Are humans good or evil by nature?

Konata said:
I’m of the opinion that we are good by nature, but the imperfect world created by a/the demiurge is what leads man to evil
Click to expand...
agree, but i think what some people voluntary choose to separate themselves from the state of good, and the punishment for them is to exist in a state of evil
 
Konata said:
I’m of the opinion that we are good by nature, but the imperfect world created by a/the demiurge is what leads man to evil
Click to expand...
I'm of a similar view with the world being corrupted, except I believe that because of that imperfect world, we are automatically, and always will be, evil by nature, as we are a part of this evil world until God eventually returns and combines heaven and the world together, thus eradicating evil and restoring us to being good by nature and forever uncorruptible. Therefore, by God's intention, we are to be good, but we never will be good until He returns, as we are only saved and guaranteed salvation by His own grace alone, so no amount of good that we do will ever amount to receiving salvation. This also isn't to say "be as evil as possible because you'll still be in the clear anyway" because for numerous reasons is that bad, but my own personal justification is that for each sin you commit, you add another one (that God already knew of since He is all-knowing, he knows every sin one will commit) to God's own sacrifice on the cross, so if you really love Jesus, you won't purposefully try and harm Him every step of the way through your life by being a despicable person who forever falls to temptation.
pretty much, in my view humans are evil by nature because we are a part of a bad Earth, but we will be good by nature as was intended only when the new earth comes about as described in revelation, also if you'd like further reading on the "good or evil by nature" argument i recommend reading about the pelagian heresy
 
baqqrih said:
I'm of a similar view with the world being corrupted, except I believe that because of that imperfect world, we are automatically, and always will be, evil by nature, as we are a part of this evil world until God eventually returns and combines heaven and the world together, thus eradicating evil and restoring us to being good by nature and forever uncorruptible. Therefore, by God's intention, we are to be good, but we never will be good until He returns, as we are only saved and guaranteed salvation by His own grace alone, so no amount of good that we do will ever amount to receiving salvation. This also isn't to say "be as evil as possible because you'll still be in the clear anyway" because for numerous reasons is that bad, but my own personal justification is that for each sin you commit, you add another one (that God already knew of since He is all-knowing, he knows every sin one will commit) to God's own sacrifice on the cross, so if you really love Jesus, you won't purposefully try and harm Him every step of the way through your life by being a despicable person who forever falls to temptation.
pretty much, in my view humans are evil by nature because we are a part of a bad Earth, but we will be good by nature as was intended only when the new earth comes about as described in revelation, also if you'd like further reading on the "good or evil by nature" argument i recommend reading about the pelagian heresy
Click to expand...
Very good post. This is what I was getting at, but you articulated it much better than I did. I think the primeval human/the “soul” is wholly good and perfect, but once we are materialized we become imperfect because this is an imperfect universe. The way you speak makes me wonder if you believe in predestination. Do you?
 
Konata said:
Very good post. This is what I was getting at, but you articulated it much better than I did. I think the primeval human/the “soul” is wholly good and perfect, but once we are materialized we become imperfect because this is an imperfect universe. The way you speak makes me wonder if you believe in predestination. Do you?
Click to expand...
Thank you. Yeah, I believe in predestination, at least in the context that God is already all-knowing because He is all-powerful, so He knows who is and isn't going to heaven, and from that, it is determined already. I haven't ever heard anything against that view, so I've just always thought of things in that manner.
 
i think from an evolutionary perspective, we are "evil" and selfish to advance our own genes, and we are "good" and altruist to advance the genes of our tribe or of humanity (which also include some of our own). so we are both good and evil by nature, and the optimal is a balance of both
 
We have a sin nature engrained in our flesh (Rom. 7:18). It's natural for even children to hurt each other and make each other eat bugs. We are pretty much hardwired to do harm and to seek pleasure, at least to some capacity, which is our sin nature, or evil.
We are expected to practice righteousness (1 Jo. 3:4-10) by following the commands of Jesus Christ (Matt. 7:24-27), located in the four gospels. We are supposed to starve the flesh and feed the Spirit.

I guess this Bible verse is most relevant the prior statement:
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
Click to expand...
-Gal. 5:18

Thankfully we have Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross, which allows us to receive the Holy Spirit and salvation. Frankly, that part of the gospel was probably one of the most beautiful things I've read. So was the Book of Acts.

Stay safe, and Jesus bless you, friends. Have a good lent, for those who are practicing it. Remember to make disciples of all nations, and pray for the laborers of the harvest.
 
As a transcendentalist Christian, I believe humans are inherently good in nature, but are corrupted by society and the materialist world- which is not a thing of nature, thus civilization is plagued with sin.
 
I listen to what the Church and the Bible teaches me on the matter.
Man was created good, chose to disobey, got corrupted by the knowledge of good and evil, became what he is today.
 
Good and evil and terms created by humans to describe certain actions. Nature does not operate under human morality, which is subjective.

If by "evil" you mean:

Do humans seek to intentionally do harm to each other, the answer would be on average they do not. The human spices has survived this long because we try to make the earth a better place for the most part.
 
WH15KeY said:
Good and evil and terms created by humans to describe certain actions. Nature does not operate under human morality, which is subjective.

If by "evil" you mean:

Do humans seek to intentionally do harm to each other, the answer would be on average they do not. The human spices has survived this long because we try to make the earth a better place for the most part.
Click to expand...
That to me is the sole coherent answer in an atheistic worldview.
The only morality without God is that of nature : the strong dominates over the weak, and the strong survives.
I see and hear a lot of atheists claim that there is an objective morality anchor without God, that I'm just closed minded to think this way and it really just "tells more about you than it tells about morality" but they never actually give me a proper answer.
I thought Nietzsche had closed the debate.
 
Konata said:
I’m of the opinion that we are good by nature, but the imperfect world created by a/the demiurge is what leads man to evil
Click to expand...
TeeRanney said:
agree, but i think what some people voluntary choose to separate themselves from the state of good, and the punishment for them is to exist in a state of evil
Click to expand...
Konata said:
Very good post. This is what I was getting at, but you articulated it much better than I did. I think the primeval human/the “soul” is wholly good and perfect, but once we are materialized we become imperfect because this is an imperfect universe. The way you speak makes me wonder if you believe in predestination. Do you?
Click to expand...
bogus amogus said:
As a transcendentalist Christian, I believe humans are inherently good in nature, but are corrupted by society and the materialist world- which is not a thing of nature, thus civilization is plagued with sin.
Click to expand...
>soociety LE BAD because mah Rousseau-loving leftist professor told me so!
Literal troonjaks, 41% immediately!
 
Back
Top