Are we born evil?

According to the scripture, we are born evil.


Let me pick up the argument of this 9 minutes piece:

1. from Genesis 6:5 "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." - hence all men are sinners.

2. challenges a reporter to reveal all his thoughts and claims that that would shame the reporter - because the thought crime would be embarrassing.

3. from Genesis 8:21 "The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; " - hence man is evil from the very beginning.

4. 18-months old trying to get a shiny watch - if that 18-month old as strong as 18-year old, he would kill and get the watch.

5. Some good quotes: "Do you have to teach a child to lie? ... Do you have to teach a child to be brutal to others?" - if you don't discipline a child, s/he will return into a monster.

6. Covering your ears does not provide a solution, just like a cancer patient does not want to hear the bad news does not provide a solution.

7. Every man hates the god of the scripture.


BUT
1. This sentence starts with "Then". Hence it is important to find out what was before that sentence to make god concludes that wickedness of man was great. Genesis 6:1 and 2: "Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose." Ah, because man chooses the wife the man finds attracted to! Hey, that's called love! There is nothing wicked about falling in love and "took wife" [which I would interpret as getting married].

2. Is "thought crime" the same as crime? Mr Washer, there is something called self control. Moral is judged by what one acts, not how one thinks in private especially without any intention to actually carry that action out!

3. This is an important verse for any church. Hey people, pay up and scarify! Read again "The LORD smelled the soothing aroma". The soothing aroma of ... the burning fresh!

4. Is 18-month baby attracted to the shiny watch because the watch represents wealth? Why would a 18-month baby be interested in the shiny watch? Would every 18-year old, seeing a shiny watch, kill and crab the watch? That is extrapolation to the extreme!

5. Human are born with an over-sized brain [14% of the birth weight] and would grow [consuming 75% of infant's daily energy needs] 3.3 times compared to 2.5 in chimpanzees [ref ref]. This gives human the advantage to be creative, but also requires baby human to be nourished. Human baby is born without any mean of survival without the help of the mother. Current best practices in education theory [see my blog Random Walk in Learning for my view on this topic.] emphasis on learning - not teaching. If you are REALLY interested in knowing "Do you have to teach a child to lie?" etc, read up. Among all the things you can do, the worst would be demonstrating to the children that you believe in god where you do not have any proof of god's existence. Where do you think your children learnt to lie? Punishment should be out too. They will learn to use brutal force to solve a problem, such as punishment when you cannot show the children the right way to approach a problem (e.g. negotiation and compromise)! Guess who is the model children will be learning from! [this paragraph updated on 29th Dec 2008]

6. Denying the existence of a problem obviously would not help in finding a solution. Turning to a non-existence god would not help as well.

7. Finally, I can agree with Mr Washer on one thing. The god in the scripture cannot be loved. This god is really awful.

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