(03-11-2011, 03:38 PM)D B Sweeney Wrote: I don't believe humans are naturally aimed at doing good things. History (and the Bible) has demonstrated that humans are capable of evil acts of the most heinous type. Whole societies commit atrocities on a regular basis, very
often in the name of their god or their particular supernatural belief. The devil has been used as an excuse time and time again when in reality it's the inherent potentially destructive nature of the human race that is ultimately to blame.
DB
True, humans are capable of terrible things.. but people do a much better job at living, protecting and creating life than killing. If humans were inherently aimed at evil, instead of good, humans would have died out long ago.
This is sorta why we consider homicidal maniacs to be well... "maniacs" and unwell mentally, and humanitarians to be examples of ideal human behavior. If I were to leave my home and murder a bunch of people on a whim, no one that's right in mind would say "Oh well, that's understandable, we are all human afterall." However, for example, if I'm walking along a park and I come across a boy trapped in a well I will go for help without even thinking about it.
The same goes for the vast majority of people, it practically goes without saying that we do the right thing more often than not without thinking. But to do something wrong, that usually takes some degree of rationalizing and excuse-making. To clarify, it makes sense that a mentally-healthy person would do something good for its own sake, and they would never do something evil for its own sake.
I am not saying a normal person NEVER does anything evil, but if/when a rationally healthy person does something terrible, they often say "oh it was for the greater Good" or for the sake of something outside of the action itself, a goal aimed something like self preservation or, as you said, god.
The point is that, at our core, unless someone's completely mentally unstable, people are naturally aimed at doing good things. Sometimes atrocities do happen, but we recognize them as just that, atrocities, and something that just is not right.
I'd continue and try to explain how I think the devil plays into that but I think I went off topic enough (and I got work in a bit). Sorry guys for the mini rant -.-