Do you believe bad/evil thoughts are ever "wrong"?

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I believe that bad/evil thoughts can be wrong. It really depends on whats inside your heart (figuratively speaking just in case aspies are literal )

There's a saying that goes something like this, "As long as your thoughts don't turn into actions, it is ok".

However, I have to partly disagree with this. I agree with this in the sense that if you suddenly had evil thoughts of a person, there is no need to panic thinking that you've become a criminal. Just do your best to substitute it with good or neutral thoughts.

I disagree with this statement because I believe that thoughts can be wrong. I don't know what you think, but i believe that if you actually hate someone from the bottom of your heart and start "entertaining yourself" with bad thoughts like killing or injuring that person, or wish them bad fortune (inside your mind), then its not a good thing. I don't believe that a person has to translate bad thoughts into bad actions in order for it to be "wrong".

Now, obviously there is no way that you can be "prosecuted for bad thoughts." And I'm not looking to find a way to prosecute people in this thread. Even with actions, if you seriously believe that something is "wrong" you would not do it even if you had almost no chance of getting caught or if the place where you are living in is in a state of anarchy. Those would be irrelevant factors. You don't do it because you believe it is wrong.

So what do you think?
Its interesting to start a thread on "ethics of thoughts".

If there were anything "wrong" about thoughts, there would be Thought Police everywhere enforcing Goodthink.

didn't we do this a couple weeks ago?

I find that sort of thing tiresome and counterproductive but i don't feel guilty about it.

or at least tiresome. i had to tear some guy in hyderabad a new rectum to get a monthly service cancelled tonight and i don't feel very bad about that. I feel bad about the bad mood it put me in for 2 hours.

Evil thoughts are more fun than anything else.

1984 reference! YESSSS!! !! !! !

Orwell double plus goodperson!

Unfriend bad think unperson Winston.

I think it depends on whether you're using fictional characters or a person in your life. I think that if you are using a person in your life to have evil thoughts, then thats not good. Even if the thought does not exactly translate into actions in real life, it is not good for your relationship with the person or other people.

Crimethink double plus ungood (is that good Newspeak?)

People living together get pissed off with each other all the time. A passing evil thought sometimes relieves the pressure to respond. Once a sensible person understands the unfortunate reaction of translating the thought into actuality and thereby rejecting it things can calm down. That's the way life works. Translating the thoughts into actuality is, of course, unwise and probably criminal and usually unfortunate. That's a separate problem.

In "1984" Winston was not guilty of evil thoughts. It was the evil government that punished and suppressed good thoughts.

But have you ever considered that if we were to prevent ourselves from having evil thoughts in the first place, then there's no chance that we would carry out the evil actions against others. Think about it (no pun intended). How can an evil action spontaneously come out if there was no evil thoughts that accompany it. Even in cases of second degree murder where the perpetrator never planned out his/her act, there had to be some feeling of anger or rage toward the other person. If you have a peaceful mind, then I don't see how you can find yourself commiting violent crimes.

As soon as the Elite figure how to access thoughts, that slips into place. Until technology fixes it, they can only get you if you talk or act or twitch your facer the wrong way.

Yes, of course certain thoughts are wrong.

They are also inevitable - we are all sinners, and the Desert Fathers' image of the wind blowing through the window applies.

We are not held accountable, either by society or by God, for every sin.

If we work the thought - hold on to it, chew it like a certain young punk I was who used to meditate on all the things he might do to revenge himself on those who Green Monkeyed him - that is worse and harder to reach absolution.

If we act on it - we may still get away from it with society and God. But it ups the ante.

But evil - is wrong. We may ingest poison for pleasure - many do. We may ingest poison and not die from it. But it is still poison.

The word "evil" itself has religious connotations which implies something inherent in an act not in conformation with some standard. But standards differ greatly from person to person, culture to culture, religion to religion etc. There are acts which are ineffective or stupid or inappropriate but this is responsive to context and is not inherent. You cannot strait jacket a mind.

Its interesting how many atheists use the argument "if a powerful god existed why he would allow so much evil and suffering". In those arguments, didn;t the atheist admit to something being objectively evil? I mean, its possible an atheist believes that something is absolutely evil but I think a lot of athiests don't, am I right?

"evil" is in most use simply "augmented bad with effects on society". It does not in fact link to religion, though it often appeals to an external standard.

Of course [partly because of the standard feature, partly because much religious talk is a bit archaic] it is used a lot in religious contexts. But it can be used by the purely secular appealing to a societal standard.

Again, whether one believes in truth, right and wrong independent of fashion and policy is NOT determined uniquely by one's answer to god / no god. I say again, as an atheist I DID - as I do now as theist - believe in a fixed truth and a non relative good and evil.

Evil is a quality derived from a personal view of an event that is somehow disastrous. If a mudslide kills a village that is just a natural event. But if there is a God in control of whether or not a mudslide kills a village that indicates intent and in that context it could be evil. If a religious law is considered sacrosanct and it is violated, that could be labeled by adherents as evil.