Is Man Born Corrupted?

[skills101]

What do you think? Is the Christian belief true that man is born good but corrupted by society true? Or are we all born with an aura of evil? John Locke vs. Thomas Hobbes; Nature vs. Nurture.

 

[Sunstone]

I think man is born amoral -- neither good nor evil. In general, the failure to be true to himself corrupts him spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. I also think that societies tend to mislead people away from themselves, thus corrupting them. But I recognize that it is a very complex issue.

 

[Lightkeeper]

If man is born amoral, then where did morals come from? No, man is not born corrupted. Not being capable of following nonfollowable rules is not corruption.

 

[skills101]

If man is born amoral, then where did morals come from? No, man is not born corrupted. Not being capable of following nonfollowable rules is not corruption.

I think morals came simply from man a long time ago... Maybe one day, someone thought "If I kill this man here, that's one less worker on my farm. It would not benefit ME to kill him." I believe man has expanded from there. Now it's law, not morality, that prohibits one to kill his fellow man.

 

[true blood]

With the fact that upon a child's birth, the child begins to lose...what "billions" of cells a day, I would have to say that we are indeed born into corruption. We most definatly are not born into uncorruption.

 

[Runt]

I think morals are completely manmade. I think a human is born without corruption and without inherent goodness, and then his or her actions immediately begin being called "good" or "evil" by others depending upon whether others think these actions help or hinder society.

 

[Engyo]

This concept is one of my primary objections to Christianity.

 

[painted wolf]

In my spirituality man is no more corrupt than anything made by the creator. Man is not inherantly evil or good, the individual makes that choice for themselves.
I have to agree with Engyo that this is one of the things that I disagree with Christianity on.

wa:do

 

[true blood]

Why do you not believe man is born into corruption? It's not exactly "born" into corruption but rather the body of man is sown in dishonour because it is going to corrupt; therefore because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the basis of all christianity; it[man's body] is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness because of man's frailty; it is raised in power. All that can go into the grave is a person's natural body but when it is raised it will be a spiritual body. Nobody knows what that new body is all about. The resurrected body of Jesus Christ was never taken into a lab, so nobody knows what that body consisted of. However the Word does teach that Christ could be on the road to Emmaus one time and the next moment be inside a room that had the door bolted. Nobody understands this resurrected body. So there is actually a natural body and there is a spiritual body, both with there own beginning. The first man is out of the earth, dust: the second man is out of heaven." Flesh and blood are not able to inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. We believe that the Body of Christ, the Church, will be changed at the return of Christ. Those that are dead will be raised up and will put on incorruption. Those that are living will put on immortality.

 

[streetsmarts]

No no no no no. You kinda have it backward. Adam and eve were the only humans born sinless. Because they sinned there offspring was filled with sin. This is why children are baptized to rid of there old nature, sin.

 

[EnhancedSpirit]

What you are calling corruption comes from our natural instincts. So we are born 'corrupt' but only because we are born of the flesh. Inside of us is still the perfect spirit of us, using the body as a vessel.

 

[Malus 12:9]

Man is not born corrupt, however, in a Christian's view, they are, for the sole purpose that
they can repent and experience a new way of life by coming (or going) to God.

 

[almifkhar]

i do not believe that we are born corrupted. when i look at my 7 month and look in paticular into his eyes, all you can see is innocence. they know nothing about nothing when they hatch and learn along the way. when you spend time with a baby you start to realize that only the simple things in life are all that matter and they teach this little lesson to all those who wish to pay attention.

man corrupts himself by the choices he makes in life.

 

[Malus 12:9]

man corrupts himself by the choices he makes in life.

I totally agree. However, one can be corrupted through assitance of others.
If you want examples, peer pressure, jealousy, desperation and hatred can
be listed.

"LIfe is what you make of it, for it is death others prepare for you"

 

[Pah]

What do you think? Is the Christian belief true that man is born good but corrupted by society true? Or are we all born with an aura of evil? John Locke vs. Thomas Hobbes; Nature vs. Nurture.

Is Hobbes "nature"? Because Locke is definetly "nuture". Book 1 of Lockes "an Essay Concerning Human Understanding" is the logical proof of nurture. Hobbes may be known as a materialist but he did not delve into the origins of human nature as Locke did. Hobbes would have been the originator of "corruption of society by evil" not Christianity at the time. Hobbes put his faith in science

 

[njcl]

the question is a mystery to which i have no answer to

 

[Ori]

Man is born into the corruption of the world, but not corrupted in spirit.

 

[James the Persian]

I think you all need to define what it is you mean by 'corrupt'. If you mean morally corrupt as in born sinful then, not only do I disagree with this entirely but it is not necessary to believe such to be a Christian. The doctrine of Original Sin as proposed by Bl. Augustine was never accepted in the east and, so I'm lead to believe, is no longer taught by the RCC either.

If, on the other hand, you are talking of 'corrupt' with reference to our physical nature, then I can agree. Adam's fall has given us a mortal nature and a susceptibility to sin that was not part of God's original plan for us. This is because in turning from God he turned from the source of all life - i.e. it was not a punishment but an inevitable consequence of his disobedience.

The latter idea of corruption is, interestingly, not all that far from Buddhist concepts of all things being impermanent and even not too far removed from the idea of samsara. If you put aside Buddhism's reincarnation and Christianity's theism (which is obviously impossible for adherents of either religion, but bear with me), you see that both say that it is human mortality and corruption that leads to human sins or imperfections. This is necessarily a broad brush kind of comparison, but I hope it shows that the traditional Christian teaching (excluding Bl. Augustine) really need not be viewed with distaste by non-Christians.

James

 

[Malus 12:9]

For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults..

I'd als o like to say if the heart is corrupt when it is born, and if knowledge alone does not change us, what then, is needed?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Fraid I don' believe in original sin.
It takes a conscious decision to do what we call sin
We are born with out that ability.

Terry
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Blessed are the pure of heart, they shall behold their God.