Quote:
Originally posted by Davem:
I don't mean that in the usual sense of sex, but in the sense that we are all born 'sinful', ie with a tendency towards evil.
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I actually hold a different view. I feel as if nobody is born "evil." I mean Hitler wasn't born thinking later in life he's going to murder millions of people. I think it's our own experiences in life (maybe something from childhood, or maybe TV, video games..etc) or just the way we were brought up by certain morals.
I tend to think that evil stems from good. At one point in time that "Evil" person was good, but a certain event, or the way his parents, or mentors brought him/her up caused her to commit horrible acts.
Let's take into account Morgoth, once a good person, got greedy, wanted power, became corrupt. His servant Sauron, once good, learned from Morgoth, became evil and corrupt. Saruman once good, desired to rule over everyone, became evil and corrupt.
I think of it as more of the fact that we aren't born lusting for things like wealth, power, prestige, but more of our experiences in life, our parents, mentors, teach us certain qualities and we ultimately end up like them. I'm not saying one view is more right then the other, simply getting out my opinions.
I will say this about the concept of "evil." Evil is often caused by abstract nouns. Abstract nouns being things we can't touch, see, hear, or taste, things that we can't measure. Examples are, emotions (love, hate, happy, depressed, nervous) and others like money, power, prestige. These are all things we can't measure. You can't go to the store and say, wow I'm feeling depressed today, why don't I just get a pound of happiness, to make me feel better. (Don't mind my senseless ramble).
Anyway point is, it is these "abstract ideas" which in fact are "evil." Now, emotions can be good or bad, people have killed over love before, but trying to say these unmeasurable abstract ideas is the "root of evil."