Are people naturally good or naturally evil?

People are naturally good and evil. We all have it in us. Naturally, we all want to eat, drink, sleep, reproduce, and hunt to some degree. We all want to be like other animals, in a way, but since we have become more "civilized", we are overcoming some of our animal instincts. Some of us are good or want to be good, and some of us are bad or want to be bad. Some of us are conflicted on a daily basis with our good and bad sides.

Even if people say they are good or u see that someone is good, nice and extremely friendly person. I am very certainly sure that there would be some "evil" inside that person, maybe he/she wouldnt show it but i am very sure every person has its good and evil side. Cuz you now, no one is perfect ^^

I would say that people are not necessarily born good or evil. Well most people are not. I think there are some people that are born evil as in serial killers who are nasty from early childhood onwards. They say the early signs of a pyschopath are in their torturing of animals when they are children. They start there and later graduate to killing and torturing humans. But apart from them I would say that most people are good and they are influenced by their upbringing and shaped by their environment. It is an individual thing. You cannot say that all people are one or the other and I am totally opposed to the concept that everyone is born sinful. That is complete nonsense and simply ensures that people grow up feeling guilty about things they do not even understand and things they should not feel guilty about. That concept is why people are so disturbed these days. Children are very impressionable and if they are brought up in an unpleasant violent, unjust environment then they will be shaped by it, just as they are shaped by warm, loving environments. We are social beings and that interaction is vital to us and like any other animal we will do what we must to survive, or at least we will try to. That does not make us evil. Before you even start thinking about this you need to decide what is good and what is evil? What are your definitions of them? Are you definitions the same as other peoples definitions?

It depends form what kind of point of view you see this matter. The religious and the humanist see people as they are basically good and kind. The society changed them into someone bad. The society, especially the bad society, and the learning of bad things influence the pure mind, so they become a bad people. But Freudian believes in something else. They believe that in every human being, there is an animal instinct. In the unconscious mind, there are the basic level called 'id'. Which, this kind of unconscious mind controlled the basic need of human and they tend to do things based on natural instinct. The only thing that prevent "id" to be out of control is "ego" and "superego" I don't know which one is true, but I believe in natural balance, even in a very good man, there is an evil side, and in a very bad guy, there is a good side in their heart. That's the concept of yin and yang :p (sorry for being a little bit out of topic, but I thought this is quite related with good and bad, so I just blabber it out)

evil we all need jesus

People are naturally neautral. Want proof? Look at a newborn baby. They aren't good and they aren't evil. It is how they are brought up and the experiences they have that shape their personality. I'm sure there are people who will argue, though, that our personalities are detirmined by our genes.

we are all naturally / intrinsically good. when we mix with other people, we become bad, because jealousy arises, or we all have a personal view and likes..

People are naturally inclined to do evil. It does not mean that all of them will go off and murder, but given the circumstances and without God's grace and the power of Jesus Christ whether now or later in that person's life, that person will do wicked things. Even a good person has that evil lurking in them, but often he or she will not let it come to surface or rather God will give a small light of nature or conscience. It does not depend on being an optimist - Hitler was one and he wanted to rule the world nor being a pessimist, giving up and letting some good person die because what is the use, or a realist, someone who studies medicine might decide that it is fruitless to let some old person live, but what is in one's heart. If a person lets evil grow, and desires it more, he is evil, but if he depends on God, and trusts HIS goodness he is good.

Evil is a definition, what it seems like depends on the view of the person who denominates it.

For the most part, I think that people are pretty much good. Then again, there are some truly evil people in this world. Unfortunately, we cant kill all the bad ones...

It is a deep question,lots of movies and articles had discuss this,but don't have a result.It's no standard for this question,you can say natura good,and you can say natura evil,it depends on what you think.For me i consider that human is natua good

People are born not of devil neither good, when they first born out of the mom's womb. It's just how the way the parents teach the kids determine how will they be when they grow up.

hi Generally speaking people are neutral. Just think of an atom. It's composed of a -vely charged electron and +vely charged proton will along with a neutron. It's neither +ve nor -ve generally. But as the field of energies vary or circumstances change, we may have a -vely chaged or +vely charged particle. Similiarly, people change as they face different circumstances. A good (+ve) circumstance will result in goodness while a corrupted circumstances will make one evil.

This is a good discussion and there can be many different answers. However, in my opinion, people are naturally good. However, depending on their environment they can become evil. They can mean good, but when they are not successful, they do anything to survive, meaning their actions can be bad. That makes us think that those people are evil, but we are wrong. They are naturally good, but they just seem evil because of their actions.

I like to believe that all people are naturally good, and that something happens to make them do bad things.

hi twitchy I think people start out as naturally good little' babies and depending on parents and family turn out naturally good adults or homemade evil adults. God didnt make inferior stuff so we all start out as naturally good babies, then what happens later may change us. but I think most people are naturally good and sometimes they act badly but basically' they are good.

I don't think people are naturally good or bad, it depends on how they have been brought up and their experiences. I would like to say naturally good, however if you pay attention to the news you know this is not true.

Hi friend,No one is a criminal or evil or great by birth.Only after they grow up they become evil or criminals or great people.So it depends on the circumstance they grow.So to have a control over our thoughts and behaving properly depends.Thanks for sharing.Happy mylotting.

i remember my teacher telling us that people are naturally good because we are made in God's own image and likeness. the thing is we have the freedom to choose which one to do, that is maybe the reason why some do bad stuff because of the situation they are in.

I would like to believe that all people are naturally good. However I think it just depends on the person. SOme people are naturally good and some are naturally evil.