The human condition, inherently bad or good?

[prayerchanges]

Any ideas? I know we are created in God’s image, so that would mean we are good, right? Then again there is so much disgusting sin in the world. What do you think (I really don’t know as of late).

 

[tonyrey]

It is true we are fundamentally good but we are the victims of the evil choices and decisions of our ancestors, i.e. original sin. We are not guilty of their sins. That would be absurd because we are only responsible for our own choices and decisions. Nevertheless we are affected by what they have done: genetically, physically, psychologically, morally, socially and spiritually. We live in an environment which is polluted in more ways than one, surrounded by all kinds of temptations, one of the worst of which is inertia: to be apathetic and enclosed in our little shell, uninterested in what is happening to others less fortunate than ourselves. Doing nothing probably causes more suffering in the world than anything else. Whether we like it or not we are all involved in the struggle between good and evil.

Through no fault of our own we are weak, confused and perplexed by the enigmas of life. That is why Jesus came into the world: to bring light, hope and love into the darkness and coldness of an apparently indifferent and uncaring universe. He has liberated us from ignorance, confusion and slavery to our own desires. He has inspired great saints like St Francis of Assisi and St Vincent de Paul together with Blessed Damien the Leper to achieve incredible feats of unselfishness and dedication to the poor and outcasts of society. Now human beings are not only inherently good but capable of perfection…

 

[wanstronian]

I believe that you always get a few bad apples; however, I think that the basic human condition is to be good, because natural selection has driven evolution in that direction.

But there are so many factors, the main one being the nature vs nurture debate. I don’t know of any statistics, but I’m sure there are some, and I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a strong correlation between the morality to which an individual is exposed during their formative years, and the morality which they subsequently display throughout the remainder of their years. But of course there are so many influences to which an individual may be exposed, which may have an impact on their resultant morality. People turn to crime for many reasons, not all of them could be classed as inherently evil, or even sinful! For example, is it a sin to steal food if you truly believe it’s your only option? It’s just survival, right? The sin is if anything caused by those who have failed to help the stricken, as alluded to by Tony.

As you can no doubt tell, I don’t think God has any influence! But that doesn’t prevent me from answering the question in a (hopefully) constructive manner.

 

[j1akey]

I’d like another choice which is neutral. Children when born don’t have the capacity for good or evil. By and large we’re a product of the environment that we were raised in.

 

[Greg27]

I think human nature, as it was originally created by God, is good in Christian teaching by virtue of its original likeness and image to God. In my understanding, it is also the teaching of the Catholic Church that Adam and Eve were created in a state of original justice and holiness before the fall. This state of grace and its fruits were lost with the fall.

In my understanding, in the teaching of Catholicism and Orthodoxy after the fall, human nature is corrupted and diseased because of both original sin and also personal sin, but has not totally lost its capacity for good. Howeve, the founders of the Reformation seemed to teach that human nature was totally corrupted by the fall so after the fall there was no way anyone could be good save through being saved and justified by faith in Christ.

The current understanding seems to be that the human condition contains a mixture of goodness and evil, but human nature in itself is good (though wounded by sin, evil and corruption) but through grace if accepted, destined to be restored to intimate communion with God.

 

[kleine_katerine]

For many years I believed that the human race was naturally cruel with a few exceptions. It is an easy opinion to formulate, what with all the attrocities being committed around the world and things that people are allowed to get away with here in our own nations.

Since joining the church however I’ve been given the ability to see otherwise. Yes, people do truly evil things to each other, but are not naturally evil. We are born good but have free will and can choose to do bad things if and when we want to. And the thing is we, through our conscience, are drawn to do good. God in a sense ‘calls us back’ to our true nature which is to love one another.

Look at all the horrific things that happen everyday. Now look at all those charities, protest groups, individuals and so on trying to right those wrongs, they far outnumber the people committing heinous acts. And that’s gotta be a positive sign if nothing else.

God bless.