a sacrifice for the people, for it is putting everyone else before the desires of oneself.

Agreed. I think almost anyone.. Maybe not everyone.. But if you wanna do true good in the world and really help move society forward then you're probably going to face a lot of hardship and pain and suffering because of it from the very people you're trying to help.

A further deception of the Bible then, could be that we are led to believe Jesus is our saviour - the one and only. But perhaps in light of the full texts, we can look at Jesus not as a sole saviour, but as an example of how to ignite the saviour within ourselves, and a demonstration of the power one will be rewarded with in order so that they can do more good by following Jesus' example.

I like that idea and I tend to resonate with that more than what most people seem to think in regards to the subject.

So, invite you to entertain this theory for a moment; take goodness to the next level, and see what rewards it begets you - even if I am currently lacking the courage to walk that path at the moment. Even if I am wrong about the theory, which I very well may be, the world could certainly benefit from many of us trying harder to do good, and being willing to sacrifice what we hold dearest in order to do the right thing. I hope that soon I will be in a position where I feel I can step onto that same path again, and hopefully, I will not be alone when I do.

Well said. I think the world would be much better if we all sacrificed more to help each other. And while I've spent much of my life trying to help, in some ways I've played it safe too.. Not going too far out of my comfort zone so this is a good reminder for me to perhaps step up my game a bit. Definitely gave me something to think about. Thanks for sharing!