Is evil something you are or something you do?

Answer 1

for me its inherent

Answer 2

Both. A specific evil act is something you do. A tendency or desire to commit evil is a personality characteristic, making it something you are.

I don't agree with the the other people who say that evil is learned and imply that good is innate. You guys are too influenced by Rosseau's "natural man" philosophy. Morality in general is learned, but many acts we call "evil" will occur UNLESS the child is taught NOT to do them. Theft, for example. Kids take things and don't see anything wrong with it until they are taught that stealing is wrong. This is not to say that "good" behavior cannot also arise spontaneously. It will, but so will "evil" behavior. Moral teaching is about showing the child which is which, and why, not about writing "good" or "evil" onto a blank slate.

REALLY good question, by the way. It generated some interesting replies. (And some predictable ones.)

Answer 3

There are two sorts of evil: - unchosen (diseases, natural disasters, accidents, etc.), and chosen evil (rape, torture, murder, etc.). You are asking about chosen evil.

Chosen evil has to be both something you are and something you do. That is, an evil done out of malice is intended evil, and your intentions are part of what you are.

It is possible to intend evil but not do it, but it isn't possible to intend evil and not do it *if you can do it*. If you intend evil but then don't do it, it's either because you physically can't do it or you have changed your mind and no longer intend it.

Socrates and Plato believed that it is impossible for us to truly know what is good and yet do bad. That is, they believed that all bad acts are done out of ignorance of what is good, and when we do bad we actually mistakenly think we are doing good.

Aristotle, on the other hand, taught that evil, or rather vice, is something that is ingrained in the vicious person's character - and is thus very much part of what that person is. But he also taught that a person's moral character is malleable, and that vicious people can be trained, or can train themselves, to become virtuous.

Answer 4

It is something you have, like goodness is something you have in you too. You can develop your evil in you.. or you can develop your goodness. It really is up to you. Your parents and environment has a lot to do with how you think and what you do.
But the ultimate decision of being good or evil is up to you. You are in control of your life.

So evil is something you can be... and something you do. Both.

Answer 5

You are born with a nature to sin (human nature), but doesn't mean that evil has dominion over you. You can control all evil Temptations always a way out but because we have evil desires we don't all the time strive for the best.

Answer 6

Evil is something you do. The evil lies within us, but most generally people do not do evil even though they have the capacity to do so. There may be one exception. I talked to the sister of one of Charles Manson's guards in prison and he said that all prisoners have at least one redeeming quality, whether it be children, or animals, etc. He said all Manson was the only prisoner he had ever dealt with in 25 years who had no redeeming qualities at all, so I suppose, you can say he is pure evil.

Answer 7

Both

We became evil when the first man and woman disobeyed God. God removed Himself from the affairs of man (Except for occasional interventions of God.) Satan is the established ruler of the universe and He temps our inherent evil nature to commit evil acts. God is omnipresent and will intervene upon your prayer request. God also took away His Holy Spirit from mans soul, but left a God shaped hole that ever longs to be refilled by God.

God stands ready to refill our hearts so that we have the potential for good. As a christian I have an evil nature and a good nature. i am tempted daily by evil and good. The nature I feed the most will be the dominant nature. An unsaved, lost, non christian cannot help but obey his evil nature.

Answer 8

That depends on if you believe in a black and white, good VS. evil world.

Nothing is inherently evil. There are things that are *more* evil than others, but everyone and everything has at least one good aspect to it/them.

Your question also brings in the aspect of subjectivity, meaning, nobody ever really sees *themselves* as being evil. John Wayne Gacy or Jeffery Dahmer, I'm sure, thought of themselves as real nice guys who just had somewhat peculiar urges. We see them as being and doing evil, but we're not in their heads, are we?

Answer 9

Evil is learned; so it's something you do. Childeren learn to lie around the age of 3-6. Just a fact you might want to know.

Answer 10

Depends upon your definition of evil.

I see no evidence of an independent, perhaps even intelligent, life force that causes evil, therefore evil makes more sense in terms of what people do. I prefer the term negative behavior.

It's been my experience that no one is totally good or totally evil. Sometimes, acting upon greed, pettiness, or anger, we do things that hurts others or ourselves unnecessarily. That's negative behavior.

"Evil" I would reserve for extreme negative behavior carried out by someone with a complete disregard for its effect upon others.

Answer 11

Evil is something you do