Are people born evil or does bad company make a person evil? If we were to say that people are born evil, that would imply that all humans have a predestined path to follow in life, which would imply that there's a higher power, which implies that the higher power isn't all "good" because he/she has predestined an individual to be evil for some purpose...you still with me? Okay.

Now, lets say people are born evil...is that because of genetics? Is it a trait that's passed on? If so, where did the genetic trait called evil come from? Are evil people born because of a chemical imbalance the mother had while carrying the child to term?

I personally believe that we all were born with no concept of good or evil, those traits are characteristics we model after our parents or those in authority over us. For instance, if a child is born into a family of KKK members, then the child is being conditioned to hate Jews, blacks, etc. If they've been seeing images of people getting lynched and beaten from the time they were born, then they've become desensitized to theses images, making it more for them to act out this images without remorse. If you take a child and raise them to love and appreciate all people and all cultures, then you'll have a child with a love for humanity.

(I wonder what went wrong with Hitler?)

So, are people born evil or do they become evil? What about about Hitler, you think he was born evil, or condition to be evil?

(Please answer both questions, I'd love to see responses to both.)

I think it's more complicated than just made or born.

I believe that every person is born with a unique personality, and some personalities are more suseptable to being changed by certain kinds of things in their environment.

Take two children born with very different personalities and put them in the same environment....they will turn out differently.
It's the same if you take two very similar kids and put them in different environments.

It's not black and white...and people aren't good or evil either.

Hitler was the wrong personality placed in the wrong environment at the wrong time....if Hitler had been replaced in another environment he may not have done such horrible things. Place him in a different time, maybe ancient Greece or rome, and he may have been one of the greatest heroes. Put a different personality in his environment and time, and they probably wouldn't do what he did.

every person is a completely unique situation. There will always be similarities, but never exact matches.....therefore no matter how loving you raise your child to be, in the end it's up to them to decide who they will be...but it's always worth the effort because raising loving kids is the best thing to do....

hmmmm..this one made think shen....

well, I could say that a child is born innocent. The environment and people that surrounds the child may be one factor that can contribute whether the child will grow good or evil.

..and I don't think that being evil will run through genetics..think that the word "influence" will best define how can an evil man have an evil child.

so yeah... maybe that's my 2 cents for being evil.=)


so for me, we will clearly see that if a child is exposed to a cruel environment or let's say just a wild family, we will assume that he/she will grow cruel or evil.. except if he/she will meet something that could change his/her life or perspective.

..yes,there is always a room for change.

Interesting question....I don't know if people can be born evil. I suppose I tend to believe that people are born with any number of predispositions, but we all do have free will and at some point know the difference between right and wrong.

I believe that there is such a thing as an independent negative or "evil" force in the world - but I'm not sure people can be born that way. I certainly hope not.

I've been thinking about this question for days, and I must admit, it's a hard one, really.

There's a "blank slate" theory which in a nutshell shell states that all humans are born with no concept of good or evil. A child's concept of good and evil must be shaped. Whether one becomes evil depends on nurture, not nature or predestination. So I assume that if you neglect a child, leave them alone, abuse them, they'll turn out evil. Well, this may not be correct though. You all every heard of "Genie"? Well, in 1976, law enforcement discovered she had been neglected. She had been tied to a potty chair for all her life. The only food she received was milk. She was the sweetest unsocialized girl ever, if anyone would become evil, it would be her. So I'm still trying to figure out if evil is a genetic trait, something people learn when they're young.

Hmmmm...a question I often ask when I watch shows about serial killers and random mass murderers.

In some cases it is environmental. Bad parents (or lack thereof), being born into a bad setting where sometimes doing bad things is the only way to survive, or never being taught the socially accepted versions of "right and wrong" can all be factors...

...of course, some people have chemical imbalances in their brains that, if not treated, can lead to complete psychoses where their version of right and wrong is totally skewed where they honestly believe that any acts that are considered "evil" by society are, in their eyes, "good"...

On the topic of Hitler, I've heard a lot of theories dating back to bad childhood (same problem with Sadam Hussein), not making it as a starving artist, to simply syphilis that rotted his brain. Still not sure, but I can honestly believe that he was evil just because he was able to do so much damage to so many people...as for those that did the evil he commanded them to do, I think that it's about 90/10 on the "following the crowd"/"believers".

