Yesterday I presented a few challenges to the prevailing thought that people are good by nature. Today, I change slightly and take a look at the idea that we are born neutral, that we enter this world without either positive or negative influences prior to our birth and growth in this world. As you can imagine, some of the challenges are still the same, though there are a few other thoughts that can be added.
Once again, the primary question becomes, where do the bad things in life come from? If we are born morally or ethically neutral, that would mean that we have to learn "bad" from others. But that's where it breaks down. If we need those influences to "become" bad, then where did those people who are bad get their influence? Eventually, we're left at a loss. Somewhere bad had to enter the world, but we're at a loss to explain where it came from and why it started to have an effect on us.
There are some things that we can work with in this scenario, however. Typically, someone who thinks that people are born morally neutral don't have the issues of dealing with "bad" or evil, either from others or from themselves. After all, the possibility that we can become bad exists. True, that leaning all depends on the influences we have in our lives, but, unlike the thought that we are born good, the possibility of bad exists.
And yet, there is a different problem that this scenario also presents. Where did we learn "good" in this scenario? If we have good influences in our lives that shape who we are, where did they come from? After all, if we're neutral by birth, that means we don't take any shape until we encounter something either bad or good. It's the other side of the coin from bad. Where did the initial good influences come from that determine our goodness?
As a Christian, I can find myself understanding those who want to believe this particular tenet. I think most of us are realistic enough to realize that the "born good" idea just doesn't carry a lot of weight. It leaves no room for the suffering and pain that we see so much of in this world. This idea of neutrality at least leaves the possibility of good and bad on the table. It means that the possibility of either exists, and that gives an opening for conversations that we, as Christians, can work with as a starting place.
Once again, the primary question becomes, where do the bad things in life come from? If we are born morally or ethically neutral, that would mean that we have to learn "bad" from others. But that's where it breaks down. If we need those influences to "become" bad, then where did those people who are bad get their influence? Eventually, we're left at a loss. Somewhere bad had to enter the world, but we're at a loss to explain where it came from and why it started to have an effect on us.
There are some things that we can work with in this scenario, however. Typically, someone who thinks that people are born morally neutral don't have the issues of dealing with "bad" or evil, either from others or from themselves. After all, the possibility that we can become bad exists. True, that leaning all depends on the influences we have in our lives, but, unlike the thought that we are born good, the possibility of bad exists.
And yet, there is a different problem that this scenario also presents. Where did we learn "good" in this scenario? If we have good influences in our lives that shape who we are, where did they come from? After all, if we're neutral by birth, that means we don't take any shape until we encounter something either bad or good. It's the other side of the coin from bad. Where did the initial good influences come from that determine our goodness?
As a Christian, I can find myself understanding those who want to believe this particular tenet. I think most of us are realistic enough to realize that the "born good" idea just doesn't carry a lot of weight. It leaves no room for the suffering and pain that we see so much of in this world. This idea of neutrality at least leaves the possibility of good and bad on the table. It means that the possibility of either exists, and that gives an opening for conversations that we, as Christians, can work with as a starting place.
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