Do you believe people are essentially good?

I am strongly of the opinion that man is inherently good. However, that doesn't seem to be the case in the current age.

What I think is that we are actually at a very early stage in our evolution. There is so much we don't know about ourselves - how the brain works, how to cure various illnesses, why some people are cleverer than others, etc etc. We have, nevertheless, moved ever faster forward in finding these things out.

There are far too many people on earth and collectively we need to do something about that, by taking responsibility for the rapidly expanding population.

We fight wars, we engage in random acts of violence and we treat others with disdain. Religious intolerance is as bad as it has ever been.

Not good signs really, but we have a long way to go along the evolutionary path. I think our destiny is to be good and to live in peace and harmony on this beautiful planet, but it requires many tens of thousands of years before that could be the case.

AND: I could be wrong!!

Neither. Or rather both. There is balance and in the end good and bad are states of mind. And agree with you. I'd like to add that we are not essentially virtuous but rather *potentially* virtuous. We have the potential to grow to virtuous people but we also might not develop that.

What is "good" and what is "bad"?

I think it a good, desirable trait if someone lies to protect someone else.

I think it bad for people to deny what their bodies desire and refrain from food, drink, sex, or anything else in the name of a deity.

I think it can be good if people hack websites, if they are doing it to achieve ends that fall in line with my ideals.

To a Palestinian, there is no greater good than blowing one's self up to kill Jews in an act of martyrdom.

Good and bad is a product of cultural and subcultural influences. As such, people can be neither essentially good nor essentially bad.

good and bad right and wrong these are simply a matter of opinion. we where meant to fallow nature and as long as we defy it we will suffer. far too long have we let the weak loom over the strong and let the unskilled reap the benefits of those who have skills. there are only nine virtues that count in my book and they are the oldest guidelines set forth unto humans yet many have forgotten them.

1. Strength is better than weakness

2. Courage is better than cowardice

3. Joy is better than guilt

4. Honor is better than dishonor

5. Freedom is better than slavery

6. Kinship is better than alienation

7. Realism is better than dogmatism

8. Vigor is better than lifelessness

9. Ancestry is better than universalism

Yes

Doesn't matter.

Who's definition of good do you use? And what is the point?

No one can earn heaven, no one will be good enough. Only thru free gift of grace thru Jesus can you enter and approach a perfect and Holy God.

So then what does it matter if you are good? Hitler was a good killer. In his warped mind he thought he was doing good, for someone somehwere.

The adulturer think he/ she is good because they don't molest children. The religious zealot thinks he/ she is good because he kills for their god.

Mens hearts are evil. There is no good. If you are tested, you are hungry, you are dying, you are attacked- and you fight, you steal, you kill to survive, you justify it. If you are in the army of a mob, group, gang, you justify it. You think, ok I do this, but I don't do that, so I am a good person. It is faulty thinking, delusion.

God gets to the point, none of you-men/ women are good. never will be, so I God will take care of it, lest all of you be destroyed. So He took the penalty. Grace- Jesus- freedom to not be good, and still be looked at as good, holy and even righteous. WOW !!!

God says, there is no one that doeth good , no not one.

God says, there is no one that is righteous and all have sinned in His sight.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

So, in the eyes of people, there are plenty that are good, but in the eyes of the God of the Holy Bible, there are none that are good and we all need a Saviour who has died to make us right with God.

People (and I mean anyone anywhere at some time) has both good and bad in them.

Do you believe people are essentially good?

--No, but they have the potential.

Yes! At the time of birth. After that, its all down hill from then on.