How is it the one creature God created in his own image is the one creature most capable of evil?

Well maybe he created us in the image he had of himself in the OT. He sounds quite merciful and reasonable in that horror story.

Are we the most capable of evil? I don't want to go into all the vicious things animals do, just think about it. This world is full of cold-hearted mean spirited actions by all it's creatures. Isn't it just a little evil for a tree to kill the bush under it by shading it's light? It could survive and share the available resources, but that's not how life on earth evolved.

I suppose we were just meant for a different reason for other species of animals. Do you think that the Bible's representation of God is almost like rules a father would give to scare you enough to do right, but at the same time he loves you too much to ever actually punish you that harshly? Unless the deed is an unforgivable one...

the key words here are *their needs for survival*... the same exact things that humans do happen on a constant and daily bases in the wild..... why ? for survival.... but, in the human species, we have the ability to *survive* with out those things... A man does not have to come into a woman's home and kill or murder all the kids to make sure his *strong* blood line survives.. Food is plentiful here on earth, for humans, we are just to selfish to spread it around.... In nature, weather predicts the life span of an animal such as the beast of the plains...... No rain, No food.... it goes down the chain.... We have learned to store our food, process it, make it last forever in some cases.... Wild beast can not do that...... The difference between us *humans* and our wild animal friends is the *thought* process... We have the ability of knowing right from wrong in the *human* mind.... An animals mind can not be compared..... They have no sense of right or wrong, but only the sense of *survival* as you say..... We are made in His image in the *spiritual* sense NOT the flesh..... Why we have the bodies we have, I have not a clue.... so, in a sense, yes, it sounds right to me..... go in peace..... God bless

The doomed part....it doesn't sound good to me. That's organized religion tactics to control ignorant minds.

As for humans being evil...there is no evil; just a resistance of God/goodness.

We are all made to his image and we have forgotten that or made believed that we are not worthy thus we live up to that expectation. ...we are "evil".

...If we could only remember that we come from a source of goodness and abundance.

We were given the freedom of choice. We can do what ever we want in this life. Just remember that we will be judged in the end. If you want a true understanding for what your asking. You must read the bible as well as other books by different religions. Don't limit yourself to one idea. Give yourself a well rounded perspective.

I believe chimps and gorillas rape, murder, and wage battles with each other. I think we are the most evil because we have opposable thumbs and technology. I don't know if we are really evil either, we could just be self serving and selfish, doing whatever we can do get our come uppins. Plus I think that the people who are truly warped actually suffer from severe brain chemical issues and personality disorders.

yep....you got pretty much everything.

EDIT: of course eating a gazelle alive and leaving it to rot is acceptable...IF YOU'RE A LION! you missed a main part of his question...its not evil if you have to do it to survive...how can you consider that bad if, without it, that species would die. We dont have to slaughter a gazelle in the middle of the african savannah and leave it to die for survival...yet there are those who CHOOSE to torture, murder, etc...now tell me how could that possibly be viewed as survival. Indeed, humans are the only evil things on this earth! you cant deny that...so answer the question...if we are made in god's image, why are we given the capabilites of such heinous atrocities?

DOUBLE EDIT: to the person below me...how was satan not made in god's image? god supposedly created everything...including angels. satan was once an angel...therefore one of god's creations...explain that one to me, cause i just dont get how you drew that conclusion.

I wouldn't sell us short just yet. Animals are judged as beings without reason. Imagine if each and every human on earth saw no moral issue with rape, murder, incest, infanticide, and outright theft. Nature is far more brutal than the worst human ghetto, not to mention the average suburban neighborhood.

You left out the part about being capable of the most good.

It's all about Free Will, not Adam & Eve or anything like that.

Free Will.

Look it up.

(first of all, the fruit wasn't an apple. it is debated what kind of fruit it is, but most agree it was some kind of fig)

That being said, very interesting question.

I personally don't believe in "good" or "evil". These are human-made concepts that don't exist outside of our minds.

And it is known that cats, for example, play with their prey before killing and eating them. (or not even eating them, just killing them) I think in human terms that would be considered torture.