"What would you do if you were free from all obligation to law and goodness?"
Of course, that got me thinking. What would I do? It's not like I go about my day to day doing lots of illegal activities on the sly that I could suddenly do in the open if I wasn't bound by the law, except...ya know...jaywalking. I like to think I don't do certain things, like murdering people or stealing simply because I don't really have the desire to do them. Upon deeper self-examination, I feel reasonably certain that that is really the case. But then I wonder, do I have these desires (or lack thereof) simply because I've been taught that they are "good" and to want to do "good" is what society, and God, expect of me? And if I tap the deepest parts of me, will I find that human nature is murderous and covetous without some exterior force to keep it in check -- that is, without fear of God or society, punishment or rejection?
I've grown up being told that "the natural man is an enemy to God." And ya know, maybe the guy with the whiteboard proposed the question "what would you do if you were free from all obligation and goodness" because he wanted people to admit their deep dark desires so that he could "prove" when you take away obligations to laws and goodness, the "natural man" is worse than an animal--he/she is an "evil" entity (after all, God is good and therefore the enemy of God would be evil...just follow my logic here.)
I'd like to submit to you two things: a question and a proposal. First, what is evil? Or rather, what does the word evil mean to you, considering I believe the term to be relatively subjective. I know that that idea will bother some, but I think that the idea of evil is personal and is based on experience, trained values, and societal values as a whole. For example, many young children have a tendency to shoplift until they are told not to do so. They are not born knowing that stealing is "wrong," it is something they have to be taught.
Now, I submit to you this... I don't believe I am innately "evil," at least, not by the parameters of our society. Nor do I think I am innately "good." I simply am, but what I am is hard to define, and will take more time than I'm currently willing to give with class in six hours. Anyway, I honestly think everyone is born with such different inclinations and curiosities that are labeled as evil or good. I mean, I want to think even without being told it was wrong, I wouldn't have the desire to kill (to go back to my standard example) because if nothing else I find blood and gore distasteful and physical pain (my own or others) upsets me. But then, maybe those ideas have been conditioned in me, too. Or maybe the natural man is neutral ground.
What do you think?
I'd like to submit to you two things: a question and a proposal. First, what is evil? Or rather, what does the word evil mean to you, considering I believe the term to be relatively subjective. I know that that idea will bother some, but I think that the idea of evil is personal and is based on experience, trained values, and societal values as a whole. For example, many young children have a tendency to shoplift until they are told not to do so. They are not born knowing that stealing is "wrong," it is something they have to be taught.
Now, I submit to you this... I don't believe I am innately "evil," at least, not by the parameters of our society. Nor do I think I am innately "good." I simply am, but what I am is hard to define, and will take more time than I'm currently willing to give with class in six hours. Anyway, I honestly think everyone is born with such different inclinations and curiosities that are labeled as evil or good. I mean, I want to think even without being told it was wrong, I wouldn't have the desire to kill (to go back to my standard example) because if nothing else I find blood and gore distasteful and physical pain (my own or others) upsets me. But then, maybe those ideas have been conditioned in me, too. Or maybe the natural man is neutral ground.
What do you think?
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