Are We Accountable for Our Actions?

Most organized, popular religion believes (at least to some extent) that we are accountable for our own actions. They preach being aware of your own decisions and the moral consequences of doing so. The Christian church even believes that your status in the "afterlife" is based on your actions in your short time on Earth. This philosophy is shared in politics, too: nearly every government on Earth has a set of criminal laws. There's obviously a lot of weight on our shoulders to behave. Are we really this accountable for our actions?

Take, for example, the story of Phineas Gage. For those of you unfamiliar with this, Mr. Gage was a jovial railroad worker in the middle 1800s. He was well known for his friendliness, but one day he accidentally took a railroad spike to his head, and he suffered severe damage to his frontal lobe, particularly the emotional regulation center. He lived through the event, but after the surgery he was known to be bitter, short-tempered, and often very angry. Is he now in "hell" because of his short temper after he suffered severe brain damage, and he spent the last years of his life perpetually angry?

 

Most Laws are for our own safty and the safty of those around us.

Brain Damage is a diferent story, Most cases end in death he is very lucky and to be short temped and Bitter, I would be happy with that, But is he accountable for hes Actions, The Crimnal Law Says "No" Any one who has Sufferd from "Mental" or Somthing like this has Pretty much a Jail free Card. They will still be Locked away just not to Jail. So My answer would be In hes Case, No. If some one who can think for them selfs Yes, I have always been told to think twice befor my Actions.

Depends If you Believe or not.

If you Bielieve Most religions say that God forgives you for your Sins. Others say that you Sin you can Sin in Hell.

Hard Quetions But Hope You can See were I am coming from.

 

"Christians" is a pretty generic term, there are different branches of christianity which all have their own set beliefs. Anyway, I've come across some branches that believe 'God' has given us free will and we can freely choose right from wrong, as you've said, but apparently 'God' knows everything. He knows what we are all going to be doing at whatever point in time, which completely contradicts the free-will concept, because every decision we will ever make is pre-determined, he already knows what will happen. It's a big mess in my eyes.

I know a fair bit about mormonism, so I'm going to use their beliefs as the example... The majority of their beliefs are shared with most branches of christianity. He will be accountable for everything he decided to do whilst having a fully functional brain without any disorders. If you have any type of uncontrollable mental disorder, which would alter your decision making, you will not be judged on those because it is out of your control. So if you are born with mental disorders, like cerebral pausy for example, you supposedly get a "free ticket" to heaven, because you cannot be judged for your actions as they were not in your control.

 

Is getting an insanity plea better than getting a verdict of guilty in criminal cases? Also, the law has some very specific terms of insanity, but insanity is an extreme case, anyway. What about general cases that predispose somebody to anger, like genetics? Is a genetically angry person less liable for his actions because his genes simply make him angry?

A big mess, indeed. Thank you for referencing Mormonism, because that was my reference to organized religion for the first majority of my life. Mormons do believe that only fully-functioning or "normal" brains will be judged, whereas disabled people are automatically allowed back into heaven. However, where do we draw that line, then? Cerebral palsy people, sure. Down syndrome patient? What about a kid with ADHD whose disorder causes him to disrespect adults by ignoring them?

 

Personally I believe you're whole thread is completely pointless because in court and political systems you are also permitted to plead "insanity" and things of the like; making you no longer accountable for your actions. If there is any way to escape the standard everyone else is held to, I think it shouldn't be a standard. I don't care either way; but either we are all accountable for our actions or no one is.

 

So you're saying the answer to my question is: Yes, unless nobody is accountable whatsoever? So Mr. Gage with his obvious cause of bad behavior is still accountable.... OR every criminial is not accountable?