Is man by nature good or evil?

Is man by nature good or evil?

• The following is public knowledge and was said between a teacher and a student and it is partially quoted: TEACHER: Does cold exist? STUDENT: No sir. Physics - cold is the total and complete opposite of the TEACHER: There is darkness! STUDENT: No sir. Darkness is the total absence of light. You can study light and brightness, but not darkness. Light causes prisms to show color. TEACHER: Did God create evil? STUDENT: No sir, God did not create evil. Evil is the absence of God in people's hearts. It is the absence of love, humanity and faith. Love and faith are like heat and light. They exist! Their absence led to evil! The comments by the student have often been attributed to Albert Einstein. Either way, it is a good illustration of the issue.

• If you say things related ed to the cliche' "fence sitter" you simply ignore your own flaws and probably also believe that you are more intelligent than most people (try an IQ test?), a better driver than (about that car crash?), and wish people admired you more for the great person you are. Now committing oneself to a life of in-experience and shame is not what god wants for you. That was written by someone who simply was already miserable. God allows some pleasure. God forbids things that today the law forbids, like drug abuse and other bad stuff. Life is a gift, enjoy it, cherish it, love it, thank god for it, protect it, and have respect for the temple that is our body. Don't misuse life but don't refuse to live and when you mess up don't dwell on it just do better... or you could always dishonor life by doing nothing at all but you can do that when your dead.

• I do not believe in the opposing dichotomy of "Good and Evil". In human society "Evil" is a label for things that usually conflict with the fecundity of well being for others, usually the Self or those associated (in truth this makes the label of parties involved as "good" invalid), these affected are labeled as "Good". I do maintain that evil theoretically could correspond to the absolute absence of good but I see that instead neither true evil or pure good is possible in a human context, instead we have varying amounts of good in each of us from day to day. We can inspire others to these qualities as well as be inspired to them... Evil and Good. Please care for what you say, do, and believe. The multi-named creator of the cosmos and life is the highest good I know of.

• In the eyes of the Lord there are no shaded areas of being good or evil. Man cannot hide in the gloaming or at dusk and say that one is "Mostly" good or evil and return to the light as a fence sitter. Either one is good or one is evil, as explained there are no shades in the eyes of God.
  No one can live in His presence if he is so soiled.
  Since the fall, all men have become carnal, sensual and devilish. In this fallen state they are subject to the lusts, passions and appetites of the flesh. They are spiritually dead.
  When we stand before the judgment bar of God it will be impossible for us to lie in His presence. To answer "mostly" will not be accepted, our answer will have to be yes or no. One tiny spot of oil will quickly spread across the surface of a bowl of pure water which becomes contaminated and is only to be cast out.
  Finally, to those who do not believe in God but in man, surly there is a need to believe in oneself and so evaluate their actions?
  

• Alfie Kohn has researched this and written an in-depth book based on peer reviewed papers called ' The Brighter Side of Human Nature'. The short answer is that it's the wrong question, but saying that humans are *mostly* good although we can all do (lesser or greater) bad things depending on the environment and situation is a start. The book is a great read, although not exactly light, and has many surprising research results.

