Are people inherentely GOOD or EVIL? WHY?

Question

PLEASE NO BIBLE VERSES or QUOTES from any other VERSES..I WANT TO KNOW YOUR OPINION IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
Thanks.

corection: Quotes from other books

Answer 1

God created the earth perfect, and man had direct access to God. He created us in His image, including free will. The only restriction was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating of it, mankind then became responsible for the consequences of our decisions, the good and the bad. It resulted in the "death" of our relationship, separating us from God, and that perfect world (paradise) that He had created.

The bad and evil things of this world are the result of our lack of love and caring, just as the good things results from our love and caring. When we wronged or harmed another, it results in a death of our relationship with them, just as it did with God. The result of sin can be said to be "death", which can be permanent if the offended does not forgive us. It can be restored if one repents; that is to have sorrow for what we have done and to ask for forgiveness. Sometimes we must make restitution, or at least ensure the offended that we will not do it again. Love and caring is the motivation to redeem the relationship.

There are those who do not care. They are self centered, unloving and thoughtless. Some seem to even delight in this evil and wickedness. They do not want and have no desire to restore relationships with those they have wronged or harmed. The worst things that one can do to another are committed with this attitude. Suffering, killings, tortures, etc., are done of their own free will.

People find they inherently have the capacity to choose the good and the evil, since we are born this knowledge and ability, and were created with the free will to do so. We are also born separated from God, due to the original sin of Adam and Eve. We find that we need to ask Him for forgiveness, to restore our relationship with Him. You could say that this separation is the result of their sin, and we find ourselves born in this evil condition, spiritually dead because of sin. We are not born into a perfect world, with direct access to God.

We feel this spiritual need within us, as real as our physical and emotional needs. We seem to innately know that we need to find God and search for enlightenment. Most religions are our attempts to reach God. I have found that only in Christianity, is God reaching for us. The living God touches those who have a repentant and sorrowful heart for their sins.. the evil things we have done that have separated us from Him and other people.

Millions have found that His love, grace and mercy for us is through Jesus Christ alone. That there is no other way, path, religion or belief that God has given man by which we can be forgiven. That through His death, we live again and have direct access to God. Jesus is the new covenant God has made for us, to forgive us of our sins, and to restore our relationship with Him. Though we live in an imperfect world, and find ourselves still able to sin and to do evil, God has provided us with a better way, and given us the ability to overcome the sinful nature within us.

Answer 2

It is quite obvious that we have the capacity for both good and evil. We are not simply one or the other. Everyone is a living testament to this. Just think about your relationships with other people, such as friends or a spouse/girlfriend. Sometimes those people do things that are hurtful (aka "evil"), but they also do things that you enjoy (aka "good"), so you stay with them.

I have just as much of a capacity to shoot a homeless person in cold blood as I do to help that man find food, clothing and shelter. It all comes down to choice.

Of course, Socrates would have us believe that we all do what we think is best at the time. This may have more truth in it than we give it credit, because we can change the way we act by changing our mental paradigm.

Answer 3

Most people are inherantly good because we have evolved with instincts for empathy and altruism. Some people are born lacking one or the other or both, however, and as such may not be so intrinsically good.

However, these are predispositions, not absolutes -- a person raised to be evil despite these instincts will be evil, a person carefully raised to be good, and who honestly tries to be, will be good even if he lacks both.

Even the intrinsically good can fail from time to time, but that's what the words "I'm sorry" are for -- so you can express remorse to the person you wronged.

Answer 4

I've battled this question for years, wondering about others, and about myself. I don't believe that there is such a thing as a good person or a bad person. Just look at yourself, are you a good or a bad person? There's only good and bad moments.

The person that just screamed and pushed you to the floor for "lookin funny" or something just as silly, is a PERSON that has people that care about them, people that they care about. They too feel the same pain that do when someone hurts you, they just might hide it better. There's all kinds of personality types, and certain experiences accentuate positive and negative attributes of those personalities.

Answer 5

No bible verses...okay. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, we believe that Holy Tradition PRECEEDS the writing and canonization of scripture. So, it is possible to talk of Holy Traditions preserved by The Church without having to quote scripture.

We ("we" are all members of One Body, so it is not proper for me to declare, "I") believe that God is beyond human comprehension.

Certainly we use terms such as Father, Son and Holy Spirit to teach what has been revealed about the persons of The Trinity, yet we would never claim to fully know or understand (comprehend) The Creator.

Our concept of God (and Good and Evil) is very close to that of The Sophists: The Earliest Greek Philoshophers.

This is perhaps best described in the non-Christian book, "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintainence" by Robert Pursig.

His thesis is that there is a point of view known only to God, and this point of view can best be described as "Quality" (in line with the Sophists).

We believe that God IS Good, that God defines Good (or Quality). It is God's eternal heritage and inheritance (what God has to give, NOT what God has received).

This is not to be mistaken as "God is nice" or "God only makes me feel happy" or "If a "bad" thing happens, it must not be of God".

God is the creator of "time" through and for God's created creatures. God can be said to live outside the Time/Space continueum simply because God is the Creator, not the Creation, and God is not entrapped within that which God creates.

As a creator who has created humans to be a model of God (for lack of a better, non-biblical term), we also believe that one of God's characteristics--free will--has been imparted unto humanity.

Human life is created with this ability to choose, and also an inherant awareness of God.

If we respond to our awareness of God by pressing into God, then we are chosing to persue that which is Good, and we become that which we persue (Good; the LIKENESS of God)

If we respond to our awareness of God by rejecting God and CHOOSING to create a reality that does not include God, God will allow us to do so.

So, as creations of The Good God, we inherit Goodness from God's inheritance, meaning, we are inheritantly Good.

If we choose to separate ourselves from The Good God, we choose an inheritance of nothing, void--an existance without The Good God.

God sees this--defines this--as NOT Good--Evil.

No one is inherantly Evil.

We could split hairs on this one, but in the end we would conclude that the things we do today may affect our future generations--handicap them towards evil--for many, many, many years.

In the end, this would be a result of the evil that humanity does by choice, not through any evil that God concocts out of nothingness.

Gordios (Eastern Orthodox name of chrysmation; named after Martyr Gordios of Caesarea at Cappadocia in the third century, AD/CE--commemorated January 3rd in the Eastern Orthodox Church Jurisdictions)

Answer 6

Think it true...is it easier to do good stuff or bad stuff? When gossiping about people is it easier not to say horrible stuff about them or to completly diss them? When you were a kid was it easier to refrain from taking a cookie from the cookie jar or just go ahead and enjoy cookie. When your mad is it easier to lash out than hold your cool??Is it easier to just shut up when someone is annoying you or is it easier to tear down there convidence and bring them to tears?? These things arent really evil but they are bad! SO which is easier to do. Unless you have amazing self control I would say that its easier to do the bad thing.

Answer 7

Good. Alturistic tendencies are inherent in all humans, though there can be defects, the most common cause for 'evil' is how the child is raised.

Answer 8

Evil. Every child ever born began as totally selfish, self-centered individuals. We LEARN to care about others. Or at least sometimes we do.

Answer 9

Good and Evil are concepts created in the minds of men. All living things are neither good nor evil. We just "are".

Answer 10

I'd go with intrinsically evil. When push comes to shove, what do most people take care of? Themselves and what they feel is most important to them. People are selfish.