I think that it's a combination of the two, but if people try to treat each other kindly, we can at least try to bring out the best in each other and subdue the evil...

Balance Your Own Truth

-Ferret

Required Viewing! "The Bad Seed" It's a classic b/w film about a little girl that can only be described as "born evil" - and it's a great movie!

The way i see it, people are born evil!!! lol.. kidding!! No, i agree with the posters here that people cant be born evil... and yeah, that clean slate theory...

People turn out to be evil because of the influence that they receive... their environment, their parents... and whatever else they come in contact with... but not only that... i also believe that everything in this world is predestined... but that doesnt mean that whoever decides this predestiny is a bad guy... it only means we make mistakes... i believe that everyone has their own destiny to fulfill... like i said in my other post about luck... we have destinies but we also have this concept about free will.. we are allowed to choose whichever path we take... we are given choices... but behind every choice there is already a path laid out for us... (confusing, yeah) besides the fact that our destinies are already there for us... it doesnt necessarily mean that all our destinies are good... because of that free will concept, we can either choose good or bad...

Now we come to Hitler.. i think he was influenced to choose the bad path... but he wasnt necessarily bad at first...

let's see if i can summarize this and make it sound simple cuz even im a bit confused... lol!!!

We are all born on the same equal footing, with a clean slate per se... we are given the freedom to choose our own paths... but our paths are already made out for us... we follow our own destinies which were already set out for us... now depending on how we are raised, influenced, or whatever... depends on what path we will choose... thus, it doesnt mean that whoever created our destinies is a bad person... only, he/she is a good enough person to let us have the freedom to become whatever we will... (although this kind of freedom doesnt really seem like a freedom huh? sounds like we're just being led around to think that we have freedom)

Anyway, i dunno if you guys understood that...lol...

i think you bring up avery good question? i thnk however everyone starts out with a clean slate.They say children are innocent. Most children copy what they see as they grow and learn. So if in there enviroment all they saw was daddy beating mommy and burning her with cigaretts he might think that's how you treat your spouse by hurting them. if the child grew up in a loving enviroment he would have a different outlook on things. this child would grow up learning to treat people with respect, love, trust, and honesty along with friendship. so why some people say that you can be born evil or have a predstination to it I believe it to be more enviromental and psychological. As far as hitler goes I am not sure of what type of child hood he had .But seeing what type of person hitler was he wanted to come accross as if he were god! deciding who lives who dies that to me is the act of an insane man.

After reading the other posts, I am going to be the minority, but I believe that people are not exactly born evil, but at the same time, I think it's more than just chemical imbalances. I believe some people are born with hate which leads to evil. Think about the neighbor kid who buries a cat in the yard with only its head showing and then runs it over with a lawnmower. What possessed that? Do you really believe that was something that mommy and daddy taught? Or the neighbor kid who tortures puppies and neighborhood cats? While I do believe you can be taught not to like animals, I think there is something much different in personality that allows someone to do those things. I have never seen nor heard of a parent that teaches his/her child to torture animals. If this doesn't disturb you, what about kids that torture and kill other kids? Do you really think they were taught this? While it's difficult to actually say, "some people are just born evil" I believe it's very close to the truth. This could have as much to do with spirits as it does with God and the Devil!

oh man... what a topic.

Well.. i guess my opinion would be that people are made evil. I do believe that some people are born chemically imbalanced, and their mental state is messed up.. but i think the majority of evil people become evil as a result of who they surround themselves with, and how theyre brought up as a child.

Its been shown that a childs brain is extemely good at absorbing information. During this stage of development, I believe that the things learned and experienced will ultamately determine how the child will turn out. If the parents teach the child well, and nothing too dramatic or evil happens, then I believe that the child will grow up ultimately good. However, if the child's parents teach evil, or if a tragic event happens, then the child could turn out to be evil. I believe good and evil is similar to... dare i say it... racism. I, for one, believe I'm not racist, and my parents have brought me up that way, and for that I'm grateful. However, I do have a friend back in Texas (where I'm from) who is, and his parents are as well. Its the only thing he knows... and that's why he is how he is.