• God created man (both men and women) with a free will to choose which force they align themselves with - either good or evil. Jesus said that, "Only God is good," meaning He is the only One who is inherently good (just, loving, mature, fair, etc..), inferring we are not. He also points out that we are loved by our Father in Heaven more dearly than we could ever possibly know; again, inferring we have God's favor, love, grace, mercy, etc. etc. If God is good, could He love anyone or anything that is evil? The answer is NO. Anything evil cannot be sanctioned by a Holy God. Therefore, we are neither good nor evil. We are humans who inherited the fallen natures of our first human father and mother, Adam and Eve. We can also be children of God, by way of the cross. Through the choices Adam and Eve made their once innocent nature became "savvy" to the knowledge of good and evil. Then with that knowledge they listened to the voice of evil and made the wrong choice, doing something God forbade them to do. Thus in God's eyes, they "fell." Spiritual DNA is as real as natural DNA. This is why the Lord is so patient and merciful towards us - we got stuck, if you will, with a "fallen nature" not an evil one. This is why, as you may have heard, Jesus called the understanding of his sacrifice "The Good News." His paying our price is really, really good news! God created man because He wanted a family. When Adam and Eve sinned they paved the way for God to give us the Law, so we would know what was good and evil from His standards. Unfortunately, as God already knew, no one could keep all the Law, so He sent Christ to sacrifice himself for us on the cross. Jesus paid the price the Law required for sin. Through his sacrifice, we can CHOOSE to accept the price he paid for our individual sins (or evil choices, acts, thoughts, etc.) thus being forgiven and "saved" from the results of breaking God's Law - conditional upon our choosing to accept this forgiveness. This does not give us license to sin, but does give us a way by which we can be forgiven, daily, if necessary. It is futile to try to "get away" with something as God sees our hearts and knows very well those who truly love Him, and those who are giving Him lip service. Sadly, there are many who call themselves "followers of Christ" (or Christians) who by way of pride, malicious intentions, laziness and denial do not live a repetitive lifestyle, meaning they do not allow the Lord to bring change to their lives. This is why so many look at Christians and say they are fools, liars, and phonies. Again, it all comes back to the individual choice of one's will. Sadly, the world judges God by those who call themselves His people, and when they see evil in them, they either decide God is not real, or God just doesn't care. How terribly sad for them. This grieves God's heart in a way that is unimaginable to us. One thing you can count on; God will NEVER cross a person's free will to choose. If you want to do evil, He will let you do evil. If you want to do good, He will let you do good. He will never interfere with your free will to choose. This is because He wants children, family, who CHOOSE to love Him, therefore setting themselves on the path towards righteousness. He did not desire robots who had no choice but to love Him, and love what He loves. He, like us, wants love that is freely given, not forced. Many people ask the question, "How could God let this happen?" AND that question has proven hard to answer! If you understand that God gave us a free will to choose, and that He will not override your free will choices, then you understand that what we grieve over when we say "How could God let this happen?" is the wrong question. We should ask, "How could WE let this happen?" Before he departed for Heaven, Jesus told us, "What you bind on earth, I will bind in Heaven, and what you loose on earth, I will loose in Heaven." These are extremely important words to understand. The short version is Jesus was telling us that because we are now redeemed, we have been given the responsibility to steward the earth once again. Stewarding doesn't just mean being a "good person" and trying not to hurt anyone. Stewarding means "managing" and we are to manage the evil in the earth primarily through prayer, also in doing good works, copying the life and works of Jesus and so on. If we fail to pray for the defeat of evil, daily, then by omission (shirking responsibility) we allow evil the room to operate. Most people don't believe "their little prayers" will make that much difference. But the Lord said if one person can put a thousand to flight (evil spirits, or evil acts by evil people) then two can put ten thousand to flight. If two people praying to bind evil on earth can stop ten thousand evil acts, can you imagine how many evil acts could be stopped by a thousand people faithful to pray every day? How about ten or one hundred thousand people praying? A million? Another way to look at it is if there weren't some people somewhere praying, how many other evil acts would befall mankind that didn't because someone(s) was faithful to pray? Going back to your original question: "Is man by nature evil or good?" it's important to remember to include the free will of man to create, choose, perform acts and pass on influence. Perhaps the question should read, "Does man have the ability to be evil or good?" The answer to that question is obviously "Yes!" But it's important to train your mind to understand good and evil are forces, not natures. Let me leave you with this thought: "The spirit realm has two forces. One is good and one is evil. These two forces are opposite and have authority, mostly given to them by our choices. These forces also possess substance, which occupies space and time, and can be perceived by your spirit senses; Power, which is the capacity to exert strength; And Influence, which is the ability to have an effect or impact. "On the positive side there is faith, divine authority and virtue. On the negative side there is doubt, corruption and defiance. Faith and doubt are both substances. Authority and defiance wield power. The strength of faith releases a beneficial influence, and the strength of doubt releases a detrimental influence. OUR WILLS shall choose which force we align ourselves with." This quote comes from a book I'm writing called "Meletio-The Prayer of Listening." Meletio in Greek, simply means: to meditate. If you want to know the truth concerning mankind's nature, I suggest you meditate on your own nature while seeking God with ears willing to hear and eyes will to see - along with a heart and mind desiring only that which is true, holy and good. God bless you in your trek to go higher!

