the nature of humanity?

Question

from reading many threads on this website I have come to realise that there is a big difference between the humanist/atheist opinion of human nature and the christian one. Humanist/atheists believe humans to be inherently good, believing the vast majority of people being empathetic caring etc. It seems that christians believe humans to be inherently bad, believing they sin daily and would be incapable of morality and forming a coherent society without gods influence.

Is humanity inherently good and inherently bad?

I think the original sin mythology was the authors way of allegorically describing man capability of doing bad things

Answer 1

With neither a belief nor a non-belief to back me up, I think there is the potential to do good or to do harm in each of us.

I believe that we should do as much good as possible for its own sake, for the benefit of other peope, and for the our own benefit.

I think there are more people who are capable of more good than the evil others do.

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart. --Anne Frank

Answer 2

according to my knowledge,
anything that caused harm / hurt to others and self are considered bad.
So Christianity (besides history and spirituality) teaches people not to be bad people so we all can live in peace.

We do know that sometimes we purposefully or not make mistakes. So, the bible is actually a book to remind us to do the right thing. God is merciful and He will forgive us when we repent.

Humanity is part of Christianity. Because the religion really cares about each other.

I don't know about Atheists... I think they're different than Christianity only in believing the existance of God, not in humanity.

Answer 3

I believe anybody is capable of anything. The difference between the minority of criminals and the majority of decent (if flawed) human beings, is that before committing the very worst deeds, the non-criminals would need either a very good reason (e.g., a prison warden carrying out an execution as required by law) or a terrible necessity (e.g., people doing what they have to do in time of war or in cases of self-defense).

As for the concept of "sin," it seems that the worst sins are those very things that make us human. Sex and desire; the pride that drives us to compete and succeed, and convinces us that our reason is superior to any myth; our autonomy and intelligence; these are the things that religion would have us grind into the dust, in the name of pleasing the very god who supposedly gave us these gifts. It makes no sense to suppose that we can achieve some higher purpose by denying our very nature.

Answer 4

Yes, humanity is inherently good AND inherently bad. We have a longing in us to be perfect, but see no way to achieve that perfection. We do the wrong thing as we struggle to be the perfect thing before God.

But one mistake you make is in thinking that sin makes you bad. A lot of times we misunderstand that the person isn't bad, but their sin is.

Answer 5

Humanity can do what APPEARS to be good. There are NO pure motives. It is the heart that is wicked and deceitful among all things.

Sure, people can help hurricane victims, adopt children that need homes...but in GOD's eyes only a PURE HEART is what is good.

Since NO ONE has a pure heart, it has to be given to us.

If one accepts Jesus, he is a new creation ... in God's eyes. God looks with favor on that person, even though that person will still do wrong.

Humanity is inherently BAD.

Answer 6

Humanists recognize the innate divinity in mankind.
They resonate wqith Christ's statement "The Kingdom of Heaven is within." Unfortunately, most "Christians" have never looked very deeply into Christ's real message.

Answer 7

uh, let me think....... oh yeah, I got it now. Human nature is inherently good and inherently bad most all of the time.

Answer 8

mauvaise