People are generally afraid to be something they arent accustomed to, or aren't familiar with. That's why racism is so hard to deal with... because those that are find it incredibly hard to not be... its all they know. The same can be said for good and evil. Its very hard for an evil person to become genuinely good, and vice versa. Thats why the upbrining is so important. If someone is brought up evil, then thats all they know, and thats what they'll cling to. Same for being brought up good. Thats my opinion on the matter

As for hitler... I don't know much about him other than the brief stuff we learned in high school... which really wasnt much at all. I cant really give an accurate opinion on something i dont know, so unfortunately I'm gonna have to go with a big "no comment" on this one... sorry buds

shenelly i always like your posts, and they are very intersting (hopefully mine are too)...and we have both voted for one another so good luck there!

you asked if an evil person is bord or made evil.
i look at that as a grey area, not even religious, for I think that what is the cause can be a multitasked answer, in how they are brought up, the parenting, the neighbors, the street, the pressures of others who are also "good or evil", being rebellious and so on.
i will use my sister for an example. a compulsive liar who somehow got straight a's one time in grade 6? was it the drugs? what could it have been? she claimed to a cousin of which i have very few, that she had claimed to have taken every drug by the age of 10, and this is the happening sixties/seventies. she would lie so i could get in trouble.. she ran away from home, she shoplifted, when my dad died, she said to everyone that she was comforting my mom, when i in fact was the only one there. that's a rough spot to be in when you are a growing adult, seeing the pain and death all around you, not that i am high and mighty but she got pregnant and tried to become a burden to society by going on welfare. child protective services came along a few years later when she was still a druggie, and took on eof the kids. supposedly she has a new man and a third child at age 48, one of the boys had a jail baby, and is a gang banger, and through all this i have had endured. my mom was excited about the drug baby, but not the reasons behind it. i have not seen my sister since 82/83 and i am glad i have not. so was she born evil shenelly? no, she grew to be evil, and did not feel the spirits of good or the hand of god/allah/krsna/buddha etc...where good lives in the hearts of those that believe.
it's just how it is i guess. we have evil all around us. and sometimes, we are fed those words and believe them.

A question for reddevil. It does seem out of whack if you find a parent who teaches kids animal abuse. But being born with hate? Maybe, maybe not. I like to think that we dont really know what's happening in someone else's house and in saying that maybe the kid was stressed and he/she had no other way of expressing themselves. So they take it out on animals. Easiest way right? I mean, little kitties dont naturally fight back. And even if they did, you could still control them (not that i've tried it before)

So yeah, if people are born evil does it mean that they are meant to suffer since they were created that way?

I believe basically that it is because of a person's surroundings that makes them good/bad. If you live in something long enough then you eventually take it in, and it often becomes apart of you and what you find acceptable to do. So if a person see's violence played throughout everyday life,they will most likely turn towards that. The same goes for a good environment. But occasionally there is people who break out of the mold of expectancy. And change themselves into "good" respectable human beings or the opposite, without the influence of outer forces. All in all it comes down to the individual, and how they percieve good and bad, and how they judge what they let influence them.

As for some higher force and a predestined path, I believe we have choices and that nothing is predestined for us. I do believe that higher forces are at work and that they do have prior knowledge about what we are about to become, but unfortuantely, we do not have that knowledge, and we cannot see that far ahead of us. Which is why when we come to a coonflict of some sort, we look at it as if we have a choice whether to chose option 1 or option 2 (however many options we have)

My opinions,


Danielle aka Rene`

Oh my, look at all theses post by these smart guys and girls. I always love reading your responses. It makes my day, really.

It's hard to believe how an individual can come from what appears to be a great family, but still they end up to be a serial killer, rapist, pedophile, etc. There's this individual I learned about a few weeks ago, a young man from Louisiana. He grew up in a Catholic church, mother was a single parent, and very spiritual. You would think this kid would grow up and be a doctor, something like that. Nope, he ended up killing three of his friends with no remorse. When asked what he would like to say to the family of his victims, he told them life is pain, get over it. Evil huh?