• Each and Every Creature is a Divine Being descended from The Supreme Being (Allah or God or Zeus or Odin or Ra or Rama or The Sender of Children or The Great Spirit or a ZILLION other names for The Supreme Being). Since The Supreme Being is the most Good Being over ALL Creation and since ALL other Beings, Child Beings, are directly related to The Supreme Being, then within each and every Child Being, there is the POTENTIAL to BE "Good" and/or "Evil" to some maximum or minimum extent, and be rewarded or suffer consequences of "Good" and/or "Evil" according to the '''Laws of Nature''' established by The Supreme Being and Higher Beings (Who are, in fact, our Elder Sister and/or Brother Beings), Family Beings. It is possible that none of us Child Beings will ever be as Good as God but we can always try to be as "Good" as possible and hopefully be rewarded by God and, in the fullness of Time (Infinity), re-unite with God, our Eternal, Everlasting Common Parent, sometimes referred to as '''Mother Father God'''. (Not just "Father God" as some patriarchal religions imply, but '''Mother Father God'''.) (Read "Man" as being just one of the '''INFINITE''' number of life-forms living as Divine Child Beings in the '''INFINITY of Creation''' in the above.)

• Man, by nature, is free to choose which way he wants to go.

• According to something I remember in my World History class man is evil by nature.

• I believe man is no more good or evil than a dog or horse or tree is good or evil. Man is a creature of this earth, blessed with astonishing faculties that allow him to choose to behave well or badly. I hesitate to ascribe terms like good or evil to actions or people. We are beings of nature, whether you believe in God or not. In nature, there is no good or evil, only consequences.

• Man is naturally depraved. It is the moving of the Holy spirit that makes him righteous. Yes, everything is black or white. there are absolutes. You are of the world or you aren't. the road is narrow not wide. the first will be last and the last will be first. Eyes are blind to the truth that don't know Christ. The reason why many people don't bother with the Bible is because they don't understand it, but when the scales are off of the eyes of your heart, the Spirit of God makes it clear, and it makes sense. Seek and you shall find.

• Logic 101 .. If God is All-Good, and if God is absolute, then; we as His creation are also good.
  -- Whoever wrote this does not understand what the person before him wrote. See 1 Corinthians 3:19. Please, if you do not know God, do not act like you do.
  

• (NON RELIGIOUS VIEW) I watched a program on mothers who kill their children, its always so simple for humans to judge that as "evil", and they go to prison, put to death etc simple as that, but mental illness, depression-which the mothers in the programme all suffered, trauma, and even physical problems like a brain tumor can cause this reaction in any person (studies have been done on this on some serial killers and a lot of them showed brain tumor, cysts etc in the area of the brain that affects the certain actions they did, IE the moral and 'civilized' part and childhood trauma was found in almost if not all, and mental illness found). Is this really what we define as evil?
  a person who has a brain tumor, a person suffering post natal, or any other depression, a person who has had too many problems and had a breakdown? a person with a mental illness? I think we try to define evil as someone who does things to hurt people on purpose, and who is not usually sorry,
  but we don't add in the reasons they could be doing it and in one of the cases on TV the depression suffered was thrown out of court (how is that fair and unbiased judgment if the jury don't get to acknowledge that she is NOT just 'evil' she was in fact ILL and with medication probably would never do it again ) and it seems to me its always easy and less scary for the jury and everyone else in society to see these people as evil because the possibility that they may get depression and suffer trauma may mean they could be capable of something defined or described as 'evil' too and no-one wants to think that of themselves so, they are defined as evil to set them apart from the rest of us, 'they did it because they are not like us'. We are not like them
  we could never be like them, because we are not evil etc. I don't think all people who do these things are suffering something physical or mental, but I do believe a lot of the proportion of them should be looked at properly, fairly and thoroughly and with the thought of illness always in mind. Humans, are animals, we just took ourselves out of the wild and created 'civilized society'. The concept of whats 'good' and whats' evil' is our own human made concept which we judge ourselves and, even other animals by. Man by nature is wild, an animal, and animals are neither good or evil they are just animals in the wild that's acceptable but in civilized society its not. It's just not that simple. You cant just take the animal out of us, its there it will probably always be there. All we can do is try to live our lives by the rules we created for ourselves and be 'civilized' much as we can to live in this society and hope that along the way nothing happens to us that may have us judged as evil because of something it made us do.
  

