Is mankind basically good ?
- Thread starter ClimateSanity
- Start date
No, man is not basically good.
Mark 10:18 “Why do you call Me good? Jesus replied, “No one is good except God alone"
Romans 3:10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 There is no one who understands; no one who seeks God.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God
Nice twist.....here's your goodie. Now go away.
Yes. Its premptive...and still pathetic.
Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
Yes, you need to be led by the nose lest you blindly veer into the evil lane.
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
Well, apparently it's all Adam's fault. If he'd just kept it together...
lain:
Well at least we understand why the repubs choose to be represented by the color red. :devil:
Makes one wonder how much of their "godly upbringing" actually takes.
If mankind is naturally bent toward evil (sans God's guidance/intervention) then how do you explain the goodness/altrustic acts of people estranged from your particular brand of divine moral instruction?
Are they simply being deceitful?
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
:think:
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
So, are you evil or selfish for drawing nutrients while in the womb?
You're about as rational as a tent peg...
Lon
Well-known member
Even altruism has a feel-good self-satisfaction. A bad thing? I don't think so, but at that point it is still about me. It sort of takes altruistic out of altruistic. We all have motives for doing a thing. Generally, we are unwilling to put ourselves out there, where we love another 'more' than ourselves, nor likely 'as' ourselves. Such would require something well beyond altruism. I've done it. Self-negation is hard.
I haven't been able to sustain that level. I don't think a level of giving from my excess is a very good definition of altruism.
That all said, I believe man's total depravity is about his/her inability to do things for his/her original created reasons. Ego always gets in the way.
Yeah, even my babies wanted to be held, more than they wanted to accommodate my sleep. "Evil" is portrayed in movies as only that which 'seeks' harm, and in disgusting and unthinkable manner. Evil is simply the harm caused, intentional or unintentional. We then are all taught to empathize.
I haven't been able to sustain that level. I don't think a level of giving from my excess is a very good definition of altruism.
That all said, I believe man's total depravity is about his/her inability to do things for his/her original created reasons. Ego always gets in the way.
Yeah, even my babies wanted to be held, more than they wanted to accommodate my sleep. "Evil" is portrayed in movies as only that which 'seeks' harm, and in disgusting and unthinkable manner. Evil is simply the harm caused, intentional or unintentional. We then are all taught to empathize.
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
That depends. Committing an altruistic act may bring its own reward but if it's borne out of care for another's well being then that's the result, not an aim. There have been cases where people have given their lives in protecting others where self or self preservation wasn't even part.
Where it comes to babies then I think any argument of morality is just asinine.
Lon
Well-known member
Agree, but you embrace a form of imago deo. I drove a car for awhile that had two sloppy pistons. It went down the road, but it was still broken.
In a sense, this is the discussion about the state of man, ever in need of repair. We all know it, everytime we've hurt another, intentionally or unintentionally. Something just isn't right. I have nightmares about the harm I've done. Lest you think me a beast, one time my sister scared the snot out of me, "Boo!" I hauled back and before I knew it she had a bloody nose. She totally forgave me, but these things are the stuff of my nightmares. -Lon
Lon
Well-known member
Hence all of our dilemma. Agree. -Lon
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
By quoting the OP itself? It was a legitimate question in light of that but you knock yourself out dude.
Go easy on him, Arthur, he's an alt-right special snowflake.
annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
Agreed.
I grew up in Catholicism with the theology of everyone being born with mortal sin - and unless baptized, cast into Hell (with a little room to hope for a merciful God, but no promises). Now I look at that and it's too unbelievable.
Arthur Brain
Well-known member
I won't deny we hurt each other at times. I'm no saint, I've hurt deliberately in my life, sometimes through lashing out and other times more calculatedly. I'm not proud of any event like that and I've paid for it and even subsequent remorse could be perceived as selfish because of personal loss. Then, there's the flipside, where I feel guilt for things and would wish to make amends even if it wasn't recognized. There's times where I've tried to do good to feel better about myself and other times where I was simply in a situation where there was only one right thing to do and I wasn't looking for any sort of reward for it. life is complicated. We're neither monsters or saints in the main, just fallible human beings.