So perhaps evil is a learned behavior, not a "genetic" trait we're born with.

I agree that people are made evil. You know sometimes when kids copy what they see others say and do thats the same thing if they see there parents being evil they may think since my parents are doing it must be right, so let this be a lesson to us all to watch and be careful what we do around others.

I do not believe people are born evil. We are influenced by so many outside forces, especially in our formative years (no pressure, parents.)
In reference to your comment about prejudice: I think that prejudice is learned. No one comes out of the womb hating a certain color. That's just ridiculous.

There are chemical imbalances that mix things up a bit, but that does not necessarily mean a person is evil because they have problems understanding or controlling themselves.

Who a person surrounds him or herself with is another contributer. Possibly, if someone suffered at the hand of a certain person, then it is possible that they would hate anyone who reminded them of previous sufferings.

On the flip side, one could argue that evil is relative. It is society that sets the standards and decides what is acceptable behavior and what is not.

For example, in biblical times one could be put to death for fornication.
Now it is accepted as normal in society, therefore it is not evil and is no one else's business. Follow?

In the Middle East it is not considered evil to kill one's daughter if she is raped.
It is accepted. It is not considered evil.
Americans find such acts horrific. Over here it WOULD be considered evil.

In that sense, 'evil' is relative.

I believe that people are kinda born evil. Like not "EVIL" but more like with the nature of sin. Think about this...A baby isn't naturally nice. babies cry, whine and throw fits. They don't start out being perfect, then gradually learn to be bad. they start out bad. i'm not saying that babies are evil (they're all soOoOoOo cute) but i think that people aren't born good. But also, bad company makes people bad too.

***For Shenelly: Numbers 14:18 'The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of their fathers to the third and fourth generation.'NIV (Is sometimes the explanation of the cycle of abuse and bad descions)
(somwhere, "sorry") "...if the root is holy, so are the branches." NIV ***

My personal beliefs have led me to believe all poeple have the potential to be "good" and this potential is dominant in the core of all of us.
|Has anyone ever noticed small children do not hit unless they have been exposed (inflicted by as well as wittnessed) to hitting? Reactions and emotions naturally display displeaure, but "evil", pure immorality and the intention to be harmful or generally "bad", I believe is aquired|
Objective beleifs aside, if character was soley determined by environment, how did resilience come to be?
If character is a complete manifestation, how did cycles/ habits of "evil" come to be?
I feel the good in us is basically potential and our environment either cultivates our potential into "morality" or corrupts that potential into "immorality".
In addition, I beleive "good" and "evil" are developed but once a person grows internaly, we become "aware", and the states (good,evil) become more adjacent to choices; our "moral compass" never goes away- "evil" is NOT relative.
Also, the neighbor child (assuming he is mentally "healthy") who is torturing others/animals probably was not taught to do that, but was probably mistreated, exposed to truama.

The Bad Seed is a good movie! Catch which ever one you can but the white and black version is the best!

I would not say people are born evil. Like you stated if someone grows up believing that racism isnt bad its not their fault its the environment they were raised in. It's like the pitbull they are bred to be non agressive to people, but when their owners make them fight they become these violent dogs. They are not born violent the environmetn they are around makes them that way. Like parents and a child they learn from what the parent teaches them. We are not born evil or good its how we are raised that makes us who we are and what morals we hold.

Wow, shenelly! Nice question!

I would have to say that depending on the persons environment and the people that they are around will determine if he/she will become evil. Because when we are young, we don't have a genuine sense of right and wrong, good/evil. We are eventually are TAUGHT these things from another source. Eventually what becomes of this is that the person will develop their own system of morals of what is right/wrong/good/evil. Now, whether that source is healthy is opinionated, due to the fact that everyone has VARYING senses of right and wrong.

With that being said, I think that some people BECOME evil as a result of the environment that they have been nurtured from. But I will also say that ultimately, people have a choice as to what side they wish to be on good or bad, Based off of what they have been taught, seen, and learned.

Now as far as Hitler was concerned, he was just an evil little bastard (he was a midget!!) that is probably occupying the the lowest pit that hell has to offer. What is did to all those millions was nothing short of evil. No question