• There are no good or evil people in the world. People however do make choices that are good or evil. A person therefore makes a choice to engage in activities that are considered good or evil. The choices people make are usually dependant on the psychological conditioning they are exposed to, from the moment of foetal conception, to the point of completion of their social/cultural programming. This social/cultural programming is similar to the programming of a computer's processor with data that is considered to be factual. The computer then compares all incoming data against its programmed intelligence, in order to generate a conclusion. Similarly the human intellect processes incoming data based on the morals/values they have been conditioned with. Some of these morals/values are inherited from genetic sources and the others are learnt from the environment to which the absorptive mind is exposed.

• Non-Christian perspective .. Some Christians say that we are inherently evil and that only their God can make us do good things. Others say that we are not so much evil but weak and that their devil causes us to do evil and that we need help from God to defeat the devil. No matter how Christian advocates look at our nature, it always seems to lead back to the need to worship their God or face the consequences. This leaves no room for conscience or free will, in the true sense of the words. People are not inherently evil. In our secular education, we learn that we all have a conscience that is programmed into us from early childhood. Our sense of ethics and our moral behaviour are the result of our conscience, which, in most people, acts to inhibit wrongdoing and encourage social cooperation. On the other hand, there is no evidence that people who see themselves as Christians conduct themselves more ethically than those who do not. Thus, there is no evidence that God helps his followers to do good rather than evil. The proportion of people in our jails who see themselves as Christian is probably very similar to the proportion in the population as a whole.

• First of all there is none that do good, No, not one! Which means ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALLEN SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. You claim to be "good" yet you do evil by nature. It takes more effort to do good to others than to do what is natural to humans, which is evil. Selfishness is evil. Lying is evil. Stealing is evil! To God we are evil and there is no good that we can do apart from God's re creative nature through the Christ, his son. So, to say that man is inherently good, just look at a two or three year old and show me how good their nature really is. One does not have to teach a child to lie. This is inherited. One does not have to teach a child to be selfish. Selfishness is inherited. Man may desire to be good but their goodness is as filthy rags in sight of a Holy God, perfect without spot or wrinkle. Some people find Christianity unacceptable. Humans do selfish things, but they also do a lot of good things and the nature of evil is not as simple as Christians and Jesus make it out to be. Selfishness is not inherently evil ... it's evil when it is carried out toward evil acts such as acts of greed, hatred, etc., but when one gets something to eat while others have no food, it is by definition a selfish act, but not evil without something else in context. On the other hand, acts that are "good" can be evil in certain circumstances. Say a person keeps the Sabbath, which is generally good. Suppose that a person sees someone lying near death on the side of the road; one could give the man a ride to the hospital in their car, but that would be "in violation of the Sabbath." However, to decline to drive the man to the hospital is evil, even if it's done in furtherance of a "good" act. A person can hold hostility (whether it is your words, or the words of Jesus, or the words of Paul) clearly have a lot of anger and disdain for humanity and yet humanity was created in the image of God. Which makes Jesus, Paul, and by extension, an individual who hates God, which is unacceptable. What hope is there in Christianity? What is to make someone want to change, want to improve, when they are told that they are equally filthy, horrible, and evil in the sight of "God," whether they run a soup kitchen for the homeless, or torture women and children for sport? What a depressing religion.

