Is Man Inherently Good or Evil?

[GenSeneca]

Is Man Inherently Good or Evil?

If you think its a "Maybe" kind of question, then do it by percentage and answer "Good" if you thinks its over 50% and "Evil" if you think its 50% or more the other way.

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

God made man and lucipher and the talking snake and the apple and he knew how it would all play out.

He did not have to make any of it that way but did.

So it is unarguably god that is evil.

Than god he doesn't exist

 

[GenSeneca]

God made man and lucipher and the talking snake and the apple and he knew how it would all play out.

He did not have to make any of it that way but did.

So it is unarguably god that is evil.

Than god he doesn't exist

Your answer reads as nothing more than Anti-theist bigotry... Perhaps you could explain why you think man is inherently good... since that was the purpose of the post.

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

Man is not inherently good.

Look at how Bush behaves

 

[GenSeneca]

Man is not inherently good.

Look at how Bush behaves

You are not very good at this... I gues because its not spelled out on Dawkins website for you to copy and paste to here.... Lets try this again:

If man is not inherently good... then he is inherently evil? Please explain why you think that is... and pointing to Bush, a single person, is intellectually bankrupt when talking about all of mankind.

 

[bododie]

I think that people as individuals inherently want to be good to each other until power comes into the equation. Since history can prove that power leads man to turn his back on his fellow man, whether it be a group or individual, it could be deduced that mankind falls easily to the temptation to persecute his fellow man, so man is inherently evil, if given the chance.

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

Hmm, there is so much nonesense in your post Genseneca I don't know where to start.

If you could point me to the website I cut and paste from I would be quite impressed as I don't do this.

But I am sure you can back up your insult with evidence.

I did not say that because man is not inherently good therefore he is inherently evil.

All you need to know that is the ability to read. In a post further up I explained quite clearly that god is evil.

And what was it you are saying about Bush and intellectual bankruptcy?

Something indecipherable but I do agree that Bush and intellectual bankruptcy do belong in the same sentence.


0/10 Geneseneca. Must try harder

 

[BigRob]

Why has thread already turned into a "bash Bush" thread?

Bush has nothing to do with the overall question of are humans, at their core, naturally good or naturally evil.

 

[GenSeneca]

Why has thread already turned into a "bash Bush" thread?

Bush has nothing to do with the overall question of are humans, at their core, naturally good or naturally evil.

Some people would rather take the opportunity to bash Bush and Religion than answer a simple question.

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

Yes indeed, so how about answering?

 

[cannabis]

I don't like the whole "good or evil" thing because it seems inherently flawed to classify humans as either one or the other. In my personal opinion there is no such thing as good or evil because each person must define it for themselves.

But to go off of society's definitions I would say humans are more evil than good. We're all naturally self-absorbed, selfish animals. Capitalism which dominates the world today harnesses human selfishness, and we can clearly see the greed in the CEOs of car companies that won't give up their salaries to help out the company and therefore workers. Even donations are made to achieve a high, a sense of well-being and feeling like you did something good for the world. So from a completely rational point of view humans are inherently "evil" because we do nearly everything based on selfish, animalistic desires.

Once I fell in love however I started believing in something greater, something that we've evolved as humans or even something that animals possess too. I would give up everything for my girlfriend, and since nearly everyone falls in love at least once in their life we're not completely evil.

Overall humans are naturally evil, but once you find a connection with someone the good qualities come out and it's a balance.

 

[VicSmith]

We humans are both good and evil. Like in the book by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, every man has a good and evil side. In some people, the evil side is stronger, thus making them overall evil, and in others, the good is stronger and they are good. But in total, the good balances out the evil and what is left is just a state of being—not good or evil.

 

[Plato]

Man is always acting for the better, from each individuals own perspective. What may seem evil from one perspective may be the right thing from another.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

How about you cant say because there is no "good" or "evil" to judge it based on.

what I call evil to someone else is good, what I call good to some others is evil. who makes that judgement for all, in that we can use that judgement to pick if man is good or bad?

That said if man was mostly evil, I think mankind would have died off long ago, to I would side with we tend to the good side, but all of man has evil it can and will do given the situation. But we lean on the good side.

 

[zakiyeh]

The nature of man is half animal-half Godly. He has the chance to be bad, or be very much better. It all depends on his choice. Adam and Eve lived in eden along with all other angels. Why weren't there no angels at anytime thrown out of paradise? because they don't have a choice! Adam and Eve decided to eat from the forbidden tree, and they later decided to ask for God's forgiveness. So I think humans are inherently (only inherently!) better than angels, but they have the chance to become worse than animals! Animals don't have choice in killing each other and ..., they only have their instinct to act upon, but humans are able to think and realise the difference between good and evil.

Here are some verses from the Quran. It's the word of God about man's creation. I thought they might be interesting for some:
(al-hijr, 26-29):

-Verily We created man of potter's clay of black mud altered.

-And the jinn did We create aforetime of essential fire.
-And (remember) when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am creating a mortal out of potter's clay of black mud altered.

-So, when I have made him and have breathed into him of My spirit, do ye fall down, prostrating yourselves unto him.

(al-baqara, 30):
-And when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: wilt Thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not.


So man is good due to to God's spirit blown into him, and having the angels falling in front of him! ( the story goes on talking about iblis or the devil. It says that only the devil refused to do that, he was a jinn- another kind of creation, that are invisible to humans- but due to his years of worship he was given a place among the angels; He said i'm better than man because he is made up of mud, and i'm made of fire, and so he became man's enemy and swore to corrupt him and deceive him out of the right way)