• Neither, some follow the devil from the beginning or turn that way, some follow God from the beginning or turn that way. Remember though that Jesus said "Why do you call me good? There is only one who is good." He meant his Father and our Father ... God.

• By nature he is neither one. We are born of innocence. From that moment on everything we see, touch, taste, hear and smell help to guide us throughout our years. Good and evil are two of the stronger variables that tend to influence us the most and is not innate. One's nature is not predestined, we use our senses to tell us what is good and/or bad thereby using our own judgement to determine our own outcome of our own nature. We are the sum total of how we have lived and learned.

• Jewish perspective .. The Jewish perspective on good and evil is different from the Christian perspective in a number of ways, which I'll summarize. Contrary to the Christian interpretation, Adam and Eve's taking of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is not intended to suggest that mankind is inherently sinful, wicked, or damned. The difference between good acts, evil acts, and neutral acts is dependent on one's relation to God. The Talmud speaks of yetzer ha-tov (the inclination toward good) and yetzer ha-ra (inclination toward "bad") as inherent qualities in human choice. Inclination toward "bad" is not bad in and of itself - it's somewhat analogous to Freud's idea of the id. Without the inclination toward "bad" (or basic self-interest), we would not feel compelled to eat, drink, build, create, work, or engage in sex. The defining characteristic of acts inclined toward evil is that without control of one's urges and appetites (through knowledge and adherence to God's will), one can easily cross over from what is good (self-preservation, self-care and basic happiness) to what is evil (gluttony, greed, pride, promiscuity, envy, etc.) Inclination toward good is the characteristic of works done in accordance with God's will, that bring one in a closer relationship to God. There's a famous story in Jewish lore, in which a non-Jewish man approaches the Jewish scholar Hillel and says "I will convert on one condition: that you teach me the whole Torah in the time that I can stand on one leg." Hillel thinks for a second, and replies "The essence of the Torah is this: 'That which is hateful to you, do not commit against your neighbor.' The rest is commentary; go and study!" The questioner, surprisingly satisfied with Hillel's answer, commits to converting, and becomes a good Jew and Torah scholar. So, in essence, the definition of "good" from the Jewish perspective is that a Jew studies Torah in light of its central thesis and acts accordingly. It should be noted that what is expected of Jews by God is not the same as what is expected of gentiles. In order to be righteous as a Gentile, one must only adhere to the seven laws given to Noah and his sons; anyone may convert to Judaism, but such conversion requires careful consideration of the fact that Jews have many more requirements to conform to God's will, through a lifetime of study and acceptance of Jewish law. (for example, there's nothing inherently bad about eating pork, except that as Jews we are told not to eat it. Therefore it could be good for the gentile to eat pork, but it is not good for the Jew to do the same).

• Man's basically good but can do evil things if he chooses to.

• We are born into this world to receive a body to learn and experience and manifest our goodness regardless of the joining of the spirit and body; and the drives it created in us. We chose to be born into freedom and to be on the side of Jesus Christ not Satan. Whom believes in us and our strength. We all must want to do good or heaven couldn't exist. Heaven can not exist under force.Here we can experience truer truth and become more valuable to each other. We are equipped with our 5 senses,and with spirit and mind (the still small voice is with us all; to move us to good, by the spirit)we are tried and we experience by our free choices and rewards be it good or bad. We act and react; the effect of being who we are from whence we came. Grace and principle gives opportunity to grow in this dispensation. We are either seeking opportunity in goodness or in evil. We suffer the evil here and make choices. The truth for one can also turn into a truer truth at any moment. The truth is different for one individual compared to another. We are laying the bricks for our own path. Desires will bring more of what is sought. We learn from all trials and examples; which are assets to growth. Hence it's all good. Experiences and examples bring us closer to the true desire of our hearts with time.
• Man was born good, we where made to survive, we are here to find answers and most importantly ask questions. We survive, and as surviving got easier, we CREATED EVIL.

First answer by ID1124623075. Last edit by Drlisa. Contributor trust: 5 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 107 [